Matthew Nicola's guest appearances

Matthew Nicola

Inside Acting!

Art Works Podcast

David Shoemaker

Michelle Obama

John Adams

Kevin Young

Ben Franklin

Nicholson Baker

Jake Gyllenhaal

Tracy K. Smith

Howard Stern

Danielle Evans

Lynn Nottage

Josh Ritter

Michael Berry

Sebastian Junger

Jacob Lawrence

OwlTail

Matt Nicola, the artistic director of the Highwood Theatre, believes deeply in the company’s double-pronged philosophy: “anyone can do theater” and “theater builds community.” Highwood is an educational theater with classes for students from kindergarten to 12th grade covering all aspects of theater, from acting to lighting to set and sound design to directing. In addition, the students put on 12-13 full-fledged shows a year, taking care of all aspects of the production with some guidance from theater professionals. The shows are sophisticated—these students are performing in shows like Sweeney Todd and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. They are also uniformly very well-received, which is a bit of surprise since there are no auditions for the student productions. Whoever signs up, gets a part. But Highwood has discovered that given an opportunity and a certain amount of guidance, students are capable of extraordinary things. In this week’s podcast, you can hear about what theater teaches students, and what the students teach Nicola and the rest of the Highwood staff.

Matt Nicola, the artistic director of the Highwood Theatre, believes deeply in the company’s double-pronged philosophy: “anyone can do theater” and “theater builds community.” Highwood is an educational theater with classes for students from kindergarten to 12th grade covering all aspects of theater, from acting to lighting to set and sound design to directing. In addition, the students put on 12-13 full-fledged shows a year, taking care of all aspects of the production with some guidance from theater professionals. The shows are sophisticated—these students are performing in shows like Sweeney Todd and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. They are also uniformly very well-received, which is a bit of surprise since there are no auditions for the student productions. Whoever signs up, gets a part. But Highwood has discovered that given an opportunity and a certain amount of guidance, students are capable of extraordinary things. In this week’s podcast, you can hear about what theater teaches students, and what the students teach Nicola and the rest of the Highwood staff.

Dylan Kaufman

Directors Matthew Nicola and Dylan Kaufman join host William Powell to announce Highwood Theatre’s Year-Long Production, for which auditions will be held on August 30 and September 5 from 6pm to 8:30pm. For more information, contact Highwood Theater at 301-587-0697.The Year-Long Production is one of the most in-depth student programs Highwood has put on to date. It is a conservatory-style, audition only program running from September to June for students grade 7-12. It will include multi-week masterclasses by Nick Blaemire, an acclaimed New York performer and songwriter, and Cate Caplin, a 34-time regional and international dance champion, as well as masterclasses by local professionals in all areas of theatre, individual vocal and acting coaching for every student, and group coursework to build our cast as collaborative artists. In June, the students will perform Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's landmark dance-heavy musical based on Romeo and Juliet (the name of which, unfortunately, we cannot release yet.) Our aim is to create a program which, by focusing on both personal craft and on the performer as part of a group effort to put on a professional-level show, will push our participants to the next level as performers, as Highwood students, and as individuals.

Directors Matthew Nicola and Dylan Kaufman join host William Powell to announce Highwood Theatre’s Year-Long Production, for which auditions will be held on August 30 and September 5 from 6pm to 8:30pm. For more information, contact Highwood Theater at 301-587-0697. The Year-Long Production is one of the most in-depth student programs Highwood has put on to date. It is a conservatory-style, audition only program running from September to June for students grade 7-12. It will include multi-week masterclasses by Nick Blaemire, an acclaimed New York performer and songwriter, and Cate Caplin, a 34-time regional and international dance champion, as well as masterclasses by local professionals in all areas of theatre, individual vocal and acting coaching for every student, and group coursework to build our cast as collaborative artists. In June, the students will perform Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's landmark dance-heavy musical based on Romeo and Juliet (the name of which, unfortunately, we cannot release yet.) Our aim is to create a program which, by focusing on both personal craft and on the performer as part of a group effort to put on a professional-level show, will push our participants to the next level as performers, as Highwood students, and as individuals.

Matthew Nicola and Dylan Kaufman promote Highwood Theatre’s Year-Long Production