Date: July 9-19, 2026
Location: University of Central Oklahoma
We believe that the best performer is the prepared one! Which is why we are so excited to finally be able to offer a summer theatre intensive that will help students prepare for whatever they may have in store next year. Ignite 2026 will be held on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma July 9-19 ,2026. This summer intensive will bring training and experiences that will take your performance and audition skills to the next level.
The Registration cost for this 10-day all-inclusive intensive is $2500 until April 15, 2026 (price goes up to $2750 after 4/15/26). This tuition cost includes all meals, housing, and programming! Complete payment will need to be made by June 10th, 2026. A $500 non-refundable deposit is due at time of registration ($750 deposit after April 15th). Then 2 additional payments of $1000 must be made by June 10th, 2026 (links will be sent to families to make these payments)
Anyone who registers after June 1st will be expected to pay in full at the time of registration.
All payments are non-refundable. If you need assistance with payments or installments, please contact Pat Valleroy at pvalleroy@collegeauditionproject.com.
*If you are a local Edmond,Ok/OK City student and do not need housing please send an email to mevans@collgeauditionproject.com to inquire about a discounted tuition rate. This registration and deposit are still step 1 for you!
We are asking for videos from each applicant to get to know you better before IGNITE. These are NOT audition videos. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity for great training. Those “get to know you” video requirements can be found below.IGNITE is open to current high school students through current seniors planning on taking a GAP year for the 26/27 season. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@collegeauditionproject.com.
* Returning IGNITE students and/or student that train privately with a CAP Team member do NOT need to submit these videos.
If you have any questions, please contact us!
Students will arrive on 07/09/2026 and depart on 7/19/2026. If you are planning on traveling via airplane please fly into the Will Rogers World Airport (OKC / KOKC). A few weeks before IGNITE we will make arrangements for a CAP staff member to pick you up from the airport and bring you to campus. Arrival and Departure times will be shared shortly!
Camiah has been singing and performing professionally for years, including tours, Atlanta theatre and private events. She has taught voice, theatre and music since 1996 and has had the honor of music directing for the renowned Dave Clemmons, as well as for Atlanta theatre companies. Camiah is honored to be the official voice teacher for the award-winning Aurora Theater in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Her passion for developing healthy voices and guiding singers towards successful professional careers has driven her to study with some of the world’s most respected vocal scientists and researchers, including Dr. Ingo Titze, along with doctors, speech language pathologists and other respected voice specialists. She is a Mentor Teacher for Vocology in Practice and International Voice Teachers of Mix and frequently writes educational articles for their worldwide communities of accomplished voice teachers. Camiah is a proud voting member of Pan American Vocology Association, where she strives to keep her vocal training on the cutting edge of research. Her students can be found on Broadway, on National Tours and in the world’s leading musical theatre college programs, from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, from Berkley College of Music to Otterbein University. Her students excel in musical theatre, music therapy, vocal performance, and song writing.
You can find out more about Camiah HERE!
Dave Clemmons has been in the college audition coaching business long before college audition coaching was even a thing. His extensive career both in front and behind the casting table has positioned him to be an ultimate source of information for those going through the college audition process. As a performer, he spent time on Broadway in such shows as The Scarlet Pimpernel and Les Misérables and his National Tour credits include Les Misérables, Jekyll & Hyde and Whistle Down The Wind as well as numerous other National and Regional credits. Dave spent 15+ years behind the table as a Producer and Casting Director, most notably with Dave Clemmons Casting, where he cast more than 100 Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours, Workshops and Regional Productions. Over the last 20+ years, Dave has spent time traveling as a guest artist and lecturer to some of the top training programs around the nation, teaching workshops and developing relationships with top faculty and industry professionals. Dave is also a founder and permanent faulty member for The Performing Arts Project, where he shares his vast knowledge of the industry and the college audition process with students during the summer. In 2009, Dave started the Dave Clemmons College Advisory Program (D.C.C.A.P), where he has been coaching students through their college audition journeys for the last decade. To find out more about Dave visit HERE!
Michelle has been working professionally since 2004, both on and off the stage, as an actress, director, and teaching artist. She is the owner of MJE Acting Studio and Co-Owner of College Audition Project. During her 25+ years in the industry as a professional acting coach, Michelle has worked with hundreds of students and professional actors both in the US and Internationally. Her clients can be found in universities and training programs around the world as well as professionally on Broadway, National Tours, Regional Theatre and TV/Film. She has won several awards for her directorial work both on regional and national levels. Michelle spent 11 years working with Jimmy Awards affiliates in Atlanta (Shuler Awards) and Kansas City (Blue Star Awards) as an adjudicator and committee member, often coaching the best actor and actress in preparation for the Jimmy Awards. Michelle is a frequent guest artist and adjudicator for State Thespian festivals around the US, International Thespian Festival, local high schools, and regional theatre companies, as well as One Act, Speech & Debate, and Literary competitions around the nation.
