Theater presents opportunities
By Mariana Sasahara Shimada
Timber Creek offers many different electives and choices of classes. With the events of having to choose our classes for next year coming up, there are many different classes to choose from. Although, one important requirement in order to graduate is having a performing arts credit. Now there are many electives that offer this credit, but one of them that many students like is theater or musical theater.
Musical theater isn’t just an elective, it offers many opportunities for students to learn. “Every now and then we do a bonding activity, so we’ll all play like theater games and redirect our attention. Other times we’ll work on vocals and by that it just means that we learn about the anatomy of the throat and we learn how to properly control and you know sing properly that way we can know better techniques,” said Kaylee Guinigundo. Musical theater involves singing and group activities that teach students how to be an ensemble which is important for shows, and it also teaches them techniques on their singing.
The musical theatre teacher is Mr.Skiles. His students claim that he is very enthusiastic and good at what he does. “He is very enthusiastic about teaching theater,” said Heiley Duong. Guinigundo also said, “Everything we do in class is very productive and effective. He knows how to word things very simply but enough to the point where we understand what to do.” Guinigundo and Duong are not in the same theater elective; Duong is in Theater 1 while Kaylee is in Musical Theater 2 but both have the same teacher. Even though the two classes are on different levels and aren’t the exact same thing, their teacher still teaches both classes well and “encourages them to branch out.” Mr. Skiles seems to have a firm grasp on how the classes are different and adjusts his teaching by knowing how much the classes already know.
On top of that, joining theater is a great way to meet new people and make new friends. In the elective, students are, in a way, forced to work with others and communicate because they need to perform together. “I like how you have to make friends with other people with our groups. There’s 30 of us too and the whole point of theater for my class is to build an ensemble for the spring musical,” said Guinigundo. Building an ensemble for a show requires lots of teamwork and communication with other people, in theater you get to work with others and get to know them which builds friendships. Duong also mentioned that she likes “being with her friends” in the class and her favorite activity has been group projects. Even if someone has never done theater before, it is a way to experience something new and make new friends.
