Leadership
Justin Eick (Founder, Artistic Director) has always had a passion for theatre and education. After graduating from U.C. San Diego, he earned his M.F.A. in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University and the Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia. He also completed the Stanislavski Summer School in Cambridge, MA and has his teaching credential from National University.
Following grad school, Justin served as the Director of Education at the Glendale Centre Theatre for five years where he taught multiple classes, organized field trips and conducted workshops at schools throughout the southland. He also was a full time faculty member for four years at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where he taught numerous courses including acting, voice/speech, movement, theatre history and technical theatre.
In 1998, he founded the highly successful Summer Acting Camp which he runs every summer as noted by the La Canada Valley Sun and has served over 5,000 students
since it opened. The following year, he created Shakespearience which he directs and performs in every year. Justin also wrote all of the study materials for the program which include lesson plans, worksheets and a wide range of Common Core aligned assessments. To date, Shakespearience has been seen by 100,000 students making it California's most widely attended theatrical field trip and has been profiled numerous times by the Glendale News Press, the Burbank Leader, the La Canada Valley Sun and The Shakespeare Standard.
Justin has continued to create original educational programs with the opening of the Summer Arts Conservatory at LACHSA in 2013, the Summer Film Camp in 2017 as well as the upcoming launch of The Acting Classroom in 2019. All of the educational programs created by Justin are operated and administered by his company, Theatrical Education Group, which he founded in 2004. Over 190 public and private schools throughout southern California have been served by the different camps, field trips, classes, workshops and seminars offered by Theatrical Education Group.
Currently, he serves as the Visual and Performing Arts Chair at La Canada High School where he teaches theatre full time to over 150 students every year. Since 2007, almost 2,000 students have gone through the LCHS Theatre Department under Justin's direction with his students attending top theatre schools across the country upon graduation including Juilliard, Carnegie Mellon University, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, U.C. San Diego, UCLA, USC, Wagner College, Emerson College and University of Michigan. Justin has also forged close relationships with local theatres including the Alex Theatre, A Noise Within and the Glendale Centre Theatre, to help provide his students and almuni with ongoing performance and employment opportunities. Justin's work at La Canada High School has been highlighted multiple times in various media outlets including the La Canada Valley Sun as noted here, here, here, here and here as well as by Los Angeles Magazine.
In his free time, Justin volunteers to teach free improv classes for GATE students at local elementary schools, conducts numerous professional development workshops for LAUSD theatre teachers and assists other high schools throughout the southland with their musical productions every year. He has also taught numerous classes at A Noise Within - an award-winning classical theatre company located in Pasadena, CA.
In 2010, Justin was named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by the National Society of High School Scholars for his work at LCHS. He received the Founder's Day Award in 2013 for his contributions to educational theatre and community volunteerism and was named Rose Harrington Educator of the Year by the La Canada Flintridge Educational Foundation in 2017.
A prolific director and producer, Justin has directed over 180 plays and musicals since 1998 (with over half of those at LCHS) including A Christmas Carol, Dracula, Cash On Delivery, Don't Drink The Water, The Curious Savage, Rumors, The Odd Couple, The Nerd, Barefoot in the Park, Beau Jest, Lost In Yonkers, Jake's Women, The Happiest Millionaire, Proof, You Can't Take It With You, Arsenic and Old Lace, See How They Run, Electra, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Othello, The Wedding, On The High Road, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Educated Heart, Cinderella, Man Of La Mancha, Crazy For You, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Hello Dolly!, The Music Man, Fiddler On The Roof ,The Sound Of Music, Mamma Mia and Chicago.
Madison Eick (Managing Director) has been performing on screen since she was a child. Beginning with her role as Patrick Stewart's daughter in Star Trek: Generations, Madison quickly forged a successful career in the film and television business with appearances on such shows as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Boy Meets World, Stark Raving Mad, Touched by an Angel, ER, Angel and Everybody Hates Chris. One of Madison's career highlights involved her role as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's daughter in Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut. Madison lived in London for two years during the shoot.
After graduating Summa Cum Laude with her B.A. in Public Relations and Organizational Communication from Cal State University, Los Angeles, Madison shifted from performing in front of the camera to educational marketing and producing. Since 2007, Madison has worked at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in a number of capacities including the Director of Admissions, the Assistant Chair of the
Cinematic Arts Department as well as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for LACHSA. As the Managing Director of the Theatrical Education Group, Madison has proved instrumental in expanding the company and its programs. Under her leadership, the educational programs have significantly increased their outreach with the Summer Acting Camp and Shakespearience both doubling their attendance. Additionally, Madison co-founded the Summer Arts Conservatory at LACHSA and the Summer Film Camp which serves several hundred students every summer!