Acting Core Curriculum

The Acting curriculum is Stanislavski-based with a focus on inner realism. Core training in Acting Technique is bolstered by courses such as Voice & Diction and Stage Movement, giving students the tools required to maximize their expression. Advanced techniques such as Acting Shakespeare and Acting for the Camera allow young actors to deeply explore important aspects of the craft. Acting students may also select electives within Musical Theatre or Design & Production.

For information on graduation requirements and academic curriculum, please visit Academy Academics.

Required Courses: Acting Majors

This course applies the major principles of acting theory covered in the Acting Technique classes to the texts of Shakespeare. Students are challenged to develop a practical methodology for joining together modern naturalistic performance theory to the special demands of heightened language and verse drama.

This course provides the foundational studio experience for all Performance majors in the Theatre Division. Students are divided into four class sections to work with individual Acting faculty members and a select ensemble of peers for the entire school year, with the opportunity to work with a different teacher for every year that they are a Major at the Academy. Basic exercises from primary theorists are intermixed with ensemble improvisations and analytical and practical work with assigned dramatic texts.

Students study the specialized style of acting for the camera through exercises and scene work. Fundamentals of artistic approach mirror and reinforce techniques covered in acting classes for the stage, with attention given to appropriate adjustments in the scale of an individual performance. Students learn the basic approaches to utilizing camera techniques in order to give their most unique, truthful performance. All students learn and practice essential competence with the film equipment required for the class.

This course provides students the opportunity to learn about the audition process in a classroom setting through performance of their own material, as well as observation of others. Each student will be required to have three monologues prepared and ready to perform at the end of the semester in mock auditions. These pieces should work together to form "packages" or "sets" consisting of a mix of comedy and drama, classical and contemporary, which will showcase the student's individual strengths. This course is designed for juniors and sophomores.

Audition Technique provides students the opportunity to create quality audition material through individual appointments with the instructor. Each student will be required to have six monologues prepared and ready to be performed by the end of the semester. These pieces will work together to form "packages" consisting of a mix of comedy and drama, classical and contemporary, in a way that will showcase the student's individual strengths. Each student will meet with the instructor in a weekly 25-minute session. Students are required to identify the pieces on their own, although the instructor will give advice on appropriate material selection. This is a student-driven course.

This course applies the major principles of acting theory covered in the Acting Technique classes to the classical texts from such playwriting eras as Greek, Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration, and French neo-classical. Students are challenged to develop a practical methodology for joining together modern naturalistic performance theory to the special demands of heightened language and verse drama.

This class will provide students with the basic directing techniques needed to direct a play. We will explore composition, terminology and the ethics of good stage directing. We will learn to recognize the various theatrical styles and their influence on directing choices. We will learn to break a script down using units, verbs and arrival points.

Derived from Viola Spolin's improvisation games, Improvisation is a class designed for the actor to explore the freedom of the unknown. Using improv games, short-form improv, and long forms, actors will hone listening skills and learn to trust their intuition while they play. Improvisation invites actors to prioritize teamwork over individual satisfaction, and create new stories, worlds, characters and sketches using audience participation.

In this course, students are introduced to the work of African-American playwrights including August Wilson, Lorraine Hansberry, Ntozake Shange, Lynne Nottage, and Dominique Morisseau, among others.

This course provides students with the ability to create a three-dimensional character and theatre by using the technique of MASK to create physicality and expressive emotion. The course utilizes the techniques and methodologies of Neutral and larval masks by Jacques Lecoq and moves through to the work in commedia dell'arte. Students create pieces of theatre (verbal and nonverbal) that will be infused with discipline, instinct and technique. The work culminates weekly in a Performance Lab where students devise/create a world and character, utilizing these techniques in an ensemble setting.

Students focus on various techniques for bringing characters to unique physical life in rehearsals and performances, with emphasis on exploring the techniques of Michael Chekhov, Eugene Vakhtangov, Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, Augusto Boal, Moni Yakim, Viola Spolin, and others.

In this course, students explore the structure of theatrical scenes, and allow the structure to ignite vocal and physical impulses. Students learn to mark scripts according to "units" that have three distinct elements: driving action, event, and response. This class is designed to transform an understanding of the structure of a scene into a dynamic and thrilling vocal performance.

This course provides students with the ability to create a three-dimensional character and theatre by using techniques that focus on physicality and expressive emotion. The course utilizes the techniques and methodologies of Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski's physical theatre approach, Anne Bogart's viewpoints and psychological gesture work, and others. The students create a whole theatre that is infused with discipline, instinct, and technique. The work culminates weekly in a Performance Lab where students devise/create a world and character, utilizing these techniques in an ensemble setting.

Theatre Company serves as the primary "lab course" for the Academy Theatre Arts division, allowing students to utilize the skills they are developing in their other theatre curricular offerings. Theatre students actively participate in all facets of preparing a wide range of productions to be presented to audiences of the school community as well as the general public.

Theatre History is a critical thinking and reading class that is designed to set a foundation for students to have a true appreciation for dramatic literature. This is a year-long course that should be taken in the full, two-semester sequence. This course is required of all new 9th and 10th grade students in the Acting track, and is highly recommended for all 11th and 12th grade students in the Acting track.

This class explores the essential tool of the voice in an actor's work. Emphasis is placed on examining the breathing process as well as resonance, vocal production, and articulation. Students learn how to effectively structure and design a vocal warm-up to prepare them to be in optimal condition for performance.

As the primary mass communication tool for centuries of civilization, theatre has been used for social, political, and personal expression. The World Theatre course is both a practicum and anthropological study. Students explore forms such as Indian Sanskrit theatre, Japanese Noh, Japanese Bunraku, Sub-Saharan African folk/ritualistic theatre, as well as modern social and political theatrical movements such as Theatre of the Oppressed and Street Theatre.

Sample Acting Curriculum for a Four-Year Student

Semester I

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Theatre History I / THA303

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I

Semester II

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA053
Theatre History II / THA304

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra I; Biology; English I; French I

Semester III

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Improvisation / THA406

Elective Courses
Stage Management / THA317
Song & Dance Lab / THA302

Sample Academic Courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II

Semester IV

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Speech & Text / THA338

Sample Academic Courses
Geometry; World History; English II; French II

Semester V

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Voice & Diction / THA314
Classical Acting / THA315

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry

Semester VI

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Audition / THA320
Physical Characterization / THA410

Sample Academic Courses
Algebra II; U.S. History; English III; Chemistry

Semester VII

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA051
Acting Technique / THA053
Stage Movement / THA401
Audition Technique / THA405

Elective Courses
Directing / THA403

Sample Academic Courses
Precalculus; Ecology; English IV

Semester VIII

Required Courses
Theatre Company / THA052
Acting Technique / THA054
Mask / THA316
Acting for the Camera / THA402
Acting Shakespeare / THA404