Theater Arts

Theater arts provides children the opportunity to express themselves and develop their imagination and creativity. Participation in the performing arts can enhance a student's academic performance and richly reward the potential talents of individual students. Performers build public speaking skills and self esteem as they sing, act and dance in front of a theater audience. Cast and crew members learn to work together as a team as they rehearse together for the performance, construct the set, or build the technical aspects of the production. Through the creation of either small classroom performances or professionally designed productions, students exercise their imagination to transport themselves and their audience into a magical world.

In Preschool dramatic play is an essential art form in the classroom. Through dramatic play, children learn to role play and take on different roles to make sense of the world around them. Language confidence and acquisition is an important component to role playing and acting. Students are encouraged to “perform” during structured and unstructured time in the classroom. Structured dramatic play development also supports the IB programme and activities in the classroom are consistent with the topic of their current unit of inquiry.

An annual musical theater production allows Lower School and Middle School students an opportunity to participate in “live” theater. Whether you like to act, sing, dance or design, the St. Mary's spring musical offers a fun and rewarding opportunity for students to experience every aspect of being a part of a full scale musical theater production. Either as a member of the technical and lighting crew, helping to design and construct the set, or performing on stage, students experience what it means to be involved in theater. Past performances have included The Music Man Jr., Aladdin Jr., Peter Pan, the Wizard of Oz, Fiddler on the Roof Jr., and Annie, just to name a few.