
Overview
Young singers and actors will join vocal instructors and acting coaches and choreographers from Acting for Young People, for a week of musical theater skill-building! Students will focus on vocal technique, choreography, and acting as they celebrate the tradition of Broadway and popular music. This entertaining program is fun for musical theater fans all the way to experienced actors.
Due to safety restrictions, space is extremely limited in each age group. Registering early is recommended.
Writing supplies needed: pencils, pens, and a notebook.
Ages: 7-11
Dates: June 19 – 23 OR July 31 – Aug 4, 2023 (students may choose to enroll in both weeks)
9:00 am – 4:00 pm, Monday – Friday
Tuition: $475
Location: Mason Fairfax Campus, deLaski Performing Arts Building/Music Theater Building
June 19 – 23
July 31 – August 4
Program Faculty

Kathleen West
Director of After School Programming, Musical & Advanced Showcase Vocal Director, Acting Coach
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Kathleen West is Acting for Young People’s (AFYP) Director of After School Programming, and has been a teaching artist with AFYP since 2017. She is also the Vocal Director of our Saturday Showcase and Advanced Actors Showcase programs, and teaches Musical Theatre for our Summer Acting Camps. Throughout her teaching career, Kathleen has directed her students in many plays, musicals, and musical theatre showcases. When she is not teaching, Kathleen works as a professional actor in the DC area.
Her recent credits include Escape to Margaritaville at Toby’s Dinner Theatre, and Art of Murder, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Xanadu at Workhouse Arts Center. She has also hosted Amazon’s “Girls Tech Day,” an educational outreach program encouraging women to pursue careers in STEAM.
Kathleen graduated Summa Cum Laude from George Mason University, receiving a BFA in Theatre with a concentration in Musical Theatre, and awards of excellence in both academics and performance.

Kendall Huheey
Showcase Choreographer, Senior Teaching Artist
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Kendall attends George Mason University as a senior Theater major. A former AFYP student, Kendall has been teaching with AFYP since 2014 in our summer camp, showcase, and after school programs. Kendall choreographs for our Musical and Advanced Actors’ Showcases and teaches musical theater in our summer programs. She is very involved with the Mason Players and Mason Cabaret, and is president of Mason’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, the theater honor fraternity. She was most recently seen in The Road to the End (Young Diana), Head Over Heels (Pamela), as well as in The Boy Detective Fails, Footloose, and Rags.

Mary Lechter
MCAA Executive Director
School of Theater Faculty
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A graduate of University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Speech Communications, Mary has been working professionally as an actor in the metropolitan Washington-area, Los Angeles, and New York since 1985. She has worked at Washington area theaters including Theater of the First Amendment, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, and Source Theatre. Television, radio and film credits include ABC’s All My Children, Barry Levinson’s Avalon, Diesel Films’ Dracula’s Mother, the MGM/Lionsgate thriller Hit and Run, and several spots for NPR’s Morning Edition.
Mary founded AFYP in 1997, and has seen the company grow from being its only teacher with a sporadic program schedule in rented spaces to where it is today: a year-round program with a full staff, working in conjunction with Potomac Arts Academy, for which she is Associate Director.
She is a longtime member of Mason’s School of Theater faculty in the areas of Performance and Theater Education. She was named a 2013 “Teacher of Distinction” and was a 2014 TEDxGeorgeMasonU speaker (“Magic Moments: the Transformative Power of Theater“). She previously taught at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Her professional memberships include The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Actor’s Equity Association, and the Educational Theatre Association.
Mary’s directing credits include An Experiment with an Air Pump and Shakespeare in Hollywood (George Mason University); Still Beating Hearts and A Godless Man (Theater of the First Amendment First Light Festival); Happy Holidays, Charlie Brown, 101 Dalmatians, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play; Willy Wonka, Jr.; Peter Pan, Jr.; A Seussified Christmas Carol; Alice in Wonderland, Jr. (AFYP).
Notes
- Please note that group classes are subject to cancellation if minimum enrollment is not reached.
- Be sure to check our policies and procedures regarding registration, withdrawals, refunds, and more for fall or spring group classes.
- All students will receive a Welcome Letter via email at least 1 week before the class starts with all necessary details.
- Online registration closes 2 business days before the first class, however space may still be available. Please contact academy@gmu.edu for more information. A $10 late registration fee may apply.
- For additional information, please contact the Academy at academy@gmu.edu.