drama

As art mimics both the beauty reflective of the Lord's creation, and the reality of the imperfection introduced by sin, so does dramatic art strive to truthfully imitate the good and evil inherent in humanity.  The purpose of the dramatic arts at The Academy is to teach students to understand and appreciate the faithful reproduction of what is beautiful and true in the world.  Drama does this particularly by allowing students to examine human interaction -- both with itself and with truths of Christianity.


GRAMMAR DRAMA

A classical drama program begins in the grammar stage, with memorization and performance of age-appropriate material (such as certain poetry or Bible verses), with an emphasis on speaking clearly, presenting the material understandably, and being comfortable performing in front of others.


In this stage, students are required to participate in Recitation, a competition involving performance of a memorized piece.

DIALECTIC DRAMA

In the Dialectic or Logic stage, students will progress to reading small plays and scenes, examining and performing them.  They begin to learn about movement on stage, character portrayal, and professional theater terminology.


RHETORIC DRAMA

In the Rhetoric stage, students read and perform classic theater (which, for The Academy, usually means Shakespeare), as well as more modern productions.  They will become familiar with the process of forming a character from a script, performances of all kinds of theater (comedy, tragedy), and will learn the details of backstage and off-stage elements, such as lighting, prop and set development, and stage management.


The Academy's D&R Drama Troupe has two performances a year. Every fall, they produce one Shakespeare play, and in the spring they present a more modern production.