Wafia Saruwar also contributed to this article.
“Everyone is super kind and welcoming, and it’s like one big theater community,” described Ariana Messana, the sole teacher for the Introduction to Theatre class.
Most people are familiar with Play Pro, or the Play Production class, but what they don’t talk about is the prerequisite class you need to take to even get there: Intro to Theatre. Intro to Theatre is for those who don’t have much experience with theater or are just interested in learning the structure of theater skills. In class, students “cover all the foundational stuff in writing, acting, and technical theater,” Messana explained.
Jennifer Clapp founded the theatre program at Malden High 25 years ago, in the fall of 1999. When she first came to work at Malden High, she realized that “there really wasn’t any much activity with drama. There hadn’t been anything for after school or for fun.” When she first began working at the high school, there hadn’t been any full-length productions for over 20 years.
While Theatre started as a club, Clapp found that “it was really hard for students to always make a commitment and be there all the time.” She decided she wanted a foundation, and after being at Malden High for about three years, she worked to convince the sIchool board to add an introduction to drama class into the curriculum. Clapp did not work alone and had the help of Cynthia Poor, the department chair at that time, to build the class and push for it, leading to the class’ eventual creation.
Intro to Theatre is not a traditional class; students are encouraged to be more expressive with their words and actions, unlike in other classes where they typically would not be able to convey their ideas as freely. Messana has a unique way of presenting the curriculum to students: she does not just teach serious and informative lessons on theater but also implements fun activities so that her class is amusing.
“The class is really fun, I really like it,” freshman David Ruprecht expressed.
Students often spend time playing improv acting games, such as Mafia, Bench, and The Deadly Wink, to practice or warm-up for class. In Mafia, the class works together to vote out the murderers, and in The Deadly Wink, one person (or multiple people) is the killer, winking at people one by one to kill them, and everyone else must work together to reveal the killer’s identity. The Bench is when one person sits on a bench, and another person joins them, with their goal being to act out a scenario that would urge the person sitting on the bench to leave. Community bonding is highly encouraged within the classroom, as most of their activities require the students to interact with each other and build on their environment.
“I love how the class has formed a bond with each other, and we have all gotten comfortable,” freshman Sabrima Bhattarai remarked.
The class consists of tactile and visual work. Students are presented with videos and clips of famous actors performing, allowing them to gain inspiration and learn various skills just by watching other people. They would watch and analyze professional recordings of musicals, such as Hamilton, which is a lighthearted but educational way of learning the basics of theater. Other times, students write plays and scenes in which they act out themselves.
Intro to Theatre is not only a great starter class for learning the foundations of theater, but it is a safe community for those who enjoy theater because it enables them to express themselves and create strong bonds with others who share their interests. “It’s always happy in there; nobody’s ever afraid of being judged because of how similar we all are,” freshman Sofia Rivera concluded.
