When the curtains rise, and the crowd roars in awe, stunned by the talent Bak Middle School of the Arts is made of, little does the audience know the work that was put in behind the curtains. Between perfecting character by character, memorizing scripts, and ameliorating each piece, theatre majors work against the clock to enhance their performance by curtain rise.
Here at BAK, we value students whose passion begins with the stage. Theater majors’ success comes with countless hours of practice, including not only rehearsals but also character analysis, choreography, and vocal technique.
Drew Blackwell, an eighth-grade theatre major, shares her personal experience at BAK and why theatre is so important to her.
”I really like how I can step outside of my comfort zone and play a character that I’ve never played before, and it really shows my personality,” said Blackwell.
Blackwell is just one of the many theatre majors in one of the four departments: acting, musical theatre, costume design, or set/technical theatre.
Acting involves a wealth of emotion through words and movements that connect the performer to their audience. Musical theatre infuses dance and singing together to create a show full of song and movement. The costume department stitches and designs every dress and outfit you see. Finally, Technical focuses on lights and sets and adds a dramatic effect to every scene.
“The acting track for theater is more challenging, because you don’t have the singing, dancing, or like painting sets to express emotions,” said Mia Jiang, a seventh-grade theatre major.
Theatre requires a lot of time and dedication to be the best. Lawrence Balfour explored the hardships firsthand. “Something other majors probably don’t know is that we have to stay after school near our show. Basically, it happens every day or every other day, sometimes even on weekends and holidays.”
Putting on a theater show requires a combination of pre-production planning, creative execution, and technical management. And lots and lots of talent. And at BAK, we’ve got it all—on and off the stage.
