Theater

Meet Our Theater Team

The Miracle Worker

The upper school DP students will be performing the epic drama, "The Miracle Worker" about the life of Helen Keller. This award winning play recalls the childhood of the deaf-blind child who became known as "America's First Lady of Courage", and her gifted teacher, Anne Sullivan.

November 12 - 13, 2021
Tickets on sale shortly

Matilda The Musical

The Theatre Department at Carrollwood Day School will bring the Broadway musical, Matilda, to the CDS stage. Based on the Roald Dahl children's book, Matilda the Musical is the story of a little girl with wit, intelligence, and telekinetic powers who with the support of her teacher, tries to rid her school of the evil headmistress.

February 25, 26, 27
Tickets on sale shortly

NEW TO CDS

The CDS Theater department is so excited to be cultivating both lower school and middle school productions this year. Both to be featured in the spring will cast lower and middle school students exclusively. Stay tuned for programs and dates.

Theater by Division

Early Childhood

At the Early Childhood Campus, "the world is our stage." Puppets, dress up clothes, and themed play areas encourage children to engage in dramatic play. Teachers support this free and creative play and, when appropriate, may redirect the activity in order to further the child's learning. Teachers also orchestrate more structured drama activities with their small groups to act out a story or engage in a role play.

Elementary

Theater is integrated into music instructional time and classroom activities.

The arts are integral to our academic program and curricular units are often complemented with a musical or dramatic presentation. In addition, all students perform in the Fall Festival and Spring Fling, school-wide events that are held each year. Students may also participate in the chorus.

Middle

Students in 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade all have the opportunity to participate in Theatre in multiple ways. 6^th grade students will participate in theater for 12 weeks as part of their Arts wheel rotation. 7^th and 8^th grade students are able to choose from Visual Art, Music, Digital Photography, or Theater as their Art for the year.

All Middle School students may also take part in our Junior Thespian troupe, which allows students to showcase themselves in performance events like monologue, acting scenes, musicals, pantomime, and improvisation. They can also participate in technical design categories for costume, makeup, publicity, and scenic design, as well as scene writing. Junior Thespians compete both locally in our District and at the State level.

In addition to classes and Junior Thespian events, all Middle School students have opportunities to audition and rehearse after school with our One Act play in the fall and our full length Spring production. Both of these productions give students the opportunity to showcase their skills on stage in front of a live audience.

Upper School

Upper school students can elect to participate in the theater program. Eleventh and twelfth grade students participating in the IB Diploma Programme can elect to take IB DP Theater SL or HL.

The upper school also has a very active Thespian Troupe, which is chartered through the International Thespian Society. Troupe #7235 competes with public and private high schools in local and state competitions. They regularly earn superior ratings and other accolades.