How to Plan a Successful Summer Theatre Camp: A Step-by-Step Guide

Warmth is in the air, the kids are getting restless, and you’re craving some creative expression. That can only mean one thing: It’s almost time for summer theatre camp! 

Planning and executing a summer camp for your theatre has a bevy of benefits. Firstly, you drive revenue for future showcases and/or for technical upgrades like new lighting and second equipment. Next, you positively contribute to your community’s arts efforts, helping young performers find their confidence and introducing the beauty of performance to future art lovers. Lastly, you’re keeping your theatre’s brand top-of-mind during a potential performance lull. Win-win-win! 

A summer camp, as you likely know, requires proper planning and forethought before jumping feet-first into any marketing and promotional efforts. If you aren’t sure where to start, On The Stage presents a step-by-step guide to planning a successful, engaging, and fun camp experience for all involved. 

How to Plan a Successful Summer Theatre Camp 

Step One: Determine Camp Goals and Structure 

First things first: What sort of camp are you wanting to create? Establishing your general goals for the programming, as well as exactly how it’s going to run, are the bones of your operation and should be tackled first. A few sub-categories within this objective include:

• Deciding your target age group and skill level. Perhaps you’re a school program that most often works with young kids. Maybe you’re a community theatre that collaborates with passionate adults who have normal day jobs. No matter your target demographic, make sure you’re creating goals and building a structure that is compatible with the camper-goers you’re recruiting. 
• Deciding your theme/production or focus. No matter what kind of camp you’re trying to create, there needs to be a general focus or theme. Perhaps you want to hone in on specific theatrical skills, technical skills, or improv. Maybe you want to build towards a camp-end performance. There’s no wrong answer – just know what that theme is before you jump in.
• Setting your objectives. In short, what do you want your campers to learn or walk away from your experience feeling? What will they have to show for attending your programming? Setting goals and objectives as early as possible helps you create and dispense the tools necessary to reach them. 

Step Two: Confirm General Logistics and Operations 

With the bones of your camp established – from important objectives to general themes and target demographics – it’s now time to get into the nitty-gritty logistics. A few necessity check-points on your to-do list include:

• Confirming hard dates. You cannot start marketing your camp until you know exactly when it will be. Make sure to check community calendars to ensure you aren’t going to be offering your programming on a day/week/month with major citywide conflicts. 
• Deciding the duration of your camp. The beauty of a theatre camp is that there is no expected start and end time. Perhaps you’re only gunning for a camp that lasts a few hours for a few days. Maybe you want to go a full week with 9-5 working hours. Or, this may be a month-long intensive for theatre professionals. It all depends on your demographics, your budget, and your goals!
• Choosing your venue. If your physical theatre isn’t large enough to accommodate the camp size you’re aiming for, make sure your alternative venue is booked and paid for before advertising your programming. 
• Setting your budget. A major component of your logistics – although usually the most fun component – is determining the budget of your camp. You need to take into consideration the cost of renting your alternative venue, if necessary, as well as any additional tech you may need to rent, potential food/drink costs, costuming, general wear and tear, marketing efforts, and the like. Once that’s squared away, it will also be much easier to determine the price of attendance at your camp that allows for accessibility and the ability to make a profit. 
• Reviewing safety guidelines, rules, and regulations. There are plenty of safety guidelines, rules, and regulations that should be reviewed before deciding to run a camp. You do not want to ignore or bypass important legal requirements before announcing your programming – doing so can lead to safety risks that no one should be taking. Safety first! 

Step Three: Build Your Team

You’ve got your goals and dates set, your budget confirmed, and the theme of your camp ready to go. But who’s going to help you run it? Indeed, having a powerful, prepared, and excited team beside you for the duration of your camp is absolutely essential to a positive experience for everyone. A few tips for your team include:

• Focusing on the numbers – Whether your camp is for four-year-olds or forty-year-olds, the last thing you want is an understaffed program.  At the least, understaffing leads to a team that’s disorganized, unhappy, and behind schedule. At the most, you’re allowing for potential safety risks that could jeopardize not only your campers but your theatre and its reputation. That said: Hire enough folks to adequately run your camp – and don’t be afraid to adjust that number depending on your camp’s projected attendance. 
• Honing in on training – With your theatre’s objectives and plans already established, make sure your team is trained on how to get the best outcomes from your campers. Whether that means having them brush up on certain acting skills, work on problem-solving and de-escalation techniques, or learn more about technical theatre equipment troubleshooting, ensure they’re prepared.
• Playing to people’s strengths – Before assigning permanent roles to your passionate volunteers and staff, make sure to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps Debbie is an excellent social connector but often loses track of time being social. Don’t put her in charge of scheduling – instead, have her work with teams for structured icebreakers. In short, make sure you’re playing to the strengths of your team members so everyone shines. 

