WHY THEATER AND ARTS ARE OF SUCH IMPORTANCE IN OUR LIVES Arts education is an essential component of human growth and intellectual development. Theater contributes to the total formation of the adolescent and is an integral part of high school level education, both in artistic and human development terms. High school students are learning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of society and to apply that knowledge to their own lives. Thus, a major goal of the theater at this level is to provide learning experiences, the study of human and social behavior, which will encourage and help adolescents during this period of change. Theater is as an all-encompassing discipline that allows the student to explore, understand, and strengthen self-knowledge, offering diverse creative opportunities for self-expression. The study of theater has the ability to strengthen collaboration skills and sharpen problem-solving abilities, motivating students to develop ideas, insights and values, and provides learning of empathy through an exploration of the thoughts and feelings of other people. Theatre serves by welcoming, developing and encouraging a community of creative thinking, expressing freely and build upon the student’s experiences, beliefs and learning. The primary component of theater– dialogue– provides a uniquely effective method for studying the communicative functions of human language, thus, students will develop the ability to communicate through the art form. Theatrical training offers students the tools and skills to master the fears associated not only with performance, but with public speaking, interviews, oral examinations and many other experiences they will face as they grow. Theater students develop capabilities in all of the following areas: • Critical and creative thinking • Problem solving • Communication • Individual and collaborative planning and implementation • Historical and cultural understanding • Self- and social-awareness STAGECRAFT SYLLABUS - COURSE OUTLINE An outline of the subjects in a course of study This course is designed to give students an overview of theatre arts with an emphasis in stagecraft. The curriculum outlines what should be learned in an introduction to theatre course for H.S. students. This course will focus on 3 outcomes: Design Fundamentals: Learn basic design theory and then apply it - Construction Fundamentals: Learn basic construction practices, incl. the safe handling of scene shop equipment - Production Fundamentals: Learn about the various technical and design concepts of a theatrical production and apply those concepts to a Jesuit Theater production. The students will work in the shop with set construction, props, lighting and sound equipment, costumes etc., write both creative & research papers, and work as backstage technicians in the fall/spring play. Students will be expected to complete individual assignments and exercises, as well as work in ensemble with their peers. .