Drama & Theater

In Grade 7, each student is exposed to all art offerings: drama, music, and a three-dimensional and two-dimensional visual arts course. Each teacher focuses on a different cultural aspect of his/her discipline, culminating in an interdisciplinary (with the History Department) study of Latin America, as the students research and celebrate a Spring Carnaval.

In Grade 7 Drama, improvisation and theater games form the basis of the course, teaching students to trust their creative instincts and encourage the instincts of others. Students progress to scene study, where they interpret and dramatize classical texts or first-person accounts derived from journal writing. Students discuss the role of theater in their community, learn to use personal experience to inform their work on stage, and end the quarter with a performance for all of Grade 7.

In Grade 8, students participate in concentrated immersion in two semester-long arts courses that meet four times a week. Students participate in a visual arts course for one semester and performing arts course for one semester. Drama-related electives include Knight Music (a show choir), MidKnight Players (a musical revue), and playwriting.