Drama

Drama at Crescent begins in grade 3 and continues to be a mandated part of the regular academic program through grade 8. In the Upper School, students may choose Dramatic Arts as an elective in grades 9 to 12. Our focus is on actively exploring dramatic forms and techniques borrowed from the world of theatre. Students are offered opportunities to creatively engage in dramatic experiences – be they theatre games, storytelling tableaux, role-playing, playwriting, scene production—in order that they better understand themselves, others, and the world in which they live. Because Drama is essentially social, students are also afforded daily opportunities to create, share and analyze drama collectively, in order to develop interpersonal skills. To support this vision, the curriculum is designed to provide:

• the acquisition of theoretical concepts such as the function of drama in society, and theatre history
• the exploration of characters and issues in practical, original constructions or through text analysis wherein students experience being performers, audience members, playwrights, technicians, designers and critics
• the development of the vocabulary required to reflect upon, deconstruct and evaluate their own work and that of others

While the course content becomes progressively more theoretical as students move through the Upper School, it is at all times, at its core, a revisiting of our innate sense of play, a nourishment of our imaginative selves and an invitation to share what it is to be human. Crescent provides students annually with opportunities to participate in its co-curricular theatre productions in the Centre for Creative Learning (CCL).