West Side Story

Members of the tech crew pose for a photo on set during intermission

For the second year in a row, Broadway for Arts Education partnered with the Cornelia Connelly Center to do something a little different. Not just a production—but a two-week theater tech and production camp where high school students learned how a show actually comes together behind the scenes.

Over the course of the program, students were introduced to every part of the production process:

• sound and lighting design + engineering

• stage management

• fundraising and budgeting

• set design

• and overall production planning

It wasn’t theoretical. Everything they learned fed directly into one goal: producing West Side Story. What made this program work was how hands-on it was. Students weren’t just assisting—they were responsible. They ran cues. They managed transitions. They solved problems in real time. And over the course of just two weeks, you could see the shift. At the beginning, there were questions, hesitation, and a lot of learning curves. By the end, they were running the show with minimal adult supervision—making decisions, supporting each other, and stepping into real leadership roles.

The end result was a fully realized production of West Side Story—supported, designed, and executed by the students themselves.Not perfectly, but independently. And that’s what mattered.

This program—and this production—were made possible by the generosity of the donors who supported our FY26 Hamilton Workshop. That support directly funded this camp, giving students access to an experience that goes far beyond the stage.

Check out some of the production stills and behind the scene photos by Josh Silk below: