*Scroll down for the optional Summer Reading Lists*
Summit Theatre is continuously growing to meet the needs of our students. We currently offer 7 different semester long courses and 1 year long touring production class. All theatre classes can be taken for performing arts or elective credits. Classes are offered in both the performance and production aspects of theatre, and are designed to help students develop their theatrical skills in a structured, supportive and fun environment which encourages creativity, risk taking and personal growth.
Summit Theatre is continuously growing to meet the needs of our students. We currently offer 7 different semester long courses and 1 year long touring production class. All theatre classes can be taken for performing arts or elective credits. Classes are offered in both the performance and production aspects of theatre, and are designed to help students develop their theatrical skills in a structured, supportive and fun environment which encourages creativity, risk taking and personal growth.
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Theatre 1: Introduction to Theatre
Whether students are new to theatre or have years of production experience, Theatre 1 is a foundational theatre class for everyone! In this semester long class, students will gain skills and confidence in movement for the stage, voice work, character creation and improvisational theatre. Theatre arts are proven to help students overcome stage fright, develop public speaking and non-verbal communication skills while working collaboratively in a creative environment. |
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| Theatre 1 Syllabus |
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Theatre 2: Intermediate Theatre Techniques
Theatre 2 is a semester long scene study and monologue performance course where students develop and refine individual acting skills in variety of genres, including drama, comedy and classical texts. Theatre 1 is a prerequisite for Theatre 2. |
| theatre_ii_syllabus.pdf |
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Theatre 3: Advanced Theatre Practices
Theatre 3 is a semester long course in advanced theatre practices, which cover historical and world theatre styles: Greek tragedy, Italian Commedia dell ‘Arte, German Epic Theatre & Viewpoints. Theatre 1 & 2 are prerequisites for Theatre 3. This course is only offered in alternating years. |
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Musical Theatre
Musical Theatre is a semester long course in the triple threat aspects of theatre: acting, singing and dance. This course serves as a broad overview of the history, styles, works and artists of the musical theatre genre as well as a practical study in the development of the skills necessary for performing in musical theatre. Students will develop their acting, movement, singing and dance skills through a variety of genres and activities throughout the semester. The course concludes with a Musical Theatre Revue performance. |
| musical_theatre_syllabus.pdf |
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Stagecraft 1: Sets, Props, Costumes & Makeup
Stagecraft 1 is a semester long class that covers the design and practical skills of set building, properties creation, costume design and makeup basics. Students will learn how to approach a script with an eye toward theatrical design, as well as apply skills practically to school productions. It is highly recommended that students take Theatre 1 prior to Stagecraft classes and that Stagecraft 1 & 2 be taken as a sequence. However, there is no prerequisite and Stagecraft 1 and 2 can be taken out of order. |
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| Stagecraft 1 Syllabus |
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Stagecraft 2: Management, Lighting & Sound
Stagecraft 2 is a semester long class that covers the design and practical skills of stage management, theatre marketing and publicity, lighting and sound. Students will learn how to approach a script with an eye toward theatrical design, as well as apply skills practically to school productions. It is highly recommended that students take Theatre 1 prior to Stagecraft classes and that Stagecraft 1 & 2 be taken as a sequence. However, there is no prerequisite and Stagecraft 1 and 2 can be taken out of order. |
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Stagecraft 3: Independent Study in Production Design
Stagecraft 3 is a semester long class in which students take on one of the following production roles for a Summit Theatre production: Student-Director, Assistant Director, Choreographer, Stage Manager, Publicity and Marketing Manager, Set Designer, Master Carpenter, Properties Master, Costume Designer, Makeup/Hair Designer, Lighting Designer or Sound Designer. Students will develop their designs in concert with the director's vision, attend production meetings and work on a timeline to complete and realize all production designs for their chosen or assigned role. You need permission to enroll in this course. |
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| stagecraft_3_syllabus.pdf |
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Thunderous Applause Performance Troupe
Thunderous Applause is a yearlong touring production class. The class selects or creates scripts, rehearses and designs a one-act production in the first semester and then tours the production to local schools or other venues during the spring semester. Students must have taken Theatre 1 & 2 or Stagecraft 1 & 2 and audition/interview to be admitted into the class. |
| thunderous_syllabus.pdf |
Optional Summer Reading
"Our goal is to cultivate a supportive, inclusive, empathetic and diverse community of theatre practitioners."
With that in mind, STC is providing students with the opportunity to continue their education and growth through a variety of suggested play readings over the summer. We encourage our students to find ways to connect, grow and empathize with people of all genders, religions, ethnicities and backgrounds. Theatre is a place to come together. To SHARE our stories. To CONNECT and to LEARN from one another.
With that in mind, STC is providing students with the opportunity to continue their education and growth through a variety of suggested play readings over the summer. We encourage our students to find ways to connect, grow and empathize with people of all genders, religions, ethnicities and backgrounds. Theatre is a place to come together. To SHARE our stories. To CONNECT and to LEARN from one another.
