Troy University is giving high school and college students a chance to hone their skills in theatre and dance this summer with the annual Summer Spotlight intensives.

The Performance Intensive and the Tech & Management Intensive take place July 21-28, with registration open through June.

The intensives offer students interested in theatre and dance the opportunity to immerse themselves in all aspects of those fields alongside other young artists.

“These are six full days on our Troy Campus, with the chance to become versed in all types of theatre and dance – onstage, backstage and everything else,” said Tori Lee Averett, Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “You’re immersed in all different forms of the craft with other people who also want to do this.”

Students study under a variety of guest artists and faculty members, and the counselors for the sessions are TROY theatre and dance majors.

“They have the perspective of people who are actively studying this,” Averett said. “This is for the serious theatre and dance students who are trying this on as something they want for college or a career, or for people who know they love it and want to do this for a week. The focus is on work.”

Students can register by downloading the application form at http://www.troytheatre.org/summer-spotlight.

“The students who have come through this program, many of them do go on to study it in college and become professionals,” Averett said. “It’s a great way to invest your energy. We do a lot of work during the week to find out what’s important to each student. If they want to write a song, we say, ‘Let’s try it.’ This is a week to try things out.”