DRAMA

“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” -Alfred Hitchcock

Drama is...

  • Empowering students to use their voices and bodies to tell stories and express emotions.
  • Negotiating and collaborating effectively on a variety of social and global issues.
  • Communicating ideas, perspectives, and points of view in creative ways.
  • Stepping into the shoes of another and developing empathy.

From the Council of Ontario Drama & Dance Educators

Drama provides students with an opportunity to take on roles and to create and enter into imagined worlds. They learn in a unique way about themselves, the art of drama, and the world around them. Students engage in social interaction and collaboration as they create, perform, and analyse drama.

Through informal presentations and more formal performances, students use drama to communicate their aesthetic and personal values. In these courses, they will experience being performer, audience, playwright, technician, designer, and critic while extending their understanding and interpretation of dramatic texts, forms, characters, and theatrical productions. By communicating in both their real and imagined worlds, students acquire proficiency in listening, speaking, questioning, and problem solving. Through the process of taking on roles, students develop and express empathy for people in a wide range of situations. They develop the ability to interpret and comment on a range of drama works and activities and evaluate their own and others’ creative work.

Courses Offered:

Grade 9 Drama

ADA 1O

This course provides opportunities for students to explore dramatic forms and techniques, using material from a wide range of sources and cultures. Students will use the elements of drama to examine situations and issues that are relevant to their lives. Students will create, perform, discuss, and analyse drama, and then reflect on the experiences to develop an understanding of themselves, the art form, and the world around them.

Dramatic forms and techniques include: the elements of drama, mime, tableau, storytelling, role play, improvisation, movement, scene studies, group creations

Grade 10 Drama

ADA 2O

This course provides opportunities for students to explore dramatic forms, conventions, and techniques. Students will explore a variety of dramatic sources from various cultures and representing a range of genres. Students will use the elements of drama in creating and communicating through dramatic works. Students will assume responsibility for decisions made in the creative processes and will reflect on their experiences.

Dramatic forms and techniques include:the elements of drama, mime, tableau, storytelling, role play, improvisation, movement, monologue, scene studies, collective creations, drama anthology

Grade 11 Drama

ADA 3M

This course requires students to create and perform in dramatic presentations. Students will analyse, interpret, and perform dramatic works from various cultures and time periods. Students will research various acting styles and conventions that could be used in their presentations, and analyse the functions of playwrights, directors, actors, designers, technicians, and audiences.

Dramatic forms and techniques include: advance scene studies, monologue/spoken word, movement, improvisation, children’s theatre, dramatic critique and source analysis, playwriting, technical theatre, dramatic photography, technology in drama, careers in theatre, history of theatre, world theatrical forms

Grade 12 Drama

ADA 4M

This course requires students to experiment individually and collaboratively with forms and conventions of both drama and theatre from various cultures and time periods. Students will interpret dramatic literature, other texts, and media sources while learning about various theories of directing and acting. Students will examine the significance of dramatic arts in various cultures, and will analyse how the knowledge and skills developed in drama are related to their personal skills, social awareness, and goals beyond secondary school.

Dramatic forms and techniques include: advance scene studies, monologue/spoken word, movement, improvisation, children’s theatre, dramatic critique and source analysis, playwriting, directing, producing, technical theatre, theatre genres, historical theatre, theatre for social change