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 Arts 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. Students will study and hone performance fundamentals through a variety of different projects, exercises, rehearsals and performances, including units of study on: Improvisation and Ensemble-ship, Monologues, Voice and Speech, Physical Characterization and Laban Movement, Acting Scene Study, and more. 

  • Ensemble Building and Improvisation

  • Monologues and Solo Performance

  • Acting Scene Study 1

  • Stage Movement/Pantomime/Silent Scenes

  • Voice and Speech

  • Acting Scene Study 2

Tech Theatre 1 and 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.  This course is ideal for either the student interested in theatre who would rather not perform, or for the experienced theatre performance student interested in the other side of the curtain. In either case, students in this class will learn the technical skills to execute jobs as inherently part of the theatre as performance.

  • Team Building and Equipment Certifications

  • Facilities Management and Operations

  • Production Work - 1st Play

  • Design Project 1

  • Production Work - 2nd Play

  • Production Work - 3rd Play

  • Design Project 2

  • Final Design Portfolio

Theatre Arts 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 performance and design outcomes including scenes. Students will receive support, instruction and coaching on these mini productions. 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 brief original works for performance (based on the Federal Theatre Project of the 1930s). 

  • Ensemble Building and Contentless Scenes

  • European Realism, Stanislavski, A Doll’s House

  • Ancient Greek Theatre, Antigone

  • Commedia, Laban Movement Word

  • Shakespeare , Monologues, ESU DC

  • Musical Theatre

 

Theatre Arts 3/4 (THE REPERTORY COMPANY) – This is the highest level of theatre class offered at Lake Braddock, and it functions as a repertory theatre company nestled within the greater Lake Braddock Theatre. It is comprised of the combined sections Performance 3/4 and Tech Theatre 3/4.

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 produce and perform works that will participate in the VHSL One Act competition in January 2025, 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 have opportunities to study fundamentals of the theatre industry, text analysis, audition technique, stage combat, and more. While participation in the extracurricular program of Lake Braddock Theatre is encourage at all levels of class, it is strongly recommended for members of the Repertory company to pursue opportunities in the season and utilize their skill set not only to succeed in the full length production setting, but also serve as leaders and mentors to the company at large.

  • Monologues, Showcase, Ensemble

  • Directing for Stage (Contentless Scenes)

  • Auditions

  • Unarmed Stage Combat

  • Playwriting

  • Rehearsals for Play 1 (VHSL)

  • Rotating Repertory Rehearsals for Play 2 (Shakespeare One Act)

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