Step Four: Develop Your Curriculum

All the general logistics are squared away and you’ve got a great team ready to help you. Now, it’s time to develop your specific curriculum to ensure your campers are set up to create something truly great. A few steps in this check-list include:

• Considering workshop topics – If you’re gearing more towards an intensive, consider your workshop focuses and how you want to run them. Do you want workshops to be the entirety of your camp or just a day within the week/month? 
• Planning your rehearsal schedule – If your objective is to create a weekend performance for your camp, set your rehearsal schedule early, with a little wiggle room for additional fun and games.
• Determining non-rehearsal activities – Speaking of fun and games, what sorts of activities do you want to offer outside rehearsals or workshops? Icebreakers, improv games, creative group projects? The sky’s the limit!
• Focusing on diverse programming – Accessibility and diversity in theatre are more important now than ever. Make sure the programming you’re creating speaks to that. 
• Fleshing out the final showcase or performance – If you’re creating a final ‘ta-da’ moment at the end of camp, make sure you know what exactly it’s going to look like. For example, is every camper expected to perform something on their own? Is there an option for duos/trios/ group performances? Will everyone be on stage together for a production? This will certainly affect the way the camp is run!

Step Five: Market Your Camp

Most of the planning hard work is done, which means it’s time to get creative with your marketing efforts! That’s right – it’s time to announce this baby to the world! But before you click ‘post,’ consider the following:

• Which marketing channels work best for your target demographics? For example, if you’re marketing to Gen Z and Millennials, social media platforms like Instagram, X, and TikTok are key. But if you’re attempting to grab the attention of parents of young kids, make sure to focus on email marketing, school board newsletters, community calendars, and the like. 
• Will community partnerships or business sponsorships help you to achieve fundraising or engagement goals? If so, who do you want to reach out to? Make a list of potential partners and work on specific pitches to make the deal lucrative for both sides. 
• Do you want to offer discounts to certain demographics in your community, or promo codes to increase buzz? If so, which groups do you want to appeal to? How long will your discounts and promo codes last? 

Step Six: Manage Your Registration

Now that your marketing efforts are in full swing, you need to make sure you’re able to expertly handle camper registration and logistics. You don’t want to lose potential campers due to a clunky registration process, after all! Focus on: 

• Creating an easy online experience – Your theatre’s website should be up-to-date, easy to navigate, and streamlined for a quick and seamless registration process. Make sure that you’re also enacting the right check-out questions to quickly and effectively gather the information you need from your potential campers before programming begins.
• Offering clear communication – During registration and during camp, campers and/or their parents should be fully informed on all logistics, including schedules, pick-up and drop-off times, performance times, the materials needed for camp – like snacks, what to wear, or other gear – and general behavioral expectations. The more informed you can keep your campers and parents, the happier they’ll be. (Trust us! 

Step Seven: Remember to Follow Up

You’ve completed a successful summer theatre camp! Congratulations! However, before you kick your feet up and celebrate, there are just a couple of things you need to do:

• Collect feedback – How did your campers like the experience? What sort of programming did they wish they saw more of or less of? How did your parents find your communication styles? Did pricing seem fair and competitive? Asking for feedback, and sometimes constructive criticism will help you get your finger on the pulse of your camp’s overall success and better prepare you for next time. 
• Share highlights – Make sure your community knows what a great time you had running this camp. (And, on a pettier note, that they missed out if they didn’t attend!) Make sure to share highlights from camp – whether on social media, in newsletters, or on your theatre’s website. 

How On The Stage Can Help Support Your Camp 

You may have read this article and thought, “Wow. Running a summer theatre camp sounds fun – but intimidating.” Fear not, On The Stage has all the tools you need to succeed. Just a couple of the ways OTS can help you run a successful theatre camp include: 

• Pertinent Checkout Questions – On The Stage makes it easy to quickly and effectively gather the information you need from your patrons (and campers) during the checkout flow. From asking campers about T-shirt sizes and allergies to asking patrons if they want to become members or volunteers, OTS enables you to create custom checkout questions to collect the information you need.
• A Best-in-Class Box Office – Establishing box office best practices is essential for your performing arts organization’s – and your camp’s – success. On The Stage (OTS) box office software makes your front-of-house experience memorable for all the right reasons.

OTS offers so much more for your summer camp – we just can’t fit it into this blog post! If you’re ready to make your summer camp dreams come true, partner with On The Stage and book a personalized demo today to learn how we can help.