The Upper School
Drama Program offers many different classes including: Drama I:
Beginning Acting, Drama II: Advanced Acting, Musical Theatre, Company
Players, Directing Seminar, and Technical Theatre. The courses are
designed to train both the serious and beginning student, while
encouraging continued theater participation and appreciation. Acting
classes address scene study, script analysis, voice, movement,
monologues, stage combat, Shakespeare, Greek theater, and theater for
youth. The musical theatre class produces and performs an annual
Broadway revue called Broadway Spectacular. Company Players is also a
production class usually held during the spring term. The Directing
Seminar produces the 10-Mintue Play Festival, which presents
student-directed work. If students have an interest in set design and
construction, they can participate in our shop—building sets
for Upper School and Middle School plays as well as for the annual
Lower School Spring Play.
Opportunities also
exist outside the classroom to participate in drama. There are three to
four major productions a year, and auditions are open to all students
in the 9-12th grade. There is an annual musical with an average of 80
students participating, both on and off stage or in the orchestra.
Finally, we are members of the International Thespian Society, a
national honor society that recognizes excellence and commitment to the
theatrical arts by offering membership to students who work more than
100 hours in theater during a school year.
Technical Theatre
The
Technical Theater class is designed to develop a general base of
technical, analytical, managerial, and creative competencies aimed
toward entry positions in theatrical construction. Students are trained
to be resourceful, imaginative, and technically competent while
integrating engineering and artistic techniques within theatrical
settings. The students build sets and props for each production. They
climb ladders to hang and focus lights, and they get their hands and
clothes dirty using various tools. Theater technicians are highly
versatile. From wood to plastics to Styrofoam to metal, materials are
used in creative ways. They might use a drainage pipe as a ship mast or
to carry smoke and fog. They might sculpt a car out of Styrofoam and
wood. (And let's not get started on what can be done with duct tape!)
If the designers can imagine it, odds are good that it can be
built.
No Strings Attached Players
The
No Strings Attached Players (NSA) is Walker’s after-school
drama program. Any student participating in an after-school production
is a member of NSA Players. Beloved drama teacher Ed Deevers originally
selected the name in 1983. His advanced drama students performed under
this name until his departure from Walker in 1999. The name was
resurrected in 2005 with the production of Rumors. Students in grades 9
through 12 are eligible to be members of the NSA Players.
International Thespian Society, Troupe 6768
Walker’s
International Thespian Society troupe began in 2004. The International
Thespian Society is the only organization to honor secondary school
students for outstanding work in theatre. Honoring meritorious work in
theater arts, students are granted membership by completing at least
100 hours of service during the current school year in the theatre
program. These students are responsible for every aspect of an Upper
School production. As members of troupe 6768, Walker students are not
only involved in all theatrical productions; they also participate in
community service projects throughout the year. Past projects include
AIDS Walk Atlanta, Relay for Life, Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta, Threads, UNICEF, and Habitat for Humanity.