Michelle is also the Director of Education and Programming at First Act Theatre Arts in Kansas City, helping young artists grow in their theatrical skills and passion for the arts.
You can find out more about Michelle HERE!
Pat lives in Atlanta with her husband John, and their three adult children. She specializes in the college audition process, and in helping high school students reach their potential. She has worked in Theatre for many years, as a teacher, director, managing director, and artistic director. In 2011, she began to help guide students through the maze of the audition world. After seeing the difficulty firsthand when her son went to college for musical theatre, she realized there had to be a better way. She went to work for The Performer’s Warehouse, where she found her home. As the college program evolved and changed, she was able to help guide many students through this process. She taught the Senior Audition class at The Performer’s Warehouse, where she specialized in the application process, school lists, headshots, resumes, and audition questions. In 2017, CAP was formed as the team realized that students across the world needed help navigating through this process. Pat has helped students get into many of the best theatre programs in the country, and in Europe. She loves to work with universities, students, and families as they embark on this journey. She stresses to all that you will get into the program you are supposed to get into, and to remember that you will get out of a program what you put into it. She looks forward to working with you!
Darren Gibson grew up in New York where he was discovered by Eliot Feld. Darren, proclaimed by Feld to have a “…technique, which is prodigious but extraordinarily modest,” soon became the first student to graduate from The New Ballet School (now known as Ballet Tech), becoming a principal dancer and Ballet Master. Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times recognized Darren as a top ten male dancer on multiple occasions. Before the end of his time with Eliot’s company, Darren served on the Board of Directors for Ballet Tech.
Darren has accumulated numerous ballet credits, staged ballets for Richmond Ballet and Boston Ballet, and assisted Ann Reinking in an original work for the American Ballet Theatre.
Darren has made television guest appearances on The View, the UK’s Red Hot Dance, and various commercials and videos.
Darren has also been extensively involved in musical theatre. He appeared as a featured performer in both the New York Shakespeare Festival production and the Broadway revival of On the Town, directed by George C. Wolfe, where he served as dance captain and performed “The Lonely Town” pas de deux. He again held the dual role of featured performer/dance captain while working directly with Ann Reinking and Gwen Verdon in the National and European tours of Fosse. Darren later became a featured performer and resident director/choreographer in London’s West End production of Fosse. Other credits include the Broadway production of The Look of Love, City Center Encores! House of Flowers, No Strings!, and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. Darren was last seen performing in the Broadway production of Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, and later served as dance supervisor for the West End production of the same show.
Prior to opening his own studio, Gibson served as Artistic Director for TexARTS Academy and Director for the TexARTS Broadway Company, the organization’s pre-professional program. His work at TexARTS included choreographing/directing over 30 musicals and ballets. Darren served as a mentor, coach, and educator to students pursuing an education track to prepare for careers in the arts.
Darren spent four years as a faculty member of the Texas State University Musical Theatre Department, where he taught dance to students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at one of the top 10 musical theatre programs in the country.
Gibson recently completed an eight-year run at Stephens College as Artistic Director/Professor for the dance program and was instrumental in creating a new curriculum for the Conservatory of the Performing Arts at Stephens College.
Kurt is the Head of Acting at Missouri State University. He is a working member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. He has worked extensively since completing his MFA in Acting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), with union performance credits that include Broadway, national theatre tours, national concert tours, regional theatre, daytime drama, film, commercial print, and over 30 national SAG-AFTRA television spots. His movement, stunt, and combat work/stunt coordination have been seen in feature films, daytime drama, national commercials, and in professional and educational theatre circuits throughout the nation. As a lifelong environmental activist, Kurt has earned numerous awards for his work in Green Theatre including his numerous published works.
Craig Carnelia has had four shows produced on Broadway. Working with composer Marvin Hamlisch, he wrote the lyrics for Sweet Smell of Success, with book by John Guare, and Imaginary Friends with Nora Ephron. As both composer and lyricist, Craig wrote the score for Is There Life After High School, and contributed songs to Working. Off-Broadway, he wrote the score for Three Postcards at Playwrights Horizons, with book by Craig Lucas, and contributed to the review, Diamonds, directed by Hal Prince. Regionally, he wrote the score for Poster Boy at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Awards include two Tony Award nominations, two Drama Desk nominations, two “Best Plays” citations, the Kleban Award, and the Johnny Mercer Award.
As a teacher of “acting through song,” Craig taught renowned ongoing classes in New York for the Broadway community for close to three decades. His book, The Reason to Sing: A Guide to Acting While Singing, is used at numerous universities and conservatories throughout the country, including Stephens.
