Theater

Performing Arts

List of 1 items.

On the SA Stage

The Academy’s Fine and Performing Arts program develops the creative potential in each student, a process that is both intellectual and experiential. A rich, varied experience in the arts is essential to educating the whole child, and the Fine Arts Department offers courses in the visual arts, music, dance, and theater.

List of 4 items.

Early Childhood (PK-K)

Sewickley Academy students appear on stage as early as Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. Class-led assemblies, Grandparents and Special Friends Day performances, and the annual Kindergarten Program introduce the experience of "acting" for an audience and build a foundation for the increasingly sophisticated opportunities to appear on stage and practice speaking before an audience that students will have as they move through the Lower School.
Lower School (Grades 1 - 5)

Student participation in weekly class-led assemblies, morning meetings, and oral reports provides many opportunities for developing confidence in sharing information in front of an audience. Each grade performs on the Rea Auditorium stage for friends and family in a thematic production that aligns with their grade-level curriculum.

Beginning in Grade 4, Theater is introduced as one of the Specials classes, where students build their self-confidence, ability to speak memorized and ad-lib lines, and comfort in front of an audience. All Grade 5 students participate in the fully-staged Lower School Musical in the spring.
Middle School (Grades 6-8)

Art electives are offered in the following categories for students in Grades 6-8: digital arts, performing arts, and visual arts. Students select these courses in the spring by rank-ordering their choices in an electronic form, sent through email. All students are placed in six courses, two each trimester.

Theater electives include performance opportunities in the fall and spring through the Musical and Studio Theater Production courses. Elective offerings also include opportunities to develop and hone performing arts skills both on and off the stage, including acting, technical theater, stage combat, improv, playwriting, and costume design.
Senior School (Grades 9-12)

In Grades 9-12, students have performance opportunities and continue learning and developing performance art skills through elective courses. Performance opportunities include the Fall Play, Winter Musical, and Spring Arts Fest, which focuses on student-written, directed, and created performances, empowering students to apply the skills they’ve built up over the years in an independent and self-driven way.

Electives cover a broad array of topics and are tailored to the individuals taking them in any given trimester, allowing students to pursue their personal passions and goals as performers and theater technicians. Recent electives have given students the opportunity to create lighting designs for Sewickley Academy productions, learn advanced stage combat, improve skills in particular genres of music and dance, and become better prepared for the professional audition process.