Drama
In grades K-4, every St. Michael’s student participates and performs in a theater production. Each grade level performs their play during the school day and families are invited to attend. As students get older, they are given increasing responsibility, and the plays increase in length and complexity.
Each year, there is also a schoolwide afterschool production that students in grades 5-8 (sometimes even 4th!) can audition for. In total, St. Michael’s puts on ten theater productions a year, complete with lights and sound, often designed and run by the students.
Kindergarten through fourth grade students all have drama class once a week.
The focus here is on working to develop theater skills and a comfort in performing. Class usually begins with a warm up to get student actors’ tools ready: their voices, their bodies, and their imaginations. Students do physical, vocal, and creative warm ups. Class then shifts to theater games, which may be focused on topics such as ensemble building, how to use yourself as an actor in the space; then student actors start to create visual compositions, or character development and relationships between actors. They also work on improvisations; students are given a basic prompt and then act out the scene on the spot, collaborating with one another to carry out the scene.
Students learn how to use theater terms (such as “stage left” and “stage right”). They also learn about the tools in our workshop: how they work, what they are used for, and how to use them safely. They learn about theater etiquette and how to be a supportive team member: how to be attentive offstage, how to listen and collaborate, how to give and receive productive feedback.
In 5th-8th grade, all students take a general music class and a general art class; they also participate in the Arts Program, which provides each student with two arts electives per year that meet twice a week.
Our hands-on drama program teaches students a wide range of skills, from building, to painting, to lighting design, to sewing, to acting and theatrical skills.
Elective Drama Classes
For 5th to 8th grade
