In grade seven's students are given the option of taking Creative Arts or Band. Students involved in this program explore half a year in Art and half a year in Drama. Students in the drama portion begin to work on creative expression in the form of mime, tableau. We explore vocal-expression through the form of oral story telling, helping students to improve and experiment with fluency. A great deal of time is spent creating original scenes, improvisations as well as props or costume pieces.

 

In grade eight, students begin to polish their skills they have developed. We begin with tableau, and further experiment with mime in the form of music videos. Students are introduced to monologues and have the opportunity to both write and perform them for the class. As a class we build on our improvisation skills regularly. In this year of the program we focus a lot more on creating our own original scripts, monologues, characters and short skits.

 

Finally, during the grade nine year students begin to make a lot of decisions in their learning. Some classes decide to explore their skills through playwriting together. Other classes work on a skill based unit in which they are given choices of various options that allow them to work on the present theme, while others propose appropriate assignments that are of interest to them. Some of our units include musical theatre, improvisation, scenes, building a character, and collective creations.

 

Extra-curricular opportunities are available to all students in the school through the Drama Department. Every year there is one production, and often more. All students in the building (whether or not they take Drama) are invited for auditions. The productions range from plays, variety shows and musicals.