Theatre
At Waring, all students are exposed to music and theatre as a means of developing skills of interpersonal connection, collaboration, and expression.
Theatre is a multi-faceted experience providing students opportunities to act, design, write, and mentor younger students as they gain confidence as performers, orators, and dynamic communicators.
NURTURE YOUR ARTISTIC IMPULSES
Waring’s Theatre Program is focused on nurturing students’ artistic impulses and thereby enabling them to flourish in multiple performance roles and as confident lifelong learners who create fully realized and inclusive theatrical experiences.
Waring Theatre is an ensemble-based program that encourages students to participate in multiple design aspects while simultaneously fully developing their onstage potential. Through exercises, improvisation, and scene study, students increase their range of physical and vocal expression.
The Theatre Department has strong ties with Waring’s Humanities Department and strives to produce plays that dovetail with the themes and periods being covered in the upper-level humanities courses.
CONNECT, COLLABORATE, PERFORM
The Theatre Department currently produces multiple productions each year including:
- a large-cast fall play
- a collection of student-written plays drafted during the fall playwriting class
- plays for Core Night
- the Core Winter Theatre production
- spring Honors production
- an annual musical for upper-school students
Core Theatre Class
Core theatre introduces students to the fundamentals of theatrical experience. Students participate in multiple exercises designed to hone their skills as listeners, observers, and collaborators. Drawing inspiration from artwork, poetry, and folk tales, as well as their humanities readings, students create several plays and perform a selection of these during Core Night each November. During the winter sports term, students have the option of participating in the Core play, which often features a musical element. Our craft exploration resumes in the spring, when students read and analyze plays and then create and devise their own pieces.
Group 1 Theatre Class
Group 1 Theatre builds on the foundations established in Core Theatre. The course begins second semester and meets two periods each week as well as during allotted Group 1 humanities classes. Students participate in several character and ensemble-building exercises building toward a final production developed in collaboration with their humanities class.
Co-Curricular Theatre
Offered during the afternoon sports period, Co-curricular Theatre is ensemble-based and encourages students to fully develop their onstage potential while simultaneously requiring participation in all aspects of the production–including costuming, lighting, set design, and advertising.
The Theatre Department has strong ties with Waring’s Humanities Department and strives to produce plays that dovetail with the themes and periods being covered in upper-level humanities courses. Recent productions include: Radium Girls, The Secret in the Wings, Sweeney Todd, Little Women, Mary Poppins, Arcadia, and Middletown.
Elizabeth Gutterman
Theatre Director
Elizabeth is Waring’s Theatre Director and a teacher in the school’s Theater and Writing Departments. Elizabeth earned two BA degrees from Sarah Lawrence College–one in Theatre Education and Performance and one in Developmental Psychology. After Sarah Lawrence, she continued her studies at the Actors Studio Drama School. In addition to theater, Elizabeth’s interests include writing, politics, and “low-key” hiking. She joined Waring in 2013.
