Performing Arts
There is a performer in everyone.
Our mission is to create opportunities that provide students with a positive experience across an array of performance disciplines. Students in every division should have a meaningful experience that prepares them for a future of participation in the performing arts.
“When the creative process is paired with the give and take of collaboration in the formative years it lays a foundation for a plethora of life skills and helps to foster an enduring personal aesthetic and participation in the arts.” Debbie Kaesshaefer, Performing Arts faculty
Key Characteristics
Our instructional goals include building a foundation of skills that supports understanding and appreciation for the Performing Arts:
- Promoting music and theater literacy.
- Developing technical skills through regular rehearsals in band, chorus and small ensembles such as String Ensemble, Jazz Band, The Sixth Note and Sharped Flats.
- Providing a variety of performance styles, avenues, and venues, such as: yearly extra and co-curricular concerts and productions within and across divisions. Performances include: calendar year concerts, small ensemble concerts, Middle School Play.
- Creating, rehearsing, and performing original scenes in the Seventh Grade Drama Course.
- Learning the technical systems in the Ball Theater by being a member of the Stage Crew.
"Penn Charter challenged me to take risks in performance, to craft and tailor my acting work to roles, and to learn how to engage an audience. The Performing Arts teachers were essential in guiding me to gain confidence and learn to trust myself, my ability and my instinct when it comes to performing." Tim Bell OPC '11, live entertainment costuming at Walt Disney World
Curricular Highlights
In-school performances. Middle School performing artists find countless opportunities to share their craft during classes and in divisional assemblies.
Ensembles. Performing artists at PC can participate in an array of extracurricular ensembles like Jazz Band, Sharped Flats and String Ensemble.
All-School Musical. Every three years, performers from all three school divisions collaborate on the All-School Musical.
Sixth grade band and chorus. All sixth graders perform in band and chorus as a way of developing core musical skills and building camaraderie.