Stagecraft (grades 9-12)
Course Description: Stagecraft introduces students to a practical approach to technical and production aspects. Students learn the skills needed to construct scenery, hang and focus lighting instruments, and implement a sound system. Students are trained in the usage of tools, lumber, and machinery. Students will play an active role in the current production. The final project is the selection and analysis of a play and the design of a scale model.
Students interested in the performing arts will explore critical behind the scenes skills that go into stage production. Students focus on the production concept, technical roles, set construction, scenic design, lighting design, sound design, prop creation and publicity, costume design and make-up design. Students actively experience each of these roles by creating set pieces, scale set models, costumes with basic hand stitches and sewing machine instruction, lighting and sound plots as well as applying make-up. Students continue to explore personal commitment to the ensemble process by working crews for main stage productions. Stagecraft students also experience the need for effective communication skills among peers in order to achieve a single, unified goal realized in a production. Additionally, students recognize the numerous employment opportunities available within the theater.