Children's Educational Theatre

Five-Week Salem Youth Theatre Intensive

Children's Educational Theatre (CET) is a non-profit summer arts intensive in southeast Salem, immersing kids ages 8-18 in performance and technical theatre across a five-week season. The program runs from a Howard Street studio with rehearsals and showcase productions on site.

Summer Performance and Tech Tracks

Students enroll in three daily classes selected from acting, music, dance, technical theatre, stage combat, and improvisation. Programs include:
- Midsummer (grades 4-5): every participant gets at least one performance role
- Mainstage Performers (grades 6-9): audition for roles in multiple productions
- Mainstage Tech (grades 6-9): assigned roles in technical theatre
- Level 7 and Tech Seminar (grades 10-12): advanced performers manage their own show, tech students serve as stage managers

What's Included

• Five-week summer intensive with daily multi-class schedule
• Library Show, Travel Show, Musical, and Park Play productions
• Performance and tech tracks running in parallel
• 2026 season June 22-July 25 (returning registration opens Jan 15, new students Feb 1)

Experience

The five-week format is a deeper commitment than a one-week camp, which suits kids who want to actually mount full productions rather than do show-and-tell exercises. The performance-and-tech split also rare for community programs, gives the program institutional weight.