NRHS Drama Department

100 Cable Road - P.O. Box 1887 - North Eastham, MA 02651-1887
Telephone: 508.255.1505 - Fax: 508.255.9701

Bulletin

Calendar

Directory

Directions

Judy Hamer

Extension 4269

Description and Events

The Nauset Drama Department is comprised of the set of theatre classes at NRHS and the Nauset Drama Club. Two major plays are acted, stage-managed, and crewed by members of the Drama Club each year; a straight play is done in the fall, and a musical in the spring. Additionally, the Honors Acting Class stages a 40-minute production mid-winter for a Festival Competition. Finally, the Acting I classes end their year with public productions which count as a major grade for the year.

The Nauset Players had a hit this fall with their production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Fantastic acting coupled with a beautiful set and a well-loved plot made the show one of Nauset's best.

Within a week of the closing of the Drama Club's fall production, the Honors Acting Troupe began busily rehearsing for a fundraising performance, “It’s A Wonderful Life” as a Radio Play. The show, though challenging for the actors, was successful, helping to fund the Troupe's trip to New York City this spring.

The Honors Acting Troupe's is now undertaking their performance of “The Laramie Project” for the Festival Competition, which they have been rehearsing since the beginning of January. The play runs February 28th and 29th at Nauset High Schoo Students proceed on to the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild Festival .

The Drama Club's spring musical is coming up , and auditions will be held in March. This year, the Drama Club has decided to perform ”Into the Woods”, a story of the classic fairy tales combined into a dark and yet comedic musical. The performance will be in May, ending the successful and exciting year for the Nauset Drama Club.

Acting I

Acting I is the class for anyone who wishes to get involved in acting at Nauset, whether it be their first experience on the stage or they are a weathered veteran. Actors in this class use the first quarter of the year to study scenes, through which they explore beats, motivation, and blocking. The next goal of the year is the performance of a student-selected monologue. Next, students study the aspects of the audition, including improvisation. The class is then expected to piece together all their acquired knowledge from the first three terms into a one-act play that serves as a major grade for the year. Students are graded each quarter on the performances of their scenes and monologues. Before the final grading of each selection, students engage in peer critiques, a sort of dress rehearsal for teacher evaluation. In these critiques, students both describe positive pieces of each other's work, and specify aspects that could be improved. This year, the student's end-of-the-year performance, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, is scheduled for April 27th, from 5 - 8 PM. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Honors Acting

This class, entered into by audition only, is devoted to a more advanced study of acting through preparation to enter the Massachusetts High School Drama Competition. At the start of the year, students choose a play to edit to the necessary 40-minute length. Students then audition for their play with a self-written monologue and a cold reading from the play itself. Once the competition play is cast, both class time and after school time is dedicated to rehearsal for the competition, which takes place in early March. During this time, students take part in various character development, projection, and over-exaggeration exercises to help them strengthen their roles. Once the competition play is performed at Festival, the students move on to their children's play, a short, light-hearted piece that they perform for elementary school students at the end of the year.

Shakespeare

Shakespeare, a more advanced acting class than Acting I, is devoted specifically to the study of Shakespeare plays through acting. Students study a set of works during the year that encompass a whole range of Shakespeare's work. For each play, students perform either a monologue or a scene for their grade. Through these plays, students study Shakespearian language, character development, and movement. Seniors, with the additional requirement of a formal paper and an informal essay on each play studied, can opt to make this class their required English course for the year.

NRHS Home | Nauset Public Schools | Massachusetts Deptartment of Education