Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts

YADA® (Youth Academy of Dramatic Arts) has been offering comprehensive theatrical training to youth in Los Angeles for 27 years. YADA offers a safe and exciting environment in which students can learn, grow, and enrich their lives while practicing the skills of theatrical performance.

Classes are delineated based on age (3–17 years) and ability (TOTS-Master & Company).  And each class culminates in an unforgettable performance.  We also have improvisation for kids to encourage creativity, self-confidence, and ease anxiety. Private coaching is also available in voice, acting, and dance. 

We are pleased to bring you the highest-quality theatrical training for youth that Los Angeles has to offer. For the children, we offer spontaneity, enthusiastic imagination, and fun ways to implement personal growth. For the parents, we offer a safe, encouraging, communicative environment for both parent and child. What makes YADA come alive is the unique element that each child brings to the theatre.

YADA was created by co-owners Lani Shipman and Kim Harrigan to encourage children to grow as people as well as performers. YADA instructors are trained and dedicated to providing each student with a sense of emotional maturity and self-confidence, while at the same time giving them a quality theatrical experience. Not only do YADA students learn techniques in dance, voice, and acting, they also learn the basic tools for life: respect for themselves and others, commitment to a goal, & the courage to try their best. They learn not only to find love for theater but also to discover love for themselves.

In March 2020, when our doors were shuttered due to COVID-19, we didn’t let the magic of theatre stop.  We took all of that wonderful creativity, and YADAVISION was born online.  We got to see the joy the YADA students had in Zoom rehearsals—seeing their friends, laughing with their teachers, and getting a break from a very real-world situation that is happening all around them. It was a lot for our children, & YADA’s mission is to always uplift and encourage our students.

Now, YADA is back in person, and the theatre is again filled with the joyful voices of kids laughing, singing, and dancing! 

YADA has always been about creating and nourishing a supportive community of dreamers and doers, and right now, we need that more than ever! The magic of YADA is not contained within our walls; it lives in our incredible kids and staff.