Home Academics Course Selection Courses in Speech/Theatre
Courses in Speech/Theatre Print E-mail

SpeechSpeech

SP0111 Contemporary Communication 0.50 UNITS
Prerequisite: Required for Graduation, open to all 11th & 12th graders

Topics for this course will include interpersonal communication, intercultural communication, persuasion, and public speaking. Emphasis will be placed on practice, not theory, so students will actually engage in a variety of speech activities. The goal of the course is to give students the opportunity to practice those speech skills which will be needed in college and on the job.

Drama masksTheatre Arts

 Acting, directing, playwriting, design, literature, and costuming - enable us to explore the experiences of man in the universe. Theatre art studies human ideas, values, relationships, obsessions, and accomplishments. Practical experimentation and practice can increase our ability to present the experiences of human beings to the audience - both for enlightenment and entertainment. The International Baccalaureate Theatre Arts two-year program offers students training in various aspects of theatre including technical theatre, acting, directing, dramatic literature, playwriting, oral interpretation, and arts management.

SP031Q Acting 0.50 Units
Prerequisite: None

In this introduction to Theatre Arts course, students consider the actor's tools - voice, body, and mind - and the roles of imagination and concentration to produce convincing stage action. Approaching characterization, students learn how to memorize lines and interpret dialogue. An introduction to stage business, costuming, make-up properties, and sound prepares the class to produce scenes and short plays.

SP801Q Theatre Arts Workshop 0.50 Units
Prerequisite: SP031Q and/or a semester class in acting or drama in middle school or in the community.

This course will bridge between the Acting class and IB Theatre I through continued play study and scene presentation, focusing in depth on ensemble scene work, the role of the director, movement, voice, improvisation and character development. New areas of study will include the exploration of some major elements of technical theatre such as costuming, make up, and set design as well as covering other theatre topics like playwriting, theatre history and critical analysis of a live theatre producation.

Drama masksEN561B IB Theatre 1 1.00 Units
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Junior standing.

Through involvement in the Theatre Arts I program, students may develop skills in such areas as improvisation, mime, movement, blocking, breathing and voice, theatre studies and conventions, research projects, and written assignments on specific theatre topics. Students will gain both practical skills and academic background as they may seek careers in the various aspects of the theatre profession, or a major or minor in college. Students can focus on their major theatrical intention from technical crews to acting, from box office management to performing arts management. IB Theatre Arts I students will perform in our Little Theater for the public as part of their final exam. Trips to surrounding colleges and professional theaters will be planned. IB Theatre Arts I students are expected to work on or act in our school productions, or in some form of community theatre.

EN581B IB Theatre 2 1.00 Units
Prerequisite: IB Theatre Arts I. Consent of Instructor. Senior standing.

Students who enroll in Theatre Arts II must already have successfully completed Theatre Arts I. Theatre Arts II will delve deeper into what was covered in Theatre Arts I with a higher quality and maturity expected. The main core units for Theatre Arts II will be:
  • Performance movement
  • Theatre in Education
  • Theatre Studies II
  • Aspects of Production II
  • Community Theatre
  • Children's Theatre
  • Theatre Arts Field Study
  • Acting Workshop II
  • Staging and Production II
  • Technical Theatre II