By the end of Theatre Explore, students will appreciate and understand theatre as an art form. They will examine theatre’s historical development, study the roles of a variety of theatre artists, and explore the building blocks of dramatic performance. Students demonstrate appropriate audience skills, proper theatre etiquette, a focused and attentive classroom manner, and will improve their ability to collaborate on artistic projects.

Educational Goals:

Theatre Explore is an introductory level survey class designed to acquaint students with various aspects of theatre as an art form. The areas of emphasis for the course are:

¨ To train students to focus their attention and energy using a “Focus Circle” format

¨ To instruct students in appropriate audience, rehearsal, and performance etiquette

¨ To present highlights of theatre history from 600BC to modern times from a Western Civilization perspective

¨ To identify and describe the various occupations employed by the Theatre

While Explore is not intended to be an acting class, the students will do warm-up exercises, engage in improvisation and ensemble activities, learn preliminary acting concepts, physical/vocal skills, improvisation techniques, identify dramatic structure, and present both individual and group performances.