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 for preparing to face a variety of everyday situations which require effective oral communication. You will prepare for and participate in mock college and job interviews. You will give informative and persuasive speeches and will learn how to debate effectively. You will work on organization of your thoughts for maximum persuasiveness. You will study diction, body language, and timing.

This course is useful for the accomplished public speaker who wishes to continue to grow and for the student who, from lack of confidence, is reluctant 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 the reading and performance of dramatic texts. You will approach problems of movement, voice, characterization, and interpretation through individual and group exercises. To develop acting techniques, you may use voice exercises, dramatic reading, and improvisational dance. You will apply what you have learned to a project in scene planning and presentation. Depending upon the nature of the class and your own interest, your teacher may 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 students find the balance between verbal and non-verbal communication 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 Arts 2 may not be used to meet the English graduation requirement.

You must be at ease on stage and have discovered some approaches to acting problems. Through sophisticated improvisation and scene work, you will solve acting problems that call for body control, imagination, and talent. You will explore ways of creating truthful moments on stage, as well as moments 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-length play in their senior year. Introduction to Directing requires students to read and research a number of plays and write up an application/proposal to direct, based on the play of their choice. Students will be required to submit a written research thesis/application, participate in two interviews and make an oral presentation as well as direct a piece from their proposal. The process runs February through May of the academic year. Students not selected to direct will receive 1 credit and be offered opportunities to student direct one acts or assistant direct with a faculty member and/or outside director 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 to Directing and been selected to direct a full-length play as part of the Theatre Ink student director application process. They have the full resources of our theatre department to produce the play they selected within the production season. The course continues through the production dates of their play and the time needed to fulfill the writing requirements. The 1 credit for Introduction to Directing is incorporated into the 2.5 credits for this course, and these credits cannot be used to meet the graduation requirement in English.

Advanced Directing is a "hands on" course where student directors participate in two intensive classes in June that cover basic principles of directing, production management and organization, audition processes and teambuilding. Over the summer students have reading and writing assignments from The Play Director's Survival Kit and Theatre: Art in Action textbooks. They are also required to see two theatrical productions and write about these experiences in their journal. In September the student directors participate in two more intensive classes that prepare them for the directing experience. They develop audition packets, hire production staff members and put together a production calendar for their play. Student directors run an 8-10 week rehearsal process that includes meeting daily with cast and crew during the school week from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m.. The final product is the performance of the play for the Newton community. Students keep an extensive 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 contemporary literature from diverse voices that challenges students to think about timeless issues that shape our lives.

Students in all curriculum levels read a core of important works in many genres, including The Odyssey and a collection of myths from varied cultures; 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 of Huckleberry Finn; Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God; and selected writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. Other texts that students may read include: The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, The Laramie Project, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Interpreter of Maladies, Angels in America, The Things They Carried, and The House of Spirits. Through class discussions of the ideas and artistry in these and other works, we help students learn to read with greater insight, sensitivity and pleasure.

We strive for excellence in writing by requiring students at every grade and 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 their reasoning with coherent arguments and specific evidence.

Students also learn to revise, edit, respond to written comments, reflect upon their progress, and take responsibility for their own work. They keep yearly, cumulative folders and confer regularly with their teachers. Through the development of portfolios over four years, students learn to see 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 take more than one. In the senior year, students may choose to meet the English requirement by taking two semesters of elective courses in place of a full-year curriculum course. Or they may take a first semester curriculum course and a second semester elective. However, it is strongly recommended that students who consider participation in one of the World Language Department exchanges or the Nicaragua Community Service program sign up for only full year English courses. Because participants in these programs miss the first two or three weeks of the second semester, they have great difficulty becoming fully engaged in a second semester elective. This seriously impacts not only the class but also their own academic performance. It is important to note that some credit-bearing electives and support classes cannot be used to meet the requirement of ten credits in English for graduation.