Arts
Programs / Arts / Theater
Theater at Grace guides students from their first theatrical games in fifth grade through the development of a full creative practice in the High School. Across every level, the program builds the same core capacities: the ability to collaborate, observe carefully, take creative risks, and use performance as a means of inquiry and expression. Students who engage fully with the drama program at Grace graduate knowing not just how to perform—but how to think like artists.
Theater in the Middle School provides a foundation for collaboration, self-reflection, and creative risk-taking. Using the process-oriented nature of drama, students develop observational skills and the ability to give and receive constructive critique.
Fifth graders learn to create basic scenes and characters through theater games and improvisation, building confidence and ensemble awareness from the start. Sixth graders apply these skills to the study of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, developing an appreciation for how theater can be used as a tool for social justice and change. Seventh graders study acting technique through intensive scene study—replicating, in many ways, the format of a professional acting class. Eighth graders undertake a deep study of Shakespeare, approaching the text from an actor’s perspective and leaving with a strong command of his language and themes.
Beyond the classroom, all middle school students have the opportunity to participate in the main stage Fall Play and the Spring Musical, working alongside professional designers and directors to experience the full arc of rehearsal and performance.
Students learn how to analyze a script and develop a character, work with classical and contemporary text, devise a scene from nothing, hang and focus lighting instruments, execute a professional audition, and articulate an artistic philosophy.
The theater program at the High School is designed to give students a foundation on which to build a creative practice and develop an artistic voice. Every course teaches both the analytical tools and practical skills needed to succeed in theater—for college, for a career, or simply for a life enriched by the arts.
The curriculum includes Collaborative Theater Arts, Theater Practicum: Voice and Text, Analysis and Performance in Tragedy, Classic and Contemporary Comedy, Scene Study, and Musical Theater, as well as introductory and advanced courses in Technical Theater. Students who complete at least three of these courses are eligible to apply to the Theater Studies Major, a yearlong academic major that surveys dramatic literature and practice from ancient Greece to the present, incorporates work with guest artists and trips to local theaters, and culminates in a devised ensemble performance.
Beyond coursework, students perform and experience live theater through Student Spotlights, Open Studios, the Adventurous Audiences club, and the Grace Theatre Company. The Grace Theatre Company produces three main stage performances each year: a Fall Play, a student-directed Winter Series, and a Spring Musical. The fall and spring productions are staged at professional off-site venues in New York City—including Joe’s Pub, the Theater at the 14th Street Y, and The Public Theater—giving students the experience of working at a professional level in the theater capital of the world.
A student who takes full advantage of the drama program at Grace will graduate knowing how to analyze a script and develop a character, work with classical and contemporary text, devise a scene from nothing, hang and focus lighting instruments, execute a professional audition, and articulate an artistic philosophy—having worked with guest artists, viewed professional theater, and made connections in the most vibrant theater community in the world.
