Seabury Academy-Visual and Performing Arts

Visual and Performing Arts

At Bishop Seabury Academy, the fine arts program seeks to empower all students and to help them achieve success professionally and personally. We base our arts program on the principle that the greater our means of expression and communication, the more diverse and profound our experiences may be. Through the arts, we authorize students to explore the world passionately and to give sharper meaning to their most vital experiences.

Bishop Seabury Academy offers a graduated and flexible curriculum, introducing young students to a breadth of artistic study and accommodating the more sophisticated and career-oriented interests of older students. Lower schools students take two years of chorus and two years of alternating units in visual arts and drama. In 9th-12th grade, students are required to take four semesters of arts, though almost all of them choose to pursue their artistic interests for the entire four years, many choosing to study all three art forms.

The visual arts curriculum encompasses a traditional, discipline-based approach to learning which provides students the skills, techniques and concepts necessary to express themselves creatively. The lower school classes are taught using a number of teaching methodologies including lecture, slide presentations, discussion, demonstrations, practical application, and class critique. Class projects are designed to encourage creativity and self-expression while still practicing the basic skills and techniques they will need to perfect before entering the upper school visual arts program. The upper school visual arts curriculum includes intermediary and advanced classes in drawing & painting, ceramics, photography, and specialized electives. In her classroom and in individual instruction, visual arts teacher Jill Boyle emphasizes the artistic voice and the communication of ideas and emotions through visual imagery.

The choral music program at Bishop Seabury Academy is integral to the school’s liberal arts mission and all students participate. The lower school students learn basic sight-reading skills and two-part singing, and they enjoy multiple performances throughout the year. Students have the opportunity to be part of the prestigious upper school choir where students study and perform a wide range of music, from classical chamber music to modern jazz, Broadway musical to traditional opera. Headed by Choral Director Richard Walker, the flexible and eclectic group performs in the greater community as well as at convocation, graduation, Lessons & Carols, and seasonal concerts. Bishop Seabury Academy also offers multiple opportunities for instrumental students to perform at varsity basketball games and in theatrical and choral performances throughout the year.

The expansive theatre program at Bishop Seabury Academy accommodates student interest at all levels. In lower school classes, students are introduced to narrative dynamics, story-telling, public speaking, improvisation, theatre games, monologues, and basic theatre language. In upper school, students embark on a four-year study of the craft of acting with Arts Director Dr. Don Schawang. Students first learn the fundamentals of vocal and physical performance, script-analysis, practical scene work, and guided critiques. Afterwards, students study more sophisticated acting and directing theories (Constantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Francis Hodges, and others) and Classical Greek, Shakespearean, Modern, and Post-Modern scripts and performance methods. Students also have practical guidance in playwriting, directing, and scenic design. The school produces five shows throughout the year, and recent productions include The Real Inspector Hound, House of Blue Leaves, Jake’s Women, All in the Timing, Antigone, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bishop Seabury Academy is also home to a highly successful forensics program.

Jorge-Louis Borges writes that “Art is a mixture of algebra and fire.” At Bishop Seabury Academy, effective and tested curriculum, passionate teachers, and committed students are the perfect synthesis for an exceptional arts program. Here, the arts are not simply an “elective”—they are a cornerstone to a fully-realized education in the liberal arts. We authorize students to achieve beyond the limits they would otherwise set for themselves, and we see the fruits of their success.