Carpe Diem Theater
Welcome to Carpe Diem Theater
Carpe Diem Theater, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit that was founded in 2011 to fill the need for an affordable, accessible summer theater opportunity in Saratoga County.
Since its founding, CDT has offered Camp, an intensive four-week summer program that teaches children grades 2 through 10 the basics of theater through daily rehearsals, theater games, master classes, and a culminating performance weekend for the entire community. Once students graduate from Camp, they have the opportunity to apply to the Counselor Program, which provides them with a summer job for three years and invaluable training in arts leadership under the mentorship of Carpe Diem’s Executive and Artistic Directors. Over the years, three more programs have been introduced to great success:
- Realizations On & Off The Stage (ROOTS), a tuition-free workshop series led by Broadway professionals who present community learners of all ages with critical information about the roles and responsibilities of theater makers.
- Technical Rehearsal, Education, & Experience (TREE), a four-week program led by local theater professionals that provides a unique technical theater experience for students in grades 6 through 12.
- Showcase, a one-week theater intensive and performance opportunity open to students ages 16-22 years old, culminating in performers making their New York City debuts in a unique encore at one of New York’s top cabaret venues.
CDT is hosted at the historic Round Lake Auditorium in Round Lake, New York, and as of the 2024 season, now serves more than 170 performers from 16 school districts and many university programs. We welcome more than 2,800 audience members annually and employ a seasonal staff of 15 area high school students, 50 community volunteers, and eight visiting teaching artists. Partnerships with The Green Room 42 in New York City and Fort Salem Theater in Salem, New York have given CDT and its participants the opportunity to build bridges to new audiences and theater industry professionals at large.
Support our 2025 Campaign
Our programming is sustained by generous community support from families and organizations like yours. To learn more, please read more about our campaign below.
MEET THE LEADERSHIP
Alexandra van den Heever (Vandy) | Executive Director
Vandy is the Executive Director of Carpe Diem Theater, having served as the Choreographer from 2011-2014. She currently works at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. as the Manager of National Community Partnerships. There she serves as the lead for two national programs: Any Given Child, a collective impact initiative which brings together stakeholders in communities to advance equity in arts education, and Partners in Education, a program which partners with arts organizations and school districts to provide professional development for teachers in arts integration. This work has given her the privilege of collaborating with leaders from over 100 cities across the U.S. such as superintendents, principals, teachers, artists, executive directors, and elected officials.
Vandy received her master’s degree in Theater Education from Emerson College, which focused on community engagement through the arts, and her bachelor's degree in Islamic Studies from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Vandy received a Certificate to teach English from Cambridge University, and spent a year teaching in Rabat, Morocco and Istanbul, Turkey. She has worked for arts organizations such as WaterFire Providence in Rhode Island, ArtsEmerson in Boston, and The Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico. She is an amateur photographer and shares her work in Washington DC as a member of the Mount Pleasant Artists Collective. You can find her work on https://www.instagram.com/vdh.photo/ and https://www.flickr.com/people/alexvandy/.
Brady Walsh | Artistic Director
Brady is a multi-disciplinary teacher, creator, and arts leader. He is the Artistic Director of Carpe Diem Theater (CDT) in Round Lake, NY, where he was previously the Music Director from 2011-2014. As CDT's creative lead, he oversees all productions, develops workshops with visiting teaching artists for their ROOTS master class series, and directs their Showcase program, in which the Capital Region's brightest young performers, ages 16-22, workshop material on-site before making their debuts in New York City. Opening pathways for young people has been central to Mr. Walsh's career, as he spent the better part of a decade as the Associate Director of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition, evaluating singers across the country and in auditions at the Met.
He now runs a private voice studio, BTW Voice, comprising 22 high school and college students in New York's Capital Region and 12 young professionals in New York City. He holds degrees in Music Education and Music Business, as well as a Certificate of Opera Performance, from the Crane School of Music. His teaching and speaking engagements have included the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Opera Saratoga, Mannes School of Music, The National Association for Teachers of Singing (NATS), The University of North Dakota, Crane School of Music, and more.
In addition to the Met Competition, Brady was named a special guest at the inaugural Nicola Martinucci International Vocal Competition in Lucca, Italy and consequently produced voice competitions internationally including the Queen Sonja International Music Competition and CCM’s Corbett Competition. As an actor, he has performed leading roles with regional and community theaters in the New York City area. Additionally, Brady has completed a course of study in libretto writing through Einhorn School of Performing Arts and gone on to write an original full-length musical about Georgia O’Keeffe, The Artist, currently in development with collaborator Hannah Corneau.
ABOUT THE ROUND LAKE AUDITORIUM
HISTORY
In 1868, Round Lake, NY began as a “camp meeting” town, with as many as 20,000 gathering to hear rousing summer sermons. By the late 1800s, the town evolved into a Chautauqua-styled educational resort, complete with hotels, museums, and lecture halls.
Its literal and figurative center was the Auditorium. From a rough platform in a tree grove, it grew to an open-sided building with canvas flaps, and, in 1912, to the glass-enclosed pavilion we see today. Falling into ruin by the 1950s and nearly bulldozed, the Auditorium is now lovingly restored with modern amenities, creating a cultural venue of rustic architectural beauty.
The Auditorium’s crown jewel is a Gothic Revival-cased Tracker organ. Built in 1847 and moved to Round Lake in 1888, the 1900-pipe organ is the oldest and largest of its kind in the United States, and currently under consideration for National Landmark status.
The Round Lake Auditorium continues its summer tradition with a full range of cultural offerings. Concerts, performances, art shows, and social activities grace the 450-seat space, from June through August. Intimate in ambience but large enough to attract significant programming, the Auditorium is a unique, historic backdrop for any event… and a worthwhile stop on any Capital Region tour.
The above historic information is from the Round Lake Auditorium website which we encourage you to visit. This website will provide you with information about their summer season and allow you to see other performances at this incredible venue.
