If your child is in Theatre...

[Melissa in CA]

My ds is currently rehearsing hours every week for a play he is in. This is his first real community theatre play. He's having a blast! I am wondering if most people use this as a hs credit. Do you add up hours and give them elective credit in drama or theatre? Or do you just list this as an extracurricular on thier college transcripts?

 

I'm not sure which way to go with this...:confused:

[laughing lioness]

My ds has done a lot of theater. I'll probably only give him 1 credit for theater (though time wise he's done much more than that).

I'm splitting off some of his time into a lit credit in Shakespeare. I've added in GC lectures, his own personal reading and performance time.

I think you can go either way. I plan to put down a theater or fine arts credit and then list the performances he's done at the bottom under "extra curricular."

[Jenny in Florida]

My ds is currently rehearsing hours every week for a play he is in. This is his first real community theatre play. He's having a blast! I am wondering if most people use this as a hs credit. Do you add up hours and give them elective credit in drama or theatre? Or do you just list this as an extracurricular on thier college transcripts?

 

I'm not sure which way to go with this...:confused:

 

I gave my daughter either a half or a full credit for theatre studies each year. However, that did not include hours spent rehearsing for or performing shows.

 

Her theatre studies credit included actual academic studies. She read plays, researched various aspects of theatre and theatre history, did projects, attended plays, readings, panel discussions with assorted casts, inteviewed directors, etc.

 

All of the shows she did (usually three or more per year), as well as most of the drama classes and lessons she took, were listed as extracurriculars.

 

I plan to list things the same way on my son's transcripts.

[Annie G]

We actually did list theater on our kids' transcripts. The program they use has a two hour class once a week, 8 hours of rehearsals every week, and then ten to twelve shows at the end of the rehearsal period. They do musical theater, so they have a variety of activities- voice, dance, acting, stage combat, improv, etc. The program provides a transcript for us, including the classes and shows the kids have done.

 

This program takes up a LOT of our time, as it requires us to travel three days a week to attend- it's a 50 minute drive each way. For us, it's more than an extracurricular.

[emubird]

Theater takes a huge amount of time, but that shouldn't determine whether it's a credit or not.

 

I gave my daughter one semester of credit for Drama - for reading and writing about plays. This didn't include any of the considerable time she spent in rehearsals. Those were all listed as extracurriculars. (She was in a play just about every semester, so it would have a been a LOT of credits.)

 

But I have the impression that the high school near us does give some kind of credit for participation in the plays. It might fulfill a fine arts class requirement, much as band would do (which does meet during class period and gets academic credit).

 

I don't think all the kids at the high school bother to get this credit, though. It may only be those kids who need the fine arts credit, or who need more credits to graduate. The college bound kids tend to already have pretty full transcripts, so they either don't need the credit, or don't want it on there for other considerations (perhaps they think it looks suspicious to have too many theater credits? that they might overwhelm what otherwise looks like an academic load?)

 

You might want to consider whether giving credit for all the plays will make it so you can't claim those as extracurriculars. Sometimes the considerations of making the college application look "balanced" come into play. And generally, for most college bound kids, most (but maybe not all) of the theater activity will come under extracurricular.

 

If it is an actual class with an instructor teaching theater skills, then that might be more likely to go as an academic credit - but even there you'd have leeway. Many kids list outside classes as extracurricular activities and not as credit classes.

[Jenny in Florida]

Here's my general rule:

 

If the activity in which my child is engaging is also available to and used by kids who attend school and do not get academic credit, I don't give credit.

 

In other words, if my kid does a community theatre production that is open to and draws from the entire community, including other kids who go to school and are doing the show for fun, that's not credit worthy by our standards.

 

Also, if the activity in which my child is engaging is a substitute for a comparable extracurricular activity that is used primarily by kids who go to school and do not get credit, I don't give credit.

 

For example, if a local theatre offers drama classes on weekends that are open to both homeschoolers and schooled students and are treated as an extra by the schooled students, even if the theatre offers similar classes on weekday mornings intended specifically for homeschoolers, that's not credit worthy by our standards.

 

I consider theatre as more comparable to sports, which also take up a lot of time and require committment and talent but don't earn a schooled student academic credit.

[Annie G]

Using Jenny's criteria, it would have been pretty difficult for our kids to show any fine arts credits on their transcript. When they took art lessons, sometimes we used a teacher who only taught in the afternoons and our high school gets out early enough so some of the students came from the high school. Those lessons were much more beefed up than the classes taught at the high school. Between the hands on art lessons and the art history done every week, it was definitely credit worthy.

