Theater Course Information

Theater

Literacy in the arts develops an understanding of artistic ideas and an appreciation of the concepts of form and style in any particular work. Theatre Arts incorporates all the arts: visual arts, dance, music, and theatre. Thus, the Theatre Arts Department develops aesthetic awareness and appreciation for the arts through the following fundamentals:

1. Developing communication skills through improvisational technique
   1. Creative problem solving
   2. Critical and analytical thinking
   3. Organization of physical and verbal responses
   4. Development of autonomous learning style
2. Developing acting techniques
   1. Body control
   2. Voice and diction
   3. Creating a character
   4. Acting terminology
   5. Stage presence
3. Understanding the fundamentals of play production
   1. Technical areas of theatre
   2. Casting/rehearsing
   3. Director’s role
   4. Organization of a production
   5. Theatre terminology
4. Presentation of improvisational and scripted material
   1. Synthesize all the elements of the production into one finished product
   2. Analyze the play as literature and as a performance piece
   3. Analyze characterizations and performances through post-production critique

The Theatre Arts Department offers the following courses throughout the Senior High School years:

• Acting in “Character”: Developing the Off-Beat and Disarming (Int./Adv. Level)
• Acting Styles
• The Work of Christopher Durang (Advanced Level)
• Advanced Scene Study: Serious Acting (Advanced Level)
• Auditions for Straight Theatre and Musical Theatre (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Auditions for Theatre (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Beginning Directing (Advanced Level)
• Comedy Classics (Intermediate Level)
• Commedia dell’Arte (Advanced Level)
• Design for the Theatre (Beginning to Intermediate Level)
• Directing Techniques (Advanced Level)
• Improvisation (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Interpreting the Cultures (Intermediate Level)
• Introduction to the Theatre (Beginning to Intermediate Level)
• Melodrama vs. Realism (Beginning to Intermediate Level)
• Moliere (Advanced Level)
• Murder Mystery (Beginning/Intermediate Level)
• Musical Theatre Technique (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Producing a One-Act Play (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Reader’s Theatre (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Scenes from the Modern Repertory (Advanced Level)
• Semester at the Improv (Advanced Level)
• Shakespeare and Company (Advanced Level)
• Stagecraft (Beginning to Intermediate Level)
• Teen Issues (Intermediate Level)
• The Classics (Advanced Level)
• The Contemporary Theatre (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• Theatre of the Absurd (Advanced Level)
• Theatre of the Mask (Intermediate/Advanced Level)
• What a Character! (Beginning-Intermediate Level)
• Winter Show (Advanced Level)