Lake Braddock High School Program (Grades 9-12)
Information about FCPS High School Fine Arts, including Theatre Arts, can be found here.
FCPS High School Theatre Arts courses expand and enhance skills in creativity, collaboration, and communication through various theatre activities which support students in their development as goal directed and resilient individuals. The exploration of concepts and skills are directed to synthesize artistic identity, aesthetic, and expression through theatre activities, performance, and production.
Lake Braddock Secondary School offers up to six Theatre Arts classes at the high school level. More details are available in the LBSS Course Catalog.
Theatre 1 – This is an introductory performance class focused on empowering students of all levels of experience with public speaking and presentational skills through exploring theatre performance techniques. We’ll study and hone performance fundamentals through a variety of different projects, exercises, rehearsals and performances, including units of study on: Improvisation and Ensembleship, Monologues, Voice and Speech, Physical Characterization and Laban Movement, Acting Scene Study, and more.
Tech Theatre 1 (combined with Tech Theatre 2) – This is an introductory technical theatre (behind-the-scenes) class that is focused on providing students with hands-on knowledge and experience with technical theatre tools and vocabulary across a variety of different technical theatre disciplines, including: set design and construction, set painting, lighting design, sound design, costume design, and more. If you’re interested in being involved in Theatre, but you really would rather not perform, then this is a great course to take to learn more about the backstage opportunities and skillsets that are just as much a part of the theatre as performance.
Theatre 2 (Theatre History and Performance) – Building upon the foundational skills studied in Theatre 1, students will study major historical epochs of Theatre, learning how Theatre has changed and evolved through the ages, and how it has served to capture important ideas and social movements of the times in which it was created. Historical Eras will include the Ancient Greek Theatre, the Elizabethan Theatre, European Realism, and more. Students will read and study some of the most famous theatrical works, discuss them, and interpret them in either performance or design outcomes. The final unit of the year will culminate in a short play festival called The Living News in which students will study current events and issues relevant to them and create their own original works for performance (based on the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s).
Theatre 3 and 4 (Combined sections of Theatre Performance 3 and 4 and Technical Theatre 3 and 4) THE REPERTORY COMPANY – This is the highest level of theatre class offered at Lake Braddock, and it functions as a repertory theatre company nestled as part of the greater Lake Braddock Theatre.
A repertory company is a theatre company that produces, rehearses, and performs multiple plays in a contained period of time, usually holding two or more plays in their collective artistic “heads” at the same time. The Rep Company class will participate in the VHSL One Act competition in January 2024, as well as the Folger Shakespeare Library’s High School Shakespeare Festival, and possibly a third play later in the spring, depending on calendar and space availability.
In addition to this, the members of the Repertory company will also be studying fundamentals of the theatre industry, audition technique, stage combat, and more.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Q: There are so many excellent electives offered at Lake Braddock -- how can I fit theatre arts classes into my schedule if I am also interested in other electives?
A: Some theatre arts students choose to take a course over the summer and/or as an additional class during the school year. Have a conversation with your parents and your counselor to see if this is a good option for you. Popular options include Economics & Personal Finance or Health/PE.
There are separate registration process and costs to this option; helpful information can be found at
Self-Directed Economics & Personal Finance (often your choice between two sessions, one in late spring and one in early summer);
Online Campus (to take an 8th course during the school year);
Summer Learning: Online Campus;
In addition, students who attend the summer session of IFTA (Institute For The Arts) may have the option to take Self-Directed Economics & Personal Finance or Health/PE 9 as part of their course options.