NAHS Theatre believes that the dramatic arts are an essential academic subject that help prepare students for college and career readiness. The theatre program functions as a core curricular area and produces well-rounded and civically-engaged theatrical artists. Every student has the opportunity to participate in a meaningful theatrical experience that cultivates the aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, and physical development of the child.
The arts, specifically theatre, teach students invaluable 21st-century skills like:
Agility and adaptability
Collaboration across networks
Critical thinking and problem solving
Curiosity and imagination
These skills will enable them to thrive not only in their chosen profession but, most importantly, in life.
NAHS Theatre cultivates four artistic processes that are the way the brain and body make art and define the link between art-making and the learner.
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
Performing: Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation.
Responding: Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning.
Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.
These processes are rigorously honed through the NAHS Theatre's productions and its curriculum, beginning with Theatre I: Drama Foundations and Technical Theatre I. The technical theatre curriculum continues with Technical Theatre II. After completing Theatre I, students may elect to take Theatre II: Acting the Method, which is followed by Theatre III: Honors Actor's Studio. The capstone of our program is Honors Advanced Theatre Practicum, a repeatable course in which students fully produce new or existing plays and musicals. In addition, students interested in digital media can study the art of filmmaking in Introduction to Film Art and Film Art II.