Prep School - Theater
Department Overview
Theater education at Columbia Preparatory provides opportunities for the involvement of all students regardless of experience or abilities. We believe the theatrical process helps students foster a healthy self-concept; develop interpersonal skills; deepen their perceptions of the world; and become more aware of themselves as physical, social, and imaginative beings. Creativity is fostered in classes that ask students to act, improvise, direct, write, and design. Critical-thinking skills are developed through inquiry, interpretation, research, and collaborative problem solving. Classes promote unity between the freedom of imagination and the structure that self-discipline provides. Our new theater offers state-of-the-art lighting and sound technology in a custom designed multimedia facility with a seating capacity of 192.
Seventh and Eighth Grade Electives
This class meets once a cycle during a double arts period and concentrates on storytelling in the theater. Through improvisation games and dramatic exercises, students sharpen their skills for performing on the stage. Building on this practical foundation, students write and rehearse original material for a sketch show. In an effort to create a safe and productive atmosphere for creative expression, the students learn about trusting each other and the essential dynamic of teamwork in performance. In addition, since the students are responsible for writing their sketch show material, they begin to strengthen their knowledge for storytelling through playwriting.
Ninth grade - Introduction to Theater
A mandatory semester course for all 9th graders, this course provides an introduction to the following components of theater: improvisation, acting, directing, and playwriting. A mix of theater games and improvisational exercises, the course focuses on comedy. Students also learn the basics of theater architecture and blocking. They act in and direct small scenes that ask them to consider questions of interpretation as well as a directorial point of view. In the latter part of the course, the focus narrows to explore the specific characteristics of farce, with students writing their own script, and later performing in a scene written by a professional playwright such as Moliere, Feydeau, Albert Bermel, or Israel Horovitz.
Tenth through Twelfth Grade Electives
Theater History 1
Study the rich theatrical traditions of Ancient Greece and Rome, Elizabethan England, and Neoclassical France. This class explores the origins and development of tragedy and how it has been influenced by politics, philosophy, art, religion and social customs. Among the plays read are Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Attendance at professional productions is an essential component. This course fulfills one of the requirements for an arts history elective.
Theater History 2
The prerequisite for this course is Theater History 1. Students expand upon their basic foundation in classical theater history, focusing mainly on the 1890's through today. The exact syllabus of the course varies each semester based on current NYC theater productions. Past plays have included Major Barbara, Arms and the Man, Miss Julie, A Doll House, Waiting for Godot, Uncle Vanya, Tartuffe, Ubu Roi, The Importance of Being Earnest, Design for Living, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and Long Day's Journey into Night. Students create a final design project that may involve, among other options, building a set model or designing costumes.
Acting
For those who wish to pursue the craft of acting at a more advanced level, this class is an intimate, intensive workshop that includes work on contemporary and classical monologues as well as scene preparation, vocal and breathing techniques, and exploration of movement through the Viewpoints technique developed by Anne Bogart for the actor. Projects in the past have included Shakespearean monologues, extracts from The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, Eric Bogosian's Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, and John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves. Students attend a wide variety of professional productions as an essential component of the course.
Introduction to Directing
Prerequisite: Acting. The directing course is held in tandem with the acting elective. Directors study the work of such renowned artists as Constantin Stanislavski, Vsevelod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, Gordon Craig, and Peter Brook. With the actors, student directors develop their own multimedia pieces based on favorite films, stage one person shows, and direct a lengthy scene as a final project.
Playwriting / Screenwriting
This class is an introduction to the fundamentals of dramatic writing. We explore how writing for theater or film differs from writing fiction. Students learn to recognize devices used in dramatic writing through defining genres. Through writing exercises and workshop discussions, students begin to define their styles with original material. Students complete the class with a one-act or short-film script.
Theater as Film
This class focuses on comparing and contrasting the two major mediums of modern storytelling: theater and film.
Past Productions
2005-2006
A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare
2004-2005
The Rimers of Eldritch by Lanford Wilson
The Would-Be Gentleman by Moliere
2003-2004
The Laramie Project by Moises Caufman
The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi
2002-2003
The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
The Ash Girl by Timberlake Wertenbaker
2001-2002
Street Scene by Elmer Rice
Babes in Arms by Rodgers and Hart
2000-2001
Museum by Tina Howe
Shakespeare Cabaret featuring scenes and songs from Romeo & Juliet, West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, and The Taming of the Shrew
1999-2000
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
All In the Timing and Mere Mortals by David Ives
1998 - 1999
Stage Door by Ferber and Hart
Alice in Wonderland - text by Andre Gregory and Eva La Gallie