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Race in America Reading List
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry A pioneering work by an African-American playwright in 1959 representing the experience of a black family in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood as they attempt to "better" themselves with an insurance payout following the death of the father. It was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway with the first black director, Lloyd Richards and was nominated for 4 Tony Awards. Two film versions exist: 1961 starring Sidney Poitier and another in 2008 starring Audra McDonald. Caroline, or Change book and lyrics by Tony Kushner score by Jeanine Tesori A play about a young Jewish boy and his relationship with his black maid in the 1960s. Please note this title is by a white playwright. However, Tony Kushner based the play off of his own boyhood experience growing up in Louisiana with an African-American maid. Eclipsed by Danai Gurira This play is not about the American experience, but rather a story of five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War. Why is it in this list? It became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway...in 2009. Not 1975 or even 1989. 2009. Fences by August Wilson The play follows Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old man who struggles to provide for his wife and son in a time when slavery is over but the civil rights movement has still not come to fruition. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play in 1987. A movie adaptation was made in 2016. for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntzoke Shang The play follows seven nameless woman through a world of racism, oppression, and sexism. These women of color are named after the colors of the rainbow: Lady in Red, Lady in Blue, Lady in Purple, Lady in Yellow, Lady in Brown, Lady in Green, and Lady in Orange. They tell their stories and the stories of other women they know through poetry, music, and dance. "Master Harold"...and the Boys by Athol Fugard This play is not about American racism, but rather takes place in South Africa during apartheid era, and depicts how institutionalized racism, bigotry or hatred can become absorbed by those who live under it. The play won a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics' Circle Award in 1982 and has been adapted to film twice: 1985 and 2010. Ragtime Book by Terrence McNally Music by Stephen Flaherty and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Set in the early 20th century, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in the United States: African Americans; upper-class suburbanites, and Eastern European immigrants. The musical was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won 4 in 1998. The Colored Museum by George C. Wolf In a series of 11 “exhibits” the play explores and satires prominent themes and identities of African-American culture. The Color Purple book by Marsha Norman music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray The show follows the journey of Celie, an African-American woman in the American South for 35 years of her life and her experience struggling with poverty and abuse. Based off the 1982 novel by Alice Walker. There was also a film adaptation made in 1985. Topdog/Underdog by Suzi Lori Parks The play chronicles the adult lives of two African-American brothers, unfortunately named Lincoln and Booth, as they cope with women, work, poverty, gambling, racism, and their troubled upbringings. Tensions slowly boil and build between brothers with completely opposite goals and motivations. In its beautiful simplicity, this play demonstrates how race can be both a performance and a prison. Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith "Documentary Theatre" piece using the words of real people who experience the Los Angeles riots in 1992 as a one-woman show. A film version starring Deavere Smith was made in 2000. |
Pride Month Reading List
Angels in America by Tony Kushner A two-part, seven hour mini-epic that is a complex, often metaphorical, and at times symbolic examination of AIDS and homosexuality in America in the 1980s. The play won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award for Best Play and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. In 2003, HBO adapted the play into a miniseries. The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman Set in a fictional New England town in the 1930s, the play tells the story of two women who are unjustly accused of homosexual activity by one of their students. The outraged community quickly withdraws all of their students, causing a witch hunt that ultimately forces the school to close. At its premiere, the production was a controversial piece that caused the author to be blacklisted from Hollywood. Today, it remains a haunting reminder of the horrors of intolerance. Fun Home Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron Music by Jeanine Tesori Tells the autobiographical story of lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel and her relationship with her closeted gay father growing up in Pennsylvania. The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2014 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015. Indecent by Paula Vogel The play tells the story of Sholem Asch’s controversial play, The God of Vengeance, and the passionate artists who risked everything to bring it to the stage. The story—about the daughter of a brothel owner who falls in love with one of her father’s prostitutes—was polarizing even at its first readings, with many of Asch’s fellows arising him to burn it. The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez An exploration of gay history set in New York City a generation after the HIV/AIDS crisis of the ‘80s and ‘90s, as a group of gay men struggle to connect to the past and maintain a sense of history. The play was inspired by the novel Howard's End by E.M. Forster. Kinky Boots Book by Harvey Fierstein Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper Inspired by true events, the play tells the story about the friendship created between a shoe factory owner and a drag queen when they partner up to save a factory by making shoes for women...for men. The musical is based off of the 2005 British film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth. The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the Techtonic Theater Project A "Documentary Theatre" play about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. The play was adapted into a film in 2002. The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer The play is an autobiographical play which focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. The play was adapted into a film in 2014. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert book by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott Adapted from the1994 film, the musical tells the story of two drag queens and a transgender woman, who contract to perform a drag show at a resort in the remote Australian desert. As they head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla, the three friends come to the forefront of a comedy of errors, encountering a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while widening comfort zones and finding new horizons. Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein A series of plays rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag queen, and torch singer who lives in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. |
*This in no way a complete list of important works.*
The focus in compiling this particular summer reading list was inspired by current protests and celebrations of Pride Month in June. There are a lot of plays that also celebrate Native playwrights, LatinX playwrights, Asian-American Playwrights and Muslim playwrights, just to name a few. If you are looking for titles in any other areas, email Oko and she can provide you with some titles and resources to get started!
The focus in compiling this particular summer reading list was inspired by current protests and celebrations of Pride Month in June. There are a lot of plays that also celebrate Native playwrights, LatinX playwrights, Asian-American Playwrights and Muslim playwrights, just to name a few. If you are looking for titles in any other areas, email Oko and she can provide you with some titles and resources to get started!