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The Drama Curriculum at ISPS is designed to teach students many skills regardless of whether they plan to study theatre or are simply preparing for life. Students from grades nine through twelve are taught basic skills that take them farther than they even realize at this time.

Students who have successfully passed through theatre arts are invited to join the After School Drama Fraternity where thespians participate in full scale productions. They are eligible to receive awards at the end of the school year. In 2003 the full scale production of Tennessee Williams’, Glass Menagerie was presented to the public for one night. This turned out to be very well received. This year the Fraternity presented Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in full flare. All the cast and crew demonstrated their acquired skills for three nights which proved to be the biggest success yet for the International School’s thespians.

Naima Thompson
Drama Teacher (2001-2008)

A Student’s Perspective of the Program:

Each actor has his own style and uses technique to enhance his natural talent. The students work very hard on this and quickly realize that acting is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Great thought must go into each character before it can be perfected. Students must know what defines a character and use their imaginations for its development. One of the most effective ways in which the actor does this is through finding similarities between himself and the character. This allows the actor to place himself more naturally in the place of the character and interpret his work and the character’s emotions. Other important aspects such as breath control and memorization are covered in this unit.

Students are assessed in the skills they acquire through performances done in pairs. Interpretation is based on selected motivations and assessment largely has to do with how well the work is interpreted. The students’ peers and instructors then critique them. Following this, the students must critique themselves and rate their own performances on a scale of one to ten.

Acting, however, is more than getting up on stage and performing. There are many pre-performance exercises and each student has an opportunity to lead the class in this warm-up. This includes breathing and voice exercises as well as physical exercises done in pairs or small groups. These activities help to release inhibitions and develop trust between the actors, an important aspect of relating to one another on stage.

Finally, the students present a small scale production to the high school population at the end of the school year. Through the students’ observations, we see how they have learned from the course and developed an eye for good performance skills. Even more importantly, the students develop speaking skills and confidence needed for life. 

Daria Martineau

A Student Review of The Importance of Being Earnest

British dry comedy and humor can often be hard to understand. The same can be said for comedy from the late 19^th century.  So for it to be combined for an audience who are used to blatant, crude, slapstick humor which they see on television, to understand and laugh at the punch lines is an admirable feat.  Firstly the actors had to understand the punch lines, a task which was nearly overlooked until the last week of the production. As a result many of the hilarious jokes which should have been punctuated were almost lost in the general dialogue. There is also the age old problem of actors not knowing their lines well enough so as not to create a momentary panic onstage. This is where the actors temporarily drop their character and the audience can usually pick up on those small mistakes.  Granted the actors did know each other well enough to realize when a fellow thespian was in trouble and pick up the slack without missing a beat.  They also knew play well enough to improvise coherently and perhaps make the play a little more interesting with the extra lines, humor and energy shift.

The set was simple, yet effective as the directors signature “less is more” rule shone through.  A fully furnished set from 1895 would have been a particularly difficult assignment and if there had not been a “second stage” for Act II, a scene change for the garden would have taken some time.  The hanging windows created shadows on the back screen made the illusion of space and were appropriate to both acts which were in houses.  The screen itself really set off the lighting scheme nicely and the silhouette effect proved to be popular with the audience: it introduced the characters subtly and set a good energy for the opening of the play.  The lighting was also simple yet effective to match the set.  It was, however, difficult to light the whole of the Act II stage and because the actors were used to working with a larger space with less obstructive furnishings the movement was more awkward.            

Overall the production was very well executed considering that the actors were also students and some of them athletes and involved with other clubs.  The rehearsal process was generally fun but could have been more enjoyable if all the actors had learned their lines on time because not knowing your lines only slows down the process for everyone else. Due to the small size of the cast it was like having a second family and an honor to go through another great learning process with such a great group of people. 

Emily Grindrod

 

Snow White - A Middle School Production

The Middle School production team has finally reached the end of a long journey…Snow White is here! Students from the whole school have been outstanding in their off-stage support.  

All in all it has been a remarkable experience and we proudly welcome all of you to share in our success. 

Thespians of ISPS…Congratulations! 

Ms. Thompson