Intrepid Theatre Company

Intrepid Theatre Company

Established in 2009 by Christy Yael-Cox and Sean Yael-Cox, Intrepid Theatre Company brings live performances of both contemporary and classic plays to North Coastal San Diego while offering a range of educational programs — such as live reads and drama workshops — for surrounding local schools. Over the years the Intrepid Theatre Company has hosted tens of thousands of guests and continues to grow.

San Dieguito Academy has been the home for the majority of the company’s plays since its inception, with some of the current season’s performances being produced at the Carlsbad Village Theater (and one at San Marcos High School), while live reads are performed in the Encinitas Public Library. In May, the City Council approved the company’s proposal to build a 130-seat theater on city property in the Encinitas Ranch Town Center. The deal also allows the company to expand the venue later to include classrooms and more theater space.

To give back to the community that has supported it, Intrepid Theatre Company offers a wealth of programs for students and children. Its Young Actors Summer Camp provides a fun and creative environment where budding actors of all ages develop theatre skills, learn the ropes of a production, and hone necessary social skills through group work. Classes are taught by professional teaching artists with focuses on acting, singing, and dance, with an additional specialty class that teaches everything from improv and fight choreography to stage makeup and puppetry. Each age group’s camp week ends in a showcase performance of a play for friends and family. This year’s camp performances include Aladdin, Newsies, Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, The Lion King, Much Ado About Nothing, and more.

Students can further experience the company’s works both through its coveted after school drama program or right in their own schools through Intrepid’s Education Tours, which bring Shakespeare performances to the schools. These performances are followed by Q&A sessions in which students can get an in-depth look at how actors think and how plays are staged.

In only a few short years, Intrepid Theater Company has become a major contender amongst the best of Southern California performing arts institutions. Earlier this year, it won the Don Braunagel Award for Outstanding Work by a Small Theater Company, presented by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. The company also won previous awards for acting and directing.

The 2016 season is under way with seven productions exploring how people choose to live life. Plays include The Quality of Life, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Real Inspector Hound, and Woody Guthrie’s American Song. This season’s inclusion of A Winter’s Tale and Titus Andronicus also marks the beginning of a new series called Shakespeare Unplugged, which brings the bard’s work to a more intimate setting. Tickets are on sale now. (760.295.7541, www.intrepidtheatre.org)