DRAMA
Primary – Middle School
Take a bow! The Wellan Drama program helps students gain confidence, interpersonal skills, and public speaking experience. Through activities in improvisation, storytelling, and script analysis, they sharpen critical thinking and verbal communication skills. As they explore the wants, needs, and motivation of characters in the play, they increase their ability to empathize with others.
Curriculum
At Wellan, we believe in the inherent value of each child’s voice and want them to know what it is to be seen and heard. We also realize that speaking in front of an audience takes practice and courage—it is a skills that develops incrementally when the environment is prepared and safe. At each programmatic level, Wellan’s Drama Program helps students find, develop, and own their individual and expressive voices.
In Elementary, Drama is taught by grade level in order to keep group sizes small and give each student a chance to have the performing experience they are personally ready for. Elementary students have Drama for 45 minutes once a week for half the year. By the time they reach the Voyager years, students not only have Drama for 45 minutes once a week, they also have additional opportunities for theater experiences through Drama Electives such as Playwriting, How to Audition, and Playing with Shakespeare. The entire Voyager cohort also engages in a Drama “Deep Dive” week where students explore production-based roles beyond acting and connect stage work their their academic studies in Humanities.