written by Caroline Miesle, Music & Theater Guide
IB Theatre is just one of three diploma level arts courses available to our 11th and 12th grade students. This rigorous course asks students to not only learn as performers, but to approach theatre from multiple different perspectives, as presenters, directors, technicians, and dramaturgs. Hands-on experiences are approached through an academic lens where recording and reflecting on the process is just as important as presenting a final product.
After 18 long months, many of our IB Theatre students had the privilege of stepping back on stage for the first time. On October 28th, juniors and seniors had the opportunity to highlight their skills as actors, writers, and theatre technicians during one of our annual IB Theatre nights. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we had a limited capacity audience. They did a wonderful job of supporting and responding to these emerging artists!
The seniors showcased their skills as solo artists. During the first part of the school year, these students individually chose a renowned theatre theorist, learned about them, and then diligently worked to incorporate those theories as they learned and refined a 4-8 minute piece to perform alone on stage. This took an enormous amount of courage and dedication. Please take some time to enjoy four of these performances, highlighting the theories of Lee Strasberg, Antonin Artaud, Uta Hagen, and Augosto Boal (please note that there may be triggering content in the "Violence Against Women" solo).
While our seniors worked as individuals, our juniors took on the equally daunting task of creating new short plays through a collaborative process. Two different groups formed, creating entertaining and truly original new productions. One group decided to set their play in New York City. While they were unable to perform at the evening event, their classmates enjoyed a private performance earlier in the day. Four students took the stage to show how many different challenges and obstacles face those who try to pursue acting dreams on Broadway. The other group took a more whimsical approach, devising a creative fairytale story about a pig whose motivations for collecting taxes might be less than noble.
Please enjoy the hard work of our IB Theatre students as seen in the filmed performances linked here.
Performances:
Aaron: Mr. Blanky on Fury Beach -- recounting of a true story of an arctic expedition
Oliver: There's No Place Like Oz -- avant garde piece about Dorothy longing for Oz
Rosa: Violence Against Women -- "Newspaper theatre" using articles about rape/assault
Soledad: Excerpts from Can't Hardly Wait -- a teen rethinking her relationship with a boyfriend
Collaborative Group (Anika, Eva F, Ari, Elsie, Shannon): "Pigs and Taxes" -- just a goofy, fun children's play