Apprentice Company

Our 2024-2025 Apprentice Company is starting to build their Summer Performance!

The Apprentice Company was launched in 1989 as a way to educate Midlands’ 9th-12th graders to celebrate the “whole” of theatre, which simply means that whether your desired part is writing, directing, designing, dramaturgy, acting, stage managing, running the board, or the front of house, having a knowledge of ALL these elements makes you better at not only your specific part, but gives you the opportunity to expand your mind as to what may be possible for you in theatre as a whole. Our past Apprentice Company members have gone on to careers as Broadway stage managers, children’s book authors, professors, screenwriters, and stage/screen/film actors. They’ve also retained a sense of curiosity and adventure and empathy  that we can’t take credit for, but we pretty raucously celebrate.

Led by Trustus Company Member Erin Thigpen Wilson, and mentored by the professional artists in the Trustus Company, this year’s Apprentice Company will meet monthly to attend workshops on playwriting, design, improv, and scene study to use as the foundation for an original piece of theatre – written, designed, managed, and performed by the Apprentice Company on the Thigpen Mainstage in the summer of 2025.

This program is free to all participants thanks to a generous grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, but it will require a commitment of time, brain, and heart. We will meet monthly from October through April, and will need to meet more often the closer we get to performance date. All dates are TBA, and all considerations are taken to schedule as conveniently as possible for busy high school students.

Email [email protected] with any questions regarding the 24-25 Apprentice Company.

Apprentice Company Meeting Dates

October 26th @2pm – Meet this season’s Apprentice Company! Session open to all who fill out the application above. Learn about the process the Apprentice Company will take on over the year, and find out dates and workshop/rehearsal details. Applicants (and any attached adult who desires) will be able to ask questions, offer feedback, and decide if they are committed to dedicating their time, heart, and vision to this project.

Apprentice Company Vision Statement

The Trustus Apprentice Company offers high school students a diverse range of pre-professional theatre training with opportunities to observe, work alongside and receive instruction from practicing theatre arts professionals.