THE VENUE THEATRE
MISSION STATEMENT
The Venue Theatre exists to provide an accepting and enriching environment for the youth of our community—for discovery, exploration, and celebration of their unique and extraordinary abilities.
ELEMENTARY COMPANY
IMAGINATION AND AESTHETIC APPRECIATION
Generating original ideas and creatively interpreting familiar material in new ways are essential to drama and to all life endeavors. It was Einstein who said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
SELF-CONFIDENCE AND TRUST
Risk-taking among friends and performing for an audience teach students to trust their ideas and abilities. Teamwork and self-confidence will benefit school, career, and life in general.
COOPERATION AND COMMUNICATION
Theater enhances innate ability by fostering creativity in a group setting. This cooperative process includes discussing, negotiating, rehearsing, and performing together for the greatest benefit of all. Drama enhances verbal and nonverbal expression, improves voice projection, articulation of words and fluency of language, vastly increasing confidence and communication skills early in life.
CONCENTRATION AND MEMORY
Rehearsing, memorizing and performing words, movements and cues strengthen the memory like a muscle. Reading, interpreting, practicing, and performing develop a sustained focus of mind, body and voice. Listening and observation skills are developed through quick-thinking solutions discovered during improvisational games.
FUN
Most of all, drama is fun! It brings play, humor, and laughter to learning! Drama is a fun way to build the well-roundedness essential to success in
MIDDLE SCHOOL COMPANY
CREATE MEANING THROUGH NARRATIVE & METAPHOR
Middle School students express an instinctive human need -- to mimic, to project stories, and to create meaning through narrative and metaphor. We see this instinct expressed in children when they act out real or imagined characters and events and have evidence of theater-like rituals in some of the oldest human societies. Theater matters, in essence because we can’t help it -- it’s part of what makes us human.
MODEL PUBLIC DIALOGUE AT THE HEART OF DEMOCRACY
Theater students model a kind of public dialogue that lies at the heart of democratic life, building skills for listening to different views and empathizing with the struggles of fellow humans. Middle School students learn what happens when conflicts don’t get resolved, and what happens when they do, and begin to develop the ability to imagine the outcomes of choices they may make in their own lives.
ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL SKILLS AND LITERACY
Making (and attending) theater contributes to education and literacy -- the condensed dialogue of theater requires sharp attention, quick mental shifts and nimble language skills. Middle School students learn about human motivation and psychology, and studies have shown that theater students do better in school. Participation adds to self-confidence and allows students to socialize in a productive and healthy way.
EVALUATE CONSEQUENCES OF LIFE CHOICES
Watching two characters struggle over an issue or harmonize in resolving a conflict allows Middle School students to relate to similar struggles and successes in their own lives, leading to self-evaluation of their own choices and contemplation of the long-term benefits of wise decisions.
HIGH SCHOOL COMPANY
SELF-DISCOVERY
The High School Company focuses on finding and developing the extraordinary talents and abilities in our students in the fine arts. This process gives the student a better understanding regarding who they are and what they have to contribute to the world around them.
COMMUNITY
The High School Company works to establish an inviting and accepting community environment where differences are accepted. Support for each other in easy and difficult times is strongly encouraged.
SEARCH FOR EXCELLENCE
The search for excellence within ourselves is a lifelong pursuit. Students are expected to work on improving self discipline, be respectful of peers and adults around them, and to work together to achieve great outcomes. In many ways we want the students of the High School program to strive to be the best they can be.
RISK TAKING
Students are encouraged to take appropriate risks, to move outside their own comfort zones to discover their gifts and talents while achieving the goals set out in the High School program.
CONFIDENCE & SELF-IMAGE
Through self discovery and working within a positive community, students are able to make significant gains in the areas of confidence and self-image. They learn to stand up in front of a group and present themselves in a positive, dynamic way with the skills learned on stage.
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