 

The theater program we use teaches much more than the local school theater arts program. Professionally trained teachers from every specialty vs a general drama teacher. When the high school puts on a production, the kids basically learn lines and go. Our kids are required to do such things as write backstories for their characters.

 

I wouldn't award more than one credit of fine arts per year (padding the transcript with more isn't helping the student), but I think it's reasonable to consider it for credit if the student needs it.

[abbeyej]

I lean toward Jenny's interpretation as well. ... For instance, my mom teaches drama in a classical Christian school. Students get credit for class work, where they study various aspects of theater, have readings, do written assignments, take quizzes, as well as perform. Students don't get credit for performing (or working as assistant directors, etc) in school plays, despite many hours of rehearsals and prep time. Those are extra-curriculars. Still good for college transcripts, but not for credit.

 

Now, I wouldn't have a problem with creating an academic course and counting work on an after-school or community play as some portion of that course. But I would expect additional academic work above and beyond simply being in the play. Something that involves research, discussion, writing...

[chepyl]

If kids in school can earn a credit for something similar in school, I would give credit. My high school had play production class. We earned a grade for being in the plays. We did help on set and costumes. If you want to expand on the performance do some of the following:

 

Read a book on acting technique. The Stanislavsky Method by Sonia Moore is a good one, or Stanislavsky's books themselves (they can be hard to get through). Sanford Meisner on Acting. Read The Dramatic Imagination by Robert Edmond Jones (one of my personal favorites!)

 

Read a biography of one of the three men above.

 

Study script analysis, Backwards and Forwards by David Ball is a great book.

 

Read a history of the theatre.

 

Learn about set design by volunteering on set construction. Community theatres always need help. Take a faux painting class at Home Depot or Lowe's, most of the paimtimg techniques originated in theatrical set design.

 

There are also great books on scenic lighting. The McCandles method is not hard to learn.

 

You would only need to pick one or two to make a good high school credit. In addition to those, add a short paper about the experience. It can be an analysis of the production, the process, analysis of his character, or just a narrative of the experience. This wpuld be.above and beyond what a typical high school class does, and of is not much.

[Wendi]

My son has done some plays, too. My thinking is that it counts as extracurricular. I have, however, thought about having him do some reading about theatre history, aspects of theatre including design, lighting, costumes, etc. Maybe write a paper analyzing the play he's in and his character. Then I'd count it as an elective.

 

Wendi

[Jenny in Florida]

My son has done some plays, too. My thinking is that it counts as extracurricular. I have, however, thought about having him do some reading about theatre history, aspects of theatre including design, lighting, costumes, etc. Maybe write a paper analyzing the play he's in and his character. Then I'd count it as an elective.

 

Wendi

 

That's more or less what we've done.

 

For my daughter, we had her focus on a different aspect of theatre each year in order to earn her credit.

 

So, the first year, in addition to reading and attending plays that fit our current history studies, she learned about life in the theatre. She attended a series of panel discussions with the casts of touring productions and a series of readings of new plays that included "talkbacks" with the playwrights, directors and casts. She did backstage tours at our local opera and ballet companies. She read study guides provided by two of the local theatres for shows she attended and wrote assignments suggested by the guides. (That one earned a full credit, based largely on the number of hours.)

 

The second year, she focused on the origins of theatre. We were studying the ancients for history that year, and her reading and research was primarily about ancient Greek theatre. She read a couple of plays, attended others, watched DVDs of others, read background materials about Greek theatre in general and about the specific plays she read and saw. As her project, she wrote the first act of an original play based on a Greek myth. (1/2 credit)

 

Her third year, we were studying the middle ages and Renaissance, and she focused on Shakespearean drama. She read four Shakespearean plays and excerpts from those of his conteporaries. She attended live performances of or watched DVDs of those three plays and others. She read a book about Shakespeare's life and work and did additional research. She also did some kind of final project, but I can't remember or find my notes about what that was. (1/2 credit)

 

During those same years, she did lots of community theatre and took drama and musical theatre classes of various kinds, but all of that went on the extracurriculars list.

 

This kid, by the way, went on to a degree in theatre, with emphasis on directing and performance.

[Melissa in CA]

Thanks everyone!

 

I will use this as an extracurricular. =)