Student Led
Dramatic Paws Showcases
Students direct, stage manage, design and produce 3+ showcases of student-created Theatre, Improv, Video, Music, and Spoken Word! Open to all students! No experience required. Follow @garfielddrama for more information, updates, and more! Club officers choose a theme for each Dramatic Paws, and any club member who wishes to direct may submit a script for review. Student directors, stage managers, and designers collaborate to cast and rehearse their chosen plays.
5 Plays, 5 Days
Five days from script selection to performance–this set of one-act plays is specifically for freshmen who want to get involved with theatre at Garfield!
Improv
Our student Improv Club meets every Friday in the blackbox theatre (Q120) and is guided by local improvisor and teaching artist, Ben Lidgus! The club performs independently as well as during Dramatic Paws Showcases
Fall Play
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Directed by Natalie Gress
A ship is wrecked on the rocks. Viola is washed ashore but her twin brother Sebastian is lost. Determined to survive on her own, she steps out to explore a new land. So begins a whirlwind of mistaken identity and unrequited love. The nearby households of Olivia and Orsino are overrun with passion. Even Olivia’s upright housekeeper Malvolia is swept up in the madness. Where music is the food of love, and nobody is quite what they seem, anything proves possible!
- OPENING NIGHT: Friday, November 11th at 7pm
- Saturday, November 12th at 7pm
- Thursday, November 17th at 7pm (Pay What You Can!)
- Friday, November 18th at 7pm
- CLOSING DAY: Saturday, November 19th at 2pm AND 7pm
Children's show
Camp Stowaways by Tracy Poverstein
Directed by Natalie Gress and Brighid Leonard
This delightful coming-of-age fantasy has fun exploring the “right” age to give up sleeping with stuffed animals and blankies.
It’s summer break and a new group of tween campers are about to face their fears and insecurities as they learn to cope at Camp Libertas, where they’ll find only tough love, not loveys. While Major Marjorie and Miss Angie aim to lay down the law and turn another group of campers into adults, the little campers’ sleep toys come to life with other plans.
Who knows if they are ready to give up their loveys, but the talking, walking cuddly toys sure aren’t ready for the transition! So as the reluctant campers pack to get ready, the loveys stow away to stay near their kids. What happens once they’re discovered goes to show that no one ever really outgrows unconditional love and the security of having a loved one near — even if those loved ones are plush novelties and blankies with make-believe personalities. With a large cast that also features fretting parents who suffer their own growing pains as they watch their babies grow up, this charming and amusing treasure will appeal to all ages.
Produced by the Play Production Class – As part of our Fall Semester’s Play Production Class, we select a story to produce and share with local elementary and middle schools. Elementary schools tour to our auditorium and performances will be during the school day. Our closing performance is open to the public and will occur on January 13th at 7pm.
Spring Musical
The Spring Musical this year is Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
Directed by Natalie Gress and Music Directed by Blake Saunders
The story of an extraordinary girl who dares to take a stand and change her own destiny. Inspired by the twisted genius of Roald Dahl, the Tony Award-winning Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical is the captivating masterpiece from the Royal Shakespeare Company that revels in the anarchy of childhood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dreams of a better life. With book by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda has won 47 international awards and continues to thrill sold-out audiences of all ages around the world.
Matilda is a little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence and psychokinetic powers. She’s unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Over the course of her first term at school, Matilda and Miss Honey have a profound effect on each other’s lives, as Miss Honey begins not only to recognize but also appreciate Matilda’s extraordinary personality. Matilda’s school life isn’t completely smooth sailing, however – the school’s mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don’t abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils’ saving grace!
Packed with high-energy dance numbers, catchy songs and an unforgettable star turn for a young actress, Matilda is a joyous girl power romp. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.