Theatre

Performing Arts in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a liberal exploration of creating, performing, researching, and combining artistic expression in the areas of music, drama, and dance. 

During their music units, students explore a variety of instruments, and develop their skills in improvisation, composition, and music technology and recording, with fundamental music theory and literacy underpinning the programme. Students learn to compose in genres such as protest music, video game music, and electronic music and also perform music from around the world. 

During their theatre units, students focus on theatre for change, theatre design, devised theatre, movement pieces, realism duo scenes, playwriting, and performance. Students begin to explore their own personal connections to dramatic performance and to improve their skills both on and behind the stage and screen. 

MYP Performing Arts culminates annually with Artsapalooza, the final performance of the year where all students in Grades 6-9 showcase their learning across disciplines. Dance, drama, and music are fully integrated as students learn about different cultures from guest experts. Facilitators differ from year to year, but in the past have offered bangra, capoeira, samba, boal, gamelan, shadow puppetry, and taiko drumming - to name a few!
 

LEAP electives allow students the opportunity to engage with a specific area of theatre in a deeper and more focussed way. Whether they are learning a new skill or continuing to develop an existing passion, this programme has a place for every student. 

Our engaging theatre Middle School LEAP offerings include Theatre Tech, Improv, Tools of the Actor, Makeup and Costume Design, and Playmaking. Students explore the world backstage and develop their production skills to step outside their comfort zone, sharpen their creativity, and study their craft from different angles.

Grade 10 Theatre is a physical, fun and dynamic course which aims to further develop students’ confidence working creatively and collaboratively with others. Students will develop their understanding and abilities in the theatre arts through the exploration of six different areas of practice:

• Physical Theatre: using the work/method of the Frantic Assembly Theatre Company, students use movement and dance choreography to break down every interaction on stage into its essential movements and then rebuild it to deepen the storytelling.
• Advanced Vocal Skills: students learn how to improve verbal communication with different audiences by performing dynamic Shakespeare scenes tied to the English curriculum.  
• Trestle Mask Skills: students are introduced to clowning and physical comedy, not only because it is fun but also because it requires them to step outside of their comfort zone and express themselves in a new and different way.
• Contemporary Playwriting: students stage 21st century plays that are of interest to them and through which they explore themes and issues that they see reflected in today’s society.
• Devising Theatre: students work in small groups to create their own plays about topics that speak to them personally. 
• Theatre Design: by applying art, craft and film/photography skills to live performance, students have the opportunity to design the lights, costumes, set, and sound for group and individual pieces. 

Students also create a full-scope, whole class performance each spring where all of these skills are tied together. 
 

The study of theatre in the Diploma Programme (DP) is a wide-ranging examination of what it is to communicate, collaborate, and create in the 21st century. Students work on their feet, exploring ways in which we have shaped our collective conversations over thousands of years and across world cultures. Students hone a sense of where they fit within those conversations and consider how they might most effectively initiate change in the modern world. 

Lessons are collaborative with major projects requiring students to produce portfolios, give presentations, and perform. There is no final written examination. Furthermore, there is no need to be an accomplished performer to achieve at the highest level; students will learn and develop through the course. There is a high degree of autonomy over the specific work that students do and there is huge scope for interdisciplinary study. Taking Spanish? We can cover Lorca. Really enjoy math? We’ll take in Complicite’s ‘A Disappearing Number’. Students also help choose the live theatre and performance events they’ll enjoy which are key to developing a critical eye. Indeed, it is this combination of flexibility of content and the study of essential communicative skills which make this theatre arts course such an excellent topic for discussion in any university application or interview.

Students complete the course not only with a firm grounding in the skills and techniques required for employment in the arts, but with a strong sense of how to express themselves, their beliefs, and their vision in the complex and crowded world of mediated communication.

Productions

Every year the Performing Arts Department puts on a Senior School Production and a Middle School Production. In the past, these productions have ranged from musicals to small-cast plays, and even the fully-virtual filmed performances of the 2020 school year.