Grace Theatre Classrooms

Program Overview

The Theatre program at the high school level is designed to give students a foundation upon which to build a creative practice and develop an artistic voice. Each class teaches both the analytical tools and practical skills necessary to be successful in theatre for college or career paths. Simultaneously, students are asked to consider how the tools they are acquiring contribute to their own present and future lives as artists and theatre-makers. The program consists of the following courses: Collaborative Theatre Arts, Theatre Practicum: Voice and Text, Analysis and Performance in Tragedy, Classic & Contemporary Comedy, Scene Study, and Musical Theatre. There are also introductory and advanced courses in Technical Theatre. Students who have completed at least three of these courses are eligible to apply for Theatre Studies Major, a yearlong academic major course. 

In addition to this array of classes, students are offered opportunities to perform and experience live theatre through Student Spotlights, Open Studios, Adventurous Audiences club, and the Grace Theatre Company. The Grace Theatre Company produces three main stage performances per year: a Fall Play, a student-directed Winter Series, and a Spring Musical. A student that takes advantage of all of the drama program offerings will graduate from high school knowing how to analyze a script and develop a character, work with classical and contemporary text, devise a scene from nothing, create a theatre company and produce a play, hang and focus lighting instruments, build a flat, connect to and share his or her emotions through performance, execute a professional audition, and articulate an artistic philosophy. Students also will have had the added benefit of viewing live professional theatre, working with guest artists and experts from the field in their classes and in theatrical productions, and making connections in the theatre capital of the world.