ROME — Registration is now open for the 10-week fall session of the Capitol Theatre’s Rising Stars Youth Theatre classes.  

Saturday classes begin Aug. 27, leading up to a fully staged production of the musical, “15 Miles on the Erie Canal” on Oct. 30.

All registered students will have a speaking part in the show. All area students are welcome. Tuition for the complete 10-week course is $140 per student. Checks, cash and credit cards are accepted. Registration may be made at the time of the first class. 

For more information, e-mail risingstarsjanet@aol.com. 

The youth program, open to grades 2 through college age, will begin with age appropriate one-hour classes.  Additional rehearsals will be added to prepare for the fully staged and costumed production on the Capitol Theatre stage.

The classes teach basic through professional acting skills and how these abilities will assist students not only in theatre, but later in life.  Focus is on improving reading comprehension, speaking skills, and making good choices.  The show teaches New York and U.S. history, as well as stage and life skills.

Janet Foote is a long-time professional in the theatre world, not only as a teacher, but as an actor, director, and designer for various companies and tours. She is also owner of the Chatham Theatre Company of Rome. The professional company produced shows for 25 years at the Beck’s Grove Dinner Theatre and another nine years at The Beeches as well as touring Children’s Theatre for schools across the state.  Adult audiences included over a quarter million playgoers from all over the nation and Canada.

With hundreds of credits in all phases of theatre, radio and TV, she found out retirement was not working for her or husband and theatrical partner, Rod Foote. In 2015 the couple and the Capitol Art’s Complex resurrected the Capitol Theatre Rising Stars program which in now in its eighth year under Foote’s direction.