Total scam! Not as advertised! Not worth the money! Child was very disappointed! It is NOT about…read morekids, education, or theater! ALL IT IS ABOUT PROFIT. They put 50 kids in a gym with counselors that are not of legal age themselves (14 year old children). No structure! Chaos! Selling junk food to kids. My daughter was there the first day and it will be her last time at Improv Playhouse.
Our 12 year old daughter wanted to take an acting summer camp. We called Improv Playhouse, a lady explained that our daughter should register for a version of the camp called showstopper, which is intended for 4th-9th grade instead of broadway bound which is intended for 1st-3rd grade. The lady suggested that we read more about their programs. We went on the website and found the Improve Playhouse channel on YouTube. We watched the video Improv Moana Camp (Link provided), which featured a group of about fifteen 4th-9th grade children taking acting classes and putting on a Moana Production. We read the mission statement. My daughter liked it, and said that is what she wanted. The camp was $755 for 10 days (two weeks), ran at the middle school. We thought we did our homework. We were expecting 4th-9th graders, groups of about 15-20 children, and acting activities.
On the first day of camp, as we are walking in, all kids walking in are kindergarten through third grade. My daughter got nervous and said all kids are little. I told her that they probably have multiple camps running. Greeting the children were very young counselors. Most counselors were 14 year olds from the same middle school. They brought all the kids into a gym where they remained the entire day (9:00 am - 3:00 pm). There were about 50 children. They did not separate the children by age, there were no acting classes/activities, kids were not even taken to the cafeteria to eat lunch, but had to eat lunch on a dusty gym floor. There were no chairs, kids had to sit on the floor the entire day. They were selling junk food and candy to children at lunch. When my wife picked up my daughter, she was very disappointed and said It was very chaotic, unstructured, and a waste of time. She said it felt like the park district camp and is not what she was expecting and what we saw on the improv playhouse channel. Right away my wife asked if we can cancel the rest of the camp and asked to talk to someone in charge. Counselors went to get someone. When my wife explained that the camp was not what my daughter expected and we would like to cancel it, Mr. James said we can but we need to email the office. My wife emailed the office right away (administrative manager, Rachel Kwiecinski), but Mrs. Kwiecinski replied that there will not be refunds given. My wife called her and explained what was going on and asked her to refund the money, but to be prorated. Mrs. Kwiecinski said she will have to talk to the bookkeeping and will try to get a prorated refund. A couple of minutes later, the Creative Director of Youth Programming, Miss O'Leary called and said that there are no refunds. My wife asked her again very nicely to double check, and that it was not what was advertised and it was not for the age group that I paid for. Later that evening, the owner David Stewar emailed my wife saying they are an accredited organization and refunds will not be given, he also accused my wife of being disrespectful. My wife was very respectful to everyone she talked to, did not raise her voice or said anything disrespectful. My wife did not even ask for the full refund, which we should totally get because it was not what was advertised. In addition, he said that the video was from a local community house even though it was on their channel and suggested by their staff. According to his email "That video was from a small Highland Park workshop held years ago at a local community house, an entirely different format, group size, and production model. Our current camp format is a full-scale 10-day performance experience." Honestly, I am not totally sure what the difference is.
