Alumni and community members can also volunteer. Led by the enthusiastic performing arts professionals, students learn creativity, skills to cooperate through theater, and the courage to step into the spotlight. Group classes in acting improvisation, songwriting, traditional musical theater and original musicals, audition preparation, monologues, scenes, songs, solfege, and choreography. Private lessons in audition preparation, voice, guitar, piano, songwriting, acting, ukulele, banjo, and more. Students go on to be performers, musicians, writers, film directors, critics, leaders, and excellent collaborators. No previous acting or singing experience required. Giggling guaranteed! Established in 1902. Garden Players started out as a community theater group in 1902 and transformed into a musical theater program for kids in 2002 when when Betina Hershey turned down a musical theater tour to become the current leader and artistic director. As artistic director and lead teacher of the program, Betina develops new original works inspired by and performed by kids. Original musicals are created and performed each year, published at Beat by Beat Press, and inspire kids globally with over 2,000 productions performed in over 65 countries all over the world. www.gardenplayers.com
Meet Betina Hershey
Garden Players Business Owner
Performer, Writer, Composer, Educator, Artistic Director
Betina Hershey is a native New Yorker born to a Broadway musician and a painter. She is a full time performer and educator who loves encouraging others to express themselves through writing, music, dance and theater. As a musical theater performer her credits include: Meg in the National Broadway tour of "Phantom of the Opera", Anybodys in the LaScala (Italy) production of "West Side Story," Fleta in "Iolanthe" and Isabel in the "Pirates of Penzance" at NYC's City Center. Movie credits include: principal dancer in Julia Roberts' "Mona Lisa Smile" and Disney's "Enchanted."
