170 Speech N no level
9-10-11-12 F or S 4 periods 2.5 credits
To develop your poise and self-confidence, you will learn techniques forpreparing to face a variety of everyday situations which require effectiveoral communication. You will prepare for and participate in mock collegeand job interviews. You will give informative and persuasive speeches andwill learn how to debate effectively. You will work on organization ofyour thoughts for maximum persuasiveness. You will study diction, bodylanguage, and timing.
This course is useful for the accomplished public speaker who wishes tocontinue to grow and for the student who, from lack of confidence, isreluctant to speak. (TECH PREP 2+2 eligible)
172 Theatre Arts 1 N no level
9-10-11-12 F or S 4 periods 2.5 credits
This course in the fundamentals of acting includes improvisation and thereading and performance of dramatic texts. You will approach problems ofmovement, voice, characterization, and interpretation through individualand group exercises. To develop acting techniques, you may use voiceexercises, dramatic reading, and improvisational dance. You will applywhat you have learned to a project in scene planning and presentation.Depending upon the nature of the class and your own interest, your teachermay offer instruction in lighting, costuming, make-up, set construction,and theatre history.
To enjoy this course, you need not aspire to be an actor. Many studentsfind the balance between verbal and non-verbalcommunication helpful.
174 Theatre Arts 2 N no level
10-11-12 S 4 periods 2.5 credits
Prerequisite: Theatre Arts 1 and the approval of the teacher. Theatre Arts2 may not be used to meet the English graduation requirement.
You must be at ease on stage and have discovered some approaches to actingproblems. Through sophisticated improvisation and scene work, you willsolve acting problems that call for body control, imagination, and talent.You will explore ways of creating truthful moments on stage, as well asmoments of tension and relaxation.
175 Introduction to Directing/Practicum N no level
11 S H Block 1 credit
Junior students have the opportunity to apply to direct a full-lengthplay in their senior year. Introduction to Directing requires students toread and research a number of plays and write up an application/proposalto direct, based on the play of their choice. Students will be required tosubmit a written research thesis/application, participate in twointerviews and make an oralpresentation as well as direct a piece from their proposal. The processruns February through May of the academic year. Students not selected todirect will receive 1 credit and be offered opportunities to studentdirect one acts or assistant direct with a faculty member and/or outsidedirector in the upcoming season.
176 Advanced Theatrical Directing/Practicum N no level
11-12 full year H Block 2.5 credits
Prerequisite: Students in this course must have taken Introduction toDirecting and been selected to direct a full-length play as part of theTheatre Ink student director application process. They have the fullresources of our theatre department to produce the play they selectedwithin the production season. The course continues through the productiondates of their play and the time needed to fulfill the writingrequirements. The 1 credit for Introduction to Directing is incorporatedinto the 2.5 credits for this course, and these credits cannot be used tomeet the graduation requirement in English.
Advanced Directing is a "hands on" course where student directorsparticipate in two intensive classes in June that cover basic principlesof directing, production management and organization, audition processesand teambuilding. Over the summerstudents have reading and writing assignments from The Play Director'sSurvival Kit and Theatre: Art in Action textbooks. They are also requiredto see two theatrical productions and write about these experiences intheir journal. In September the student directors participate in two moreintensive classes that prepare them for the directing experience. Theydevelop audition packets, hire production staff members and put together aproduction calendar for their play. Student directors run an 8-10 weekrehearsal process that includes meeting daily with cast and crew duringthe school week from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m.. The final product is theperformance of the play for the Newton community. Students keep anextensive journal on their planning and their directing process.
970 Stage Techniques no level
10-11-12 full year 5 credits
Taking Stage Techniques means being a member of the Stage Crew and learning technical theatre organization, design and implementation. You will be a member of a team working on lighting, sound, set design, and the production process. For each production in the Lasker Auditorium and Little Theater, the Stage Crew is responsible for designing, constructing, and striking the set, lights, and making sure the theater space is clean. Students will learn basic carpentry, electrical, sound, lighting, drafting, and construction techniques. This course meets every day after school. This course will be supervised by the Theater Director and Technical Director.
971 Stage Production Work Study no level
11-12 full year 10 periods/week 5 credits
Prerequisite: Stage Techniques
Students who work on the Stage Crew master many specialized technical skills such as set design and construction, stage lighting and special effects, as well as how to set up and run sound, lights and projection equipment. They learn scheduling, organization, and problem solving as well as provide microphones, lights, and other equipment, and appropriate furnishings for a wide variety of productions, programs, speakers, meetings, and special events. Equally important, they serve as student leaders and role models as they learn to take responsibility for the security, care, maintenance, and correct use of equipment and facilities. These particular students will serve as student leaders for the Stage Crew. They will help teach, guide and support less experienced students in developing knowledge and practical skill in the area of technical theater. They will also serve as role models that support a posi- tive and collaborative program. Students must be currently enrolled in and passing a related course from one of the following departments: Art, Business Technology and Education, Career and Technology Education, Family and Consumer Sciences and Music. This course will be supervised by the Theater Director and Technical Director. This course meets every day after school. See Work-Study Coordinator for paper work.
ENGLISH
The English Department offers a strong program of classic and contemporaryliterature from diverse voices that challenges students to think abouttimeless issues that shape our lives.
Students in all curriculum levels read a core of important works in manygenres, including The Odyssey and a collection of myths from variedcultures; stories and poetry from the Bible; Sophocles' Oedipus Rex; Shakespearean plays (including Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet);Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter; Mark Twain's The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn; Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God; andselected writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Other texts that studentsmay read include: The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, The LaramieProject, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Interpreter ofMaladies, Angels in America, The Things They Carried, and The House ofSpirits. Through class discussions of the ideas and artistry in these andother works, we help students learn to read with greater insight,sensitivity and pleasure.
We strive for excellence in writing by requiring students at every gradeand curriculum level to write analytically, personally, critically,imaginatively Ñ and often. Students use the process of writing to focus,clarify, deepen and expand their thinking. They learn to support theirreasoning with coherent arguments and specific evidence.
Students also learn to revise, edit, respond to written comments, reflectupon their progress, and take responsibility for their own work. Theykeep yearly, cumulative folders and confer regularly with their teachers. Through the development of portfolios over four years, students learn tosee the world as writers and understand that writing, as well as reading,is a vital part of life.
REQUIREMENTS AND ELECTIVES
Students must take one English course every semester, but they may takemore than one. In the senior year, students may choose to meet theEnglish requirement by taking two semesters of elective courses in placeof a full-year curriculum course. Or they may take a first semestercurriculum course and a second semester elective. However, it is stronglyrecommended that students who consider participation in one of the WorldLanguage Department exchanges or the Nicaragua Community Service programsign up for only full year English courses. Because participants in theseprograms miss the first two or three weeks of the second semester, theyhave great difficulty becoming fully engaged in a second semesterelective. This seriously impacts not only the class but also their ownacademic performance. It is important to note that some credit-bearingelectives and support classes cannot be used to meet the requirement often credits in English for graduation.
