School of Performing Arts

Students will study and work on different established acting methodologies through text, physical and vocal expression, and improvisation. Emphasis in acting classes will be on the process (technique, experimentation, analysis, play) rather than the product (performance). Each class will culminate in an informal final showing allowing family/friends of students a sneak peek into where the classes are in their process and study.

Grade levels are fixed. To request an exception, please email education@duluthplayhouse.org.

As adults, we often aren't encouraged to keep learning - it's something that gets reserved and prioritized for young people. But our Education Department knows that it doesn't have to be either/or and that the best way to live a fulfilling life is to keep learning, create relationships and community, and to explore things you're passionate about.

The underlying goal of our educational programming is to use the framework of theatre and creativity as a way into developing both as a human and artist. We believe theatre education fosters the intrinsic understanding and practice of many vital and rarely deliberately taught 'soft' skills. Examples include using empathy as a lens into processing the world around you, effective communication and collaboration, and developing deliberate intrapersonal (inside the self) awareness and intentionality.

Education that prioritizes evolving its students into mature and reflexive artists is a primary guiding concept for our curriculum. Through a combination of teaching substantial and well-researched theatrical techniques along with consistently exercising a spirit of openness, experimentation, and an attitude just as interested in the things that don't work as much as the things that do, we believe the Artist Mindset prepares students of all ages (adults too!) equally well for a life in the arts/theatre or any path they choose to pursue.