The Theatre Department at the Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush is closely aligned with the school vision of intellectual curiosity and reflective teaching and learning.  The goal of all theatre courses at Rush is to develop our students into thoughtful producers and consumers of many forms of theatre. Students will act, write, design, read, analyze, and see plays to develop an increased appreciation and knowledge of theatre as a collaborative art and career path. Students will also use theatre to explore and expand their own communication skills and to gain perspective on history, culture, and current events. As an ensemble, each class will employ our core values of imagination, communication, empathy, perspective, analysis, and commitment to strive for excellence in written and performed work.

Texts

Students engage with challenging texts in the Rush Theatre curriculum including works by major playwrights such as Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Paula Vogel, Lynn Nottage, and Quiara Hudes.

Acting

Students have the opportunity to develop and hone their performance skills in scene study.  Students start with the basics of finding character and building physical and vocal skills and advance to more specialized approaches to acting.

Design

Our renovated performance space is equipped with a digital light and sound board. Every student has the chance to learn these integrated technologies as well as introductory design principles. Students also work as designers on productions.