Students in the Theater Intensive elective culminated a year of hands-on learning with the staging of an original one-act play titled
Innocent.
Theater Intensive is a conservatory-style elective that is co-taught by Mrs. Lea Gossett (drama), Mr. Joseph Cullinan (music), Mr. Kevin McCarthy (dance), and Ms. Amy Kate Byrne (stage combat). The first half of the year is dedicated to learning the fundamentals of these four foundational topics and then, in the second half of the year, students in the class collaborated to write, direct, choreograph, and tech their one-act play.
As part of the requirements for this cumulative assignment, the students had to incorporate certain elements into their script and staging such as certain types of lighting, solo and ensemble musical numbers, and stage combat. The script was written primarily by senior Tamia Burton and the lyrics were written to prerecorded instrumental music by David Irizarry. The one-act was directed by Josh Pereira and the course instructors provided assistance along the way as well as technical notes at the end of the rehearsal process, which students were expected to incorporate into the final performance.
Through this project-based approach, students learned a tremendous amount about theater production as well as how to work together, get through setbacks, and the many layers and complexities that are involved in producing and directing theater.