Hope you are all beginning to settle in with new school routines – the new school year always brings new challenges especially in these trying times. For Upstage we are proud to announce that we are working with Oak Park Education Foundation and Roscomare Road Elementary to bring enrichment classes to their elementary and middle schools including Make-a-Movie, Public Speaking, Hamilton’s America and Theatre Arts. We have been creating new curriculum that explores all the ingredients of great drama – from storytelling to making bold choices. A huge thank you to Oak Park Education Foundation and Friends of Roscomare for bringing Upstage in to teach their students Theatre Skills for Life.
If any of your schools are interested in having Upstage provide one-hour enrichment classes, please contact us and we can create workshop or master style classes for your community.
Find an example of classes being offered below:
| Oak Park Education Foundation & Upstage Theatre Schools | ||
| Enrichment Options | ||
| Grade Range | Workshop Class (up to 20 students) | Master Class (20-35 students) |
| K-2nd | Spanish Through Songs and Games: Introduction and exploration of Spanish through songs and games | |
| Improv and Theatre Games: With attention to SEL and sensory deprivation | ||
| Dance: Various styles: musical theatre, hip hop, tap, african dance. Can also center around popular themes such as Mary Poppins, Trolls, Lion King, Zombies | ||
| Cartoon Drawing: Learn to draw your favorite characters (can also be a different theme each week). Can also expand to the creation of their own new character and a basic comic strip . | ||
| Circus Skills: juggling, clowning, balancing | ||
| Singing Class: choral exercises, pitch control, syncopation, placement | ||
| Fairytales Come to Life: Kids are led on a sensory filled physical and vocal journey making their favorite fairy tales come to life. | ||
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream: An in-depth look at this Shakespeare play through the text, characters and themes. Includes physical movement in retelling of the story and characters as well as enhancing narration skills. | ||
| Mindfulness Training: Staying present and focused through a series of drama exercises adapted from Dialectical Behavior Therapy | ||
| Shoebox Set Design: Students are given a play and create their own shoebox or recycled cardboard sets (Can adapt to using blocks/Legos/simple pencil and paper) | ||
| 3rd-5th | Spanish Through Music and Games: Introduction and exploration of Spanish through songs and games | |
| Improv and Theatre Games: With attention to SEL and sensory deprivation | ||
| Tap Dance: Beginning with the basics leading to one time step | ||
| Dance: Various styles: musical theatre, hip hop, tap, african dance. Can also center around popular themes such as Mary Poppins, Trolls, Lion King, Zombies | ||
| Cartoon Drawing: Can be expanded to a comic strip development for older kids | ||
| Circus Skills: juggling, clowning, balancing | ||
| Singing Class: choral exercises, pitch control, syncopation, placement | ||
| Movie Making : Learn to storyboard, basics of framing, and editing (using district issued device) | ||
| Songwriting: Exploration and Identification of song structure, lyric development (can expand into music composition ) | ||
| Public Speaking: Building physical and vocal confidence | ||
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream: An in-depth look at this Shakespeare play through the text, characters and themes. Includes physical movement retelling of a story, characters as well as enhancing narration skills. | ||
| Mindfulness Training: Staying present and focused through a series of drama exercises adapted from Dialectical Behavior Therapy | ||
| Costume Design: Includes drawing, measuring and hand sewing | ||
| Shoebox Set Design: Students are given a few plays to choose from – brief lesson on basic set deisgn, provided a synopsis and potentially shown clips and they create their own shoebox or recycled cardboard sets (Can adapt to simple pencil and paper) | ||
| The Golden Age of American Musicals: From Singing in the Rain, Sound of Music and Oklahoma to Wizard of Oz and My Fair Lady; explore these classics and delve into characters, themes, and the use of technology in these musical movies. | ||
| 6th-8th grade | Improv and Theatre Games: Practice thinking on your feet while strengthening teamwork, cooperation, making bold choices and “taking risks” in a safe and nurturing environment | |
| Dance Around the World: Explore various cultures through dance and movement. | ||
| Circus Skills: juggling, clowning, balancing | ||
| Hamilton’s America: Can include topics explored through music and movement such as: Women of the Revolution, Facing Life and Death, England’s view of the American Revolution through 3 King George songs | ||
| Theatre Around the World (explore plays, cultures and styles of theatre from around the world): including but not limited to: Africa, Spain, Russia, Japan | ||
| Theatre History: Starts with Ancient Greek & Roman Theatre: Mask work (inlcuding creation of their own mask from materials around the home) | ||
| History and Appreciation of 20th Century American Cinema : Charlie Chaplin to Star Wars | ||
| Songwriting: Exploration and identification of song structure, lyric development and music composition | ||
| Movie Making: Compatible with District device | Can also be divided into beginner, intermediate, etc. | |
| Public Speaking: Building physical and vocal confidence | ||
| A Winter’s Tale: An in-depth look at this Shakespeare play through the text, characters and themes. | ||
| Mindfulness Training: Staying present and focused through a series of drama exercises adapted from Dialectical Behavior Therapy | ||
| Costume Design: Includes drawing, measuring and hand sewing | ||
| Set Design : Can be hands using recycled material or computer design related | ||