Alexandra Kathryn Dow is a dancer, singer, actor, teacher and choreographer based between South Florida and NYC. Originally from Boston, she grew up training and dancing at the acclaimed Charlotte Klein Dance Centers and Boston Dance Company. She attended AMDA in NYC and is an alumni of Broadway Dance Centers Training Program. Alex is currently a teaching artist on faculty at Performance Edge 2 Theatre Academy and School of Dance having also taught at The Humphres School-TUTS and The Met Dance Studios in Houston. Over the last 13 years as a performer she has worked regionally in New York, Massachusetts, Montana, Texas and South Florida including productions of 42nd St, A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Hello, Dolly!, Funny Girl and Spamalot. She serves as an Artist in Residence in the theater and dance at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach.
Nathan Peck is a Director/Choreographer, Educator, and Performer based in New York City who has been working in the entertainment industry for 30 years. As a performer, Nathan has worked in every facet of the industry: Broadway, Touring & regional theater, Cabaret, Film & Television, Theme Park, Cruise Line and Industrial. His experience on both sides of the table, as performer and as creative, has given him a singular perspective that informs all of his work.
As Director & Choreographer, Nathan’s productions have received numerous nominations and awards (Kinky Boots – Ogunquit Playhouse – Winner 2019 Broadway World Maine Awards Best Director, Best Choreographer, Best Musical & Best Ensemble & Kinky Boots – ACT of Connecticut – Nominated for 8 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards).
His unique sense of rhythm and timing has translated beyond his initial love of dance into the worlds of main stage musicals, cabaret, children’s theater, character movement consulting, and comedic plays.
As a performer, Nathan appeared in the original Broadway companies of Dance of the Vampires (Asst Dance Captain), Taboo, and La Cage aux Folles (Tony Awards Best Revival & Best Choreography, Dance Captain) as well as appearing in The Boy from Oz and the long running Wicked.
Nathan also served as the original and closing Dance Captain of the 6 time Tony award winning Kinky Boots on Broadway helping Billy Porter, Wayne Brady, Todrick Hall, Brendon Urie, David Cook, Tyler Glenn and Tiki Barber to the stage.
Nathan is a proud dance educator and is currently Artist in Residence with the Musical Theater program at the University of Central Oklahoma. He also spent 6 years on Faculty with the Commercial Dance and Musical Theater programs at Pace University. He graduated from Oklahoma City University with a BPA in Dance Performance and received the university’s 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Ann Lacy School of American Dance & Entertainment.
Faythe Kelly is a CAP Alum (c/o 2019) and graduate of the BFA Music Theatre program at Elon University (2023) and she is so excited to be joining the team for IGNITE this summer! After graduating she spent time working at regional theaters such as Flat Rock Playhouse (A Chorus Line, Cinderella, Dirty Dancing), North Carolina Theatre (Elf), and Actors Playhouse (Legally Blonde). Since moving to New York City in 2025, Faythe has performed at The Joyce Theatre, Sybarite, SOB’s, and Anthology33 as well as become a member of the JuxTAPosition- a professional tap company founded by Gwen Potter & Emily Gaffga. Faythe also teaches tap and contemporary with Interim Dance, an initiative to provide dance classes for professionals in NYC that is completely to free to teachers and students!
Recently in her free time she has found a love for line dance and country swing dance and has even created her own event called Y’allternative Rodeo (a line dance x emo night event in Brooklyn!)
She can’t wait to be working with CAP students at IGNITE and is so excited to be a part of their journeys as they grow and learn this summer!
Past in-residence guest artists have included Broadway performers Josh Young, Lisa Brescia, and Emily Padgett, along with special sessions featuring Frank Wildhorn, Stephanie J. Block, and Brian d’Arcy James.
Students have also participated in sessions with representatives from top collegiate programs, including Elon University, CCM (University of Cincinnati), Carnegie Mellon University, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), University of Central Oklahoma, Stephens College, Missouri State University, and Shenandoah University, and more.
7:30-8:30am
Breakfast
9:00-9:30am
Morning Team Meeting
9:30-10:30am
Warmups and Choreography Workshop
12:00-12:45pm
Vocal Technique Workshop
1:00-2:00pm
Lunch
2:15-3:15pm
Acting Technique Workshop
3:30-4:30pm
Audition Prep Workshop
4:45-5:45pm
Dance Technique Workshop
6:00-7:00pm
Scene Study and Partner Workshop
7:00-8:30pm
Showcase Rehearsal
8:30-9:30pm
Company Meeting & Jam Session
9:30-10:30pm
In The Dorms-Go To Bed!!
