Theatre Classes
INTRODUCTION TO ACTING
Intro to Acting is a year long course broken up into two semesters - Fall & Spring. This beginning level course lays the foundation for students to acquire the fundamental skills and tools for developing the acting process. Students strengthen their powers of concentration and focus as they learn how to analyze and create characters, break down the structures of monologues, scripts, and plays. Students create and access several different types of characters through the exploration of word emphasis, diction, projection, subtext and vocal variety. Students make clear and specific acting choices; learn the language of theater; and connect with their body, voice, and imagination while in performance. In addition, students learn how to behave as a professional actor who demonstrates respect and focus in class or on stage.
INTERMEDIATE ACTING
Intermediate Acting is a year-long course broken up into two semesters - Fall & Spring. (Recommendation only after previously taking a beginning theatre course.) In this course students are introduced to ensemble rehearsal and performance techniques, with an emphasis on play analysis, preparation, focus, active listening, responding and spatial awareness. Students learn how to create, compose, memorize, stage, and perform previously produced works. Students study Shakespeare and put Shakespearean text into their own words, using their own natural voice. Students demonstrate the use of iambic pentameter, assonance, alliteration, while discovering how the use of puns and double entendre were prevalent in Shakespeare’s works. Students make strong and specific acting choices, using articulation, breath, and physicality to be understood and believable. In class work will consist of monologues, soliloquies, and scenes. Students will gain knowledge of the language of theatre, ethics, and etiquette of theatre through seeing professional productions.
THEATRE DANCE - Fall Semester
Theatre Dance is a year-long course broken up into 2 semesters. We begin by briefly participating in basic ballet class dance. Ballet foundation has influenced many dance techniques, especially jazz dance. We will also include some mindfulness practices into our class routine. Our 2nd Unit will be a jazz dance unit that includes technique, anatomy, vocabulary, basic choreography and history. We will work on a Fosse style Jazz piece and will either perform in the Winter Arts Festival or an informal showing with performing Arts students. We will begin tap as a 3rd unit during the Fall. Students will first experience learning basic tap steps and eventually work up to more challenging tap steps. Students will be given various technique assessments based on the learning objectives from the class. Each assessment includes a checklist and either self, peer to peer or teacher evaluation and then, re-assessment. 
THEATRE DANCE - Spring Semester
In the Spring semester the class will select a theme or idea for our class Tap piece. We will work together to collaborate on a piece to perform in The Dance Company Show in April/May, which is a full scale dance concert that includes full lights, music, costuming and sometimes a set or props. After the performance students will have an opportunity to improvise using their preferred dance style of Tap or Jazz and explore new ways of moving, traveling and building dance combinations and phrases through exploration and some solo or hopefully small group work. In this unit of Choreography & Composition students will develop a dance project and manipulate it using choreographic devices and structures such as a canon to be shared in an informal performance.
IB THEATRE ARTS (Junior Year)
This is a year-long course in which the students take a closer look into theatre elements to prepare them for their senior year assessments. During the course of this year the students will create, present and evaluate theatre work both independently and collaboratively. They will acquire the perspectives and intentions of an internationally minded theatre maker. Beyond this the student will develop and practically apply performance and production skills and elements as well as investigate cultural & artistic context. During the Spring Semester the student will choose a theatre tradition to take a deep dive study for their research presentation assessment. During this study they will focus on a performance convention related to this tradition and perform a short piece of theatrical material to which they apply the convention. Students learn how these ancient traditions informed our modern contemporary traditions.
**To note: as part of the IB curriculum the class attends multiple professional performances, mostly on Broadway as part of our multitude of partnerships, in order to learn how to analyze, critique and observe how theatre is created and executed.
IB THEATRE
ARTS (Senior Year)
This is a year long course in which the student will work towards completion of their IB Assessments. Students will work in small groups to create their own
devised play created from a piece of stimuli. Students research a professional theatre company to model their methodology on to create their play. The full production of these plays is the first week in December. Students create a Director’s notebook using a play of their choosing in which they
analyze the play, create technical designs for two moments and create a director's vision and concept. Students will choose a theatre theorist to focus their solo piece on. Using the theorists method the student will create
a solo performance to which they will fully execute this performance (at the end of February). Upon completion of this class, students will understand major theatrical movements and developments from the ancients to post moderns and have a strong background in and understanding of theatre as a social influence in history.
**To note: as part of the IB curriculum the class attends multiple professional performances, mostly on Broadway as part of our multitude of partnerships, in order to learn how to analyze, critique and observe how theatre is created and executed.