Intro to Drama teaches students acting and theater techniques

By Abel Rangel and Justin San Giovanni

Staff Writers

Intro to Drama is a fun and active Expeditions course full of acting, reading scripts, rehearsing plays and performing. Intro to Drama is taught by Estrella Esparza-Johnson, along with two assistant teachers, who go by Mr. E. and Mr. Jay.

Mr. E. explained that Intro to Drama is “a whole ranging field mostly having to do with theater but also melodramatic arts, the dramatic structure and also a lot of writing. So it encompasses theater but also the narrative and literary aspects of this class.” Students will work on and rehearse public speaking, memorizing scripts, putting emotion into their acting, writing and building a narrative. Students also practice and learn stage directions, dramatic techniques and the overall process of putting on a play.

Rainier freshman Nathanial Lopez said, “We’ve learned about parts of drama like articulation is one – when you’re doing a play and making your voice be really loud and having it be heard. We learned stage directions and drama techniques.”

Public speaking or just having to perform is obviously a major part of drama because students have to speak in the performances to a large audience. As Lopez explained, Intro to Drama helps people with speaking out to a large group of people and with putting a better emphasis, clearer pronunciation and better articulation in their voices.

See below for a video about the Intro to Drama course:

Featured image (at the top of this post): Rainier freshmen Gabbie Lopez, Melody Puldio, Fallon Bayer and Wilson Chung stand in a half circle rehearsing their play. PHOTO CREDIT: Justin San Giovanni