Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts

★★Rav tec

Advertised and sold tickets for an improv show on Saturdays but won’t be doing them for several weeks. So much for driving in LA traffic and finding parking.

★Hayoung Lee

I visited the academy to learn more about their programs and to ask which class would be the best fit for my child. While I was speaking with the staff member in charge, a woman with green bangs sitting at the front desk laughed when she heard me use an English word incorrectly. If I were the owner, I would never employ someone who laughs at a parent for not speaking perfect English—it’s unprofessional and disrespectful. This completely took away my desire to enroll.

★★Raj Raghavan

Our child attended the "Pop Stars" one-week camp this summer. Now, I am well aware that wrangling twenty 8-11 year olds into doing a pop star revue is going to be tough. Kids have different ability and experience. But for what this camp cost, I was really let down by the final performance. Most of the kids seemed be freaked out and not having fun. Stage fright is real, and while I could chalk it up to just our child, it seemed to be an issue with more than half the kids - why not set up the show in such a way that does encourage kids to feel like they're having fun? Also to note, there was no introductory speech from the teachers along the lines of "These kids really gave it their all this week, be sure to show your support and cheer loudly!" Even this little pep talk would have indicated that the staff cared about the work they and the kids did all week. At the other day camps our kids went to this week, there was a real warmth at drop-off and pickup - happy to see you in the morning, hope you had a good day in the afternoon. This warmth was also sadly missing at YADA.

★★★Jenni Gary

I just want to say that YADA recently reached out to me, and I had the pleasure of speaking to the Chief Operating Officer. He was very empathetic to our experience and acknowledged our concerns (a huge contrast to the experience we had previously). It sounds like YADA has made a lot of positive changes, as any institution working with children should continuously be doing. I wish the best for any family looking to join this community. I am an educator of 20 years, and I can’t tell you how excited I was when I signed my daughter up for this program. Unfortunately, the experience fell short, and when I expressed my concerns, they were brushed aside with indifference. This establishment needs new management. For example, young children should not be sitting on the side just "hanging out" for hours while the directors work on specific scenes with actors in that scene. It is apparent to me that there needs to be additional staff working with the kids on developing acting skills via theater games, etc. Furthermore, the directors told the executive director that they spoke several times with my husband about what our daughter needed to work on during the weeks leading up to her performance, which is an outright falsehood (I suspect this was a cover for their lack of communication with us). As an educator, I find this disturbing, but I'm hoping for other families that our experience was an anomaly.

★★★★★Natasha Schneider

My niece performed in Shrek in 2024 and I have thought about that performance probably every single day since! It was actually genuinely better than off-broadway shows I’ve seen put on by adults! FABULOUS 10/10 I cannot rave enough about this academy and the directors omg you make MAGIC!!!!!