DRAMA PROGRAM AT WOOSTER SCHOOL
Inscribed on a plaque in the entranceway to the Wean Performing Arts Studio on the Wooster School campus:
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on..."
...William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Freeing the creative spirit, enabling the dreamer, and developing the technical skills required to perform one's craft are what the arts are all about at Wooster. A growing program gives students opportunities to dabble or excel in the fine and performing arts. Talented professional artist/teachers bring their rigorous skills training to the classroom, theater, and studio.
Wooster School's highly praised drama program involves students in playful as well as serious productions. With three shows a year, an Upper School drama, an Upper School musical, and a Middle School musical, our "gem of a theater," the Wean Performing Arts Studio, a black box theater, is a bustling place. In the last few years, Wooster actors have performed Company, The Best Man, House and Garden, Carnival, Metamorphus, The Dining Room, You Can't Take It With You, Laramie Project, and Arcadia. The Middle School has performed Little Mary Sunshine, Bits and Pieces, The Tempest, How to Eat Like a Child, and Alice in Wonderland. The enthusiasm on campus during any given drama season is palpable and the entire school comes out for these memorable shows.
Wooster Drama Department
Acting Classes for Middle (6-8) and Upper (9-12) School Students
Students interested in developing acting skills are invited to participate in weekly classes with drama director, Mary Bracken Phillips.
Classes meet in the Wean Performing Arts Studio and size is limited to ten students to allow for individual attention and coaching. These group lessons are not part of the Wooster curriculum and do not earn academic credit. Due to popular demand, these classes fill up quickly and early registration is suggested.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ACTING
These weekly classes are held during the fall and winter trimesters on Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. Some students may be asked to stay until seven on a voluntary basis for extra scene rehearsal. Students may enroll in one or both sessions. Enrollment is limited to ten students per class to allow for individual attention. Each session consists of ten classes. Classes consist of thirty minutes of acting exercises designed to produce truthfulness and spontaneity in performance, and thirty minutes of scene study to develop acting skills and range. A one-hour performance for parents is presented at the end of the winter session.
UPPER SCHOOL ACTING
These weekly classes are held during the fall, winter, and spring trimesters on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Students may enroll in any or all three sessions. Enrollment is limited to ten students per class to allow for individual attention. Teaching method draws from various techniques from Meisner to Stanislovski. Emphasis in the fall trimester is on acting exercises and monologues and in winter and spring on exercises and scene study. All classes focus on contemporary and classical texts, style, language, and physicality. A one-hour performance for parents and students is presented at the end of the spring session.
Mary Bracken Phillips, an accomplished actress, singer, and librettist, joined the Wooster School faculty as Head of the Drama Department in 2000. Since her arrival, the School has staged many wonderful shows. This season, they are performing Oklahoma! in the Upper School and Little Mary Sunshine in the Middle School. Bracken Phillips has ten years of teaching experience, a BA in theatre from the University of Kansas, and an MFA in musical theatre from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has studied with Sanford Meisner and Arthur Storch. In 2002, she received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to write a musical based on the life of Sacagawea and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, due to be performed by the Willows Theater Company in San Francisco in 2005. Bracken Phillips' previous credits include a Tony nomination as lyricist for the Broadway musical, Metro, nine Bay Area Critics Circle awards for the musical Brimstone, and numerous acting credits including roles in the musicals Annie and 1776.
