STEWARD ARTS
Constructive Coursework
Upper School technical theatre students gain real-world skills through hands-on projects.
12 | The Colonnade
The Steward School promotes hands-on learning as a key component of every student’ s curriculum. This concept couldn’ t be represented more fully than in technical theatre class, in which Upper School students use critical thinking and independent work to solve real-world problems.
Upper School technical theatre teacher and Performing Arts Department Chair Andy Mudd teaches four sections of tech theatre for grades 9-12, each containing a combination of beginning and advanced students. He begins the semester by covering the layout of the Lora M. Robins Theatre, teaching safety regulations, and discussing vocabulary. The rest of the course consists almost entirely of students creating the sets for each of Steward’ s mainstage productions according to Mr. Mudd’ s designs.
Mr. Mudd bases the structure of the class around the“ Abigail Rule,” a concept named in honor of alumna Abigail Herring ' 16, who said she learned more by being thrown into a project rather than taking weeks to learn through lectures.
“ I would rather students physically create things as I watch to make sure they’ re doing it right, rather than me explain everything,” he said.“ Sometimes students prefer to work independently and sometimes they need micromanagement. But at the end of the process, they’ ve all created something.”
During the construction process, a typical class will begin by discussing a list of projects that need to be completed. Students are then broken into smaller groups or pairs to
complete each project, which can range from building platforms, painting a set piece, or creating props.
“ We don’ t have desks and we don’ t sit down— we’ re always moving,” said junior Carter Patterson, a Tech Theatre III student.“ It’ s interesting to see how the real-life application of other subjects in school, such as math, comes together in the creation of something.”
Sophomore William Glazebrook added:“ There’ s always something to do or something to work on. It really allows us to use creativity because we’ re given some freedom with our projects.”
The course also involves real-life problem solving: students must work efficiently and correctly in order for the play to be successful.“ They have to build something that someone’ s going to stand on that can’ t break,” Mr. Mudd said.“ They have to create a door that can be slammed but won’ t fall apart. They have to build something that someone has to climb up and over, so it must be strong enough.”
One of the biggest benefits, however, is the satisfaction that students gain from knowing they made something entirely on their own.
“ I really want people to understand that, when you come and see a Steward show, the entire set is student-built,” he said.“ I can go through the set for each show and tell you who built every single thing. I think it gives students a huge sense of accomplishment to be able to say,‘ I did that.’”