Theater Arts

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisite: None

This class will be the first in the sequence, providing an overview of the many aspects of theater arts. Students will receive a survey of experiences in performance, stagecraft and literature. Course topics include: basic techniques in acting and improvisation, fundamentals of stage design, tableaus, stage blocking and ensemble work. The culminating project will ask students to view the high school theater production that semester (or another production if they cannot attend the high school's) and write a detailed analytical response based on topics covered in the course.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisite: Theater Arts

This class will develop students’ acting skills by allowing them to concentrate on character building and performance. Voice, speech, spatial awareness, and analysis of objective, conflict and tactic will be explored. Monologue and scene scoring will extend literary annotation skills into the theatrical context. Culminates in group scene presentations and/or solo monologue presentation.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day) 
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisite: Theater Arts, Drama - Acting and Performance 1

Students will continue their study of acting and performance with more challenging scenes and monologues than the previous course. Emphasis will be placed on character arcs within the context of a whole play. Written analyses, hero’s journey diagrams and fully scored play texts will be required from students. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day) 
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisite: Theater Arts

This class will train students to utilize theatrical design mediums as a tool of storytelling to enhance the literary contents of a text. Units will include:

• Scenic Design
• Lighting Design
• Sound Design
• Costume Design
• Mask & Prop Design

Culminates in design concept pitch for play or musical. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day) 
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts, Drama - Stagecraft 1

Students will select one of the theatrical design mediums they surveyed in the previous course and construct a full design plot of a published play within that medium. Examples: 

• Scenic design concentrations will build fully realized set models to scale complete with color, form and consideration of wing space.
• Lighting design concentrations will program a full light plot on the auditorium light board and submit a marked-up script complete with every light cue.
• Sound design concentrations will create a full design plot using Q-lab; etc.

Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts, Drama – Acting and Performance 1, 2, Drama – Stagecraft 1, 2

This class will allow students to create and execute a vision for theatrical pieces in which they lead and facilitate other actors and designers. Each member of the course will serve as an actor or designer in addition to directing their own pieces. Students will direct the following types of work:

• Non-verbal performance pieces
• Scripted scenes
• Musical theater numbers

Culminates in a directing showcase in which each directing student submits a personal statement of intent outlining their process, goals and interpretive analysis. Offered 2028-29.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day) 
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts

This class will train students to generate original theatrical content in the form of play scripts, choreo-poetry and verbatim interview-based transcripts. The class will be conducted in a workshop format in which students will hear their work read aloud by other readers and receive constructive feedback about their writing. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts, Drama – Acting and Performance 1, 2

This class will focus on theatrical practices within social science and community organizing. Students will read excerpts from Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, Ethnodrama by Johnny Saldaña and Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith. Experiential practice will include Newspaper Theatre, Verbatim Performance, Forum Theatre and Drama Therapy. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts, Drama – Acting and Performance 1, 2

This class will focus on classic and contemporary playwrights and poets across eras that may include William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Lorraine Hansberry, David Henry Hwang, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Anton Chekhov, Valmiki, Eugene O’Neill, Moliere and Homer. Works will be read and discussed in the context of their historical and cultural significance. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: ½ Credit Chorus, Theater Arts

Students will learn musical theater repertoire and technique, honing their vocal abilities in the context of acting-through-song. Students will each learn a solo 32-bar cut of an audition song and present it in a cumulative showcase. The class will also learn and present a full-group ensemble dance number. Offered 2027-28.

Duration: 0.5 year (Every day)
Credit: 0.5
Prerequisites: Theater Arts, Drama - Acting and Performance 1, 2, Drama - Stagecraft 1, 2, Directing, written recommendation from teacher

Students will have an opportunity to earn internship credit collaborating with local theaters outside of school hours. Local theater partners may include Penguin Repertory, Elmwood Playhouse, White Plains PAC, RCC Cultural Arts Center, Antrim Playhouse, Bergen PAC and others. Students will shadow one individual on the production team over the course of a show (auditions, rehearsals, performance, strike) and submit a written analysis of their learning experience and the skills and insights they have gained over the course of the project, as well as potential career and professional applicability. Offered 2028-29.