Welcome

Welcome to the Act One School of Drama, located in Pickering, Ontario. Our vision and primary focus is on enabling and expanding the drama experience and performance opportunities for Durham Region youth and adults alike.

We have provided drama and acting training for stage, film, musical theatre and Improvisation for over two thousand students, ages 5 to adult, over the past 17 years in the Durham Region (Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa) and Toronto.

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We offer full and half year drama and film courses, intensive one to three-day workshops for those with busier schedules or special interests, one-on-one tutoring and coaching, a March Break Theatre camp, 2-week Theatre Summer Camps in July and August, as well as a special on-site program for Durham Region elementary schools.

We can also offer Durham Region organizations and groups a local, inexpensive, fully-equipped performance studio that can comfortably seat over 100 patrons for children's theatre, community theatre, charity shows and other public or private events.

Recent News

April 2012:		With Spring ariving, Act One's students turn their focus towards their year-end productions. This year in June, Act One will present fifteen live productions and two student short films. The school also wants to thank all its students who volunteered their time and talents to help workshop and perform in the modern day adaption of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" that was penned by one of Act One's former camp and instructional staff. A live performance was held at the school at the end of the month. April also signals that time of year where Act One's theatre summer camps start coming into focus on the horizon. This year Act One will be presenting 3 two-week and 1 one-week sessions in July and August, for ages 5-13. We will also be presenting a two-week Theatre Intensive session at the end of August for ages 14-18. More information can be found in our Summer Camp section.
March 2012:		March saw Act One be honoured with another completely full March Break Theatre camp. We hope over the five days all the campers discovered a little more of the performer that lies within each of us. You can check out the trailer to their camp show here. The end of the month also saw the school present its largest Weekend of Monologues show series yet. Over 120 students performed monologues, both live on stage and via video slates, sang and/or performed in monologue-related Improv games. For three nights Act One was home to joy, sorrow, fear, despair and countless other human emotions, as the students shared the human stories they created out of simple words on a page. Act One also wishes to thank all the senior students who volunteered their time and talents to helping Lauren Spigarelli (a previous Act One staff member) complete one of her university requirements by performing in her original adaption of Shakespeare's Hamlet.