Pre-College Sample Class Schedules

Sample Class Schedule

Dramatic Literature (All Students)

This course surveys the history of dramatic literature, exploring both modern and classical plays, and the production of these works from text to stage.

Acting Option

Acting

Students are introduced to the discipline of acting through exercises, scene work and theatre games designed to develop performance skills and techniques.

Audition

Students gain experience and skills related to the audition process including researching, choosing and preparing effective audition monologues and developing audition techniques.

Voice and Speech

Students learn exercises to increase breath capacity and improve vocal quality and diction through an exploration of the International Phonetic Alphabet. They are introduced to one foreign accent and one English dialect and explore the basics of voice-over acting.

Movement

Students are introduced to a variety of disciplines in physical theater such as Suzuki, Michael Chekhov and Grotowski. Students spend a hands-on day inside the Disney Motion Capture studio learning about various specialty techniques such as those seen in the motion picture Avatar.

Styles

This class introduces acting and music theatre students to heightened language texts. Students read and interpret classical texts using scansion and text analysis, finding and using operative words, phrasing, basic pronunciation and active playing.

Musical Theatre Option

Acting

Students are introduced to the discipline of acting through exercises, scene work and theatre games designed to develop performance skills and techniques.

Audition

Students gain experience and skills related to the audition process including, researching, choosing and preparing affective audition monologues, and developing audition techniques.

Singing

Students are introduced to the techniques of breathing, relaxation and awareness of the singing voice through group and individual exercises.

Ballet and Jazz

Students learn general dance techniques and methods specific to music theatre. Coursework is determined by the outcome of individual dance auditions held the first day of class.

Electives

Acting and Musical Theatre students may select one elective from the following:

I. Directing
Directing introduces students to the craft of directing and the role of directors in the creative process. A series of in-class activities are designed to introduce students to basic directing principles.

II. Improvisation
Through participatory group theatre games and imaginative exercises, students learn to develop creativity, spontaneity, confidence and self-expression.

III. Playwriting
Playwriting introduces students to the basic principles and structures of dramatic writing. Students are involved in guided discussions about writing form and content and explore a variety of writing techniques.

Private Voice Lessons
Five, 45-minute Private Voice lessons are offered for an additional fee.

Design Production Option

Basic Design

Students undertake exercises using a variety of media in order to become familiar with the basics of design for the stage.

Costume

Students learn basic sewing skills and professional costume shop protocols. Students also learn how costumes are constructed and maintained throughout the life of a production.

Drafting

Students learn the tools and techniques of graphic communication in theatre production by participating in a range of drafting exercises.

Lighting

Students learn the basic concepts of lighting for the stage. Through hands-on exercises students learn about the artistic and technical demands for theatrical lighting.

Scene Painting

Students explore the materials, processes, and methods for scenic art in this interactive, hands-on class.

Sound

Students are introduced to the concepts, tools, and design skills needed to create soundscapes for theatrical productions.

Stagecraft

Stagecraft provides students with hands-on instruction in basic techniques of building for the stage, introduction to conventional and inventive building materials and standard safety protocols for a professional theatre shop.

Technical Production

Technical Production teaches students about production planning, standard scenic construction, rigging, structural design for the stage, physics of stage machinery and technical design.

Sample Class Schedule

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

9:00 am-10:20 am Acting
10:30 am-11:50 am Movement
12:00 pm – 1:20 pm Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:50 pm Audition

Tuesday/Thursday

9:00 am -10:50 am Voice and Speech
11 am- 12:30 pm Dramatic Literature
12:30 pm- 1:50 pm Lunch
2:00 pm – 3:50 pm Elective (Directing, Improv or Playwriting)
4:00 pm-5:50 pm Styles

Musical Theater Sample Class Schedule

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

10:30 am-11:50 am Acting
12:00 pm – 1:20 pm Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:50 pm Audition
3:00 pm – 4:20 pm Ballet
4:30 pm-5:50 pm Singing

Tuesday/Thursday

9:30 am -10:50 am Dramatic Literature
11 am- 12:30 pm Elective (Directing, Improv or Playwriting)
12:30 pm- 1:50 pm Lunch
2:00 pm – 3:50 pm Jazz

Design/Production Sample Class Schedule

Monday/Wednesday

9:00am- 10:20 am Basic Design
10:30 am-11:50 am Stage Management/Production Management
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:20 pm Lighting Design
2:30 pm-3:50 pm Sound
4:00 pm-5:50 pm Stage Craft

Tuesday/Thursday

9 am-10:20 am Tech Production
10:30 am-11:50 am Costuming
12:00 pm- 12:50 pm Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:20 pm Drafting
2:30 pm-3:50 pm Dramatic Literature
4:00 pm-5:50 pm Stage Craft

Friday

9:30 – 4:30 Special Projects