MCPS High schools with the top theatre programs?

[Anonymous]

How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

I agree with this.

There have been threads about theater and music within MoCo before, and it is very hard to judge which school has the best theater programs. In part because most families don't end up having kids in various high schools to be able to compare experiences, and, as PP pointed out, any kid who is really into theater is not using their high school theater program as their main training.

I have a theater kid, and I don't think I'd choose any MoCo high school just for theater. I've been to Whitman, Walter Johnson, Blair, Einstein, and Blake productions. They were all good high school productions with nice sets and costumes. I know that Blair and Einstein have A & B casts to give more kids a chance to perform (I don't know about other schools). Einstein has a performing arts "academy" and may offer more classes than other high schools (though I would check the syllabi rather than assume, especially because it is a smaller high school) and along with Blake has a reputation for having a strong theater program. Blair is a big school so has a large talent pool to pull from. No school in MoCo is like Duke Ellington. The kids I know who work in local theater seem to be at "W" schools for the most part, probably because their parents are wealthier and can afford expensive voice, dance, and, theater training. There is an active cappies chapter here in the metro area, and you can check out the website to read reviews of various high school productions and see which schools have won awards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go outside of MCPS. Their middle schools don't even have theaters or even do plays. Howard County and Fairfax County all have theater programs in middle and high school.

The high schools here are beginner basic as ever.

Are you okay? MCPS middle schools do have plays, some offer theatre classes.

Eastern has a robust theater program, although a lot of it is after school. They generally do a contemporary play like Shrek Jr or High School Musical one semester, and a Shakespeare play the other. They don’t have a lot of resources to work with, but the kids love it, and it’s always very well done. The Shakespeare play I went to in the outdoor theater was an especially fun production.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go outside of MCPS. Their middle schools don't even have theaters or even do plays. Howard County and Fairfax County all have theater programs in middle and high school.

The high schools here are beginner basic as ever.

Are you okay? MCPS middle schools do have plays, some offer theatre classes.

+1 Our MS has a drama club and theater as an elective, and they put on plays every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

This is a rumor.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I know that Blair and Einstein have A & B casts to give more kids a chance to perform

W.J. too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

I agree with this.

There have been threads about theater and music within MoCo before, and it is very hard to judge which school has the best theater programs. In part because most families don't end up having kids in various high schools to be able to compare experiences, and, as PP pointed out, any kid who is really into theater is not using their high school theater program as their main training.

I have a theater kid, and I don't think I'd choose any MoCo high school just for theater. I've been to Whitman, Walter Johnson, Blair, Einstein, and Blake productions. They were all good high school productions with nice sets and costumes. I know that Blair and Einstein have A & B casts to give more kids a chance to perform (I don't know about other schools). Einstein has a performing arts "academy" and may offer more classes than other high schools (though I would check the syllabi rather than assume, especially because it is a smaller high school) and along with Blake has a reputation for having a strong theater program. Blair is a big school so has a large talent pool to pull from. No school in MoCo is like Duke Ellington. The kids I know who work in local theater seem to be at "W" schools for the most part, probably because their parents are wealthier and can afford expensive voice, dance, and, theater training. There is an active cappies chapter here in the metro area, and you can check out the website to read reviews of various high school productions and see which schools have won awards.

Former Einstein parent here. I think that Einstein did an A/B cast once in the past 6 years. That's it.

[Anonymous]

I'd go to a W school to hedge your bets in case DC doesn't want to really focus on theater ultimately. They have good programs in these areas as well as all the other benefits.

[Anonymous]

RM has a strong theatre group. My kids were not involved but I remember hearing that about 1/3 of the school is somehow connected to the shows. My kids were always enthused to attend. We enjoyed them as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

This is a rumor.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

Nothing has been made official about Woodward other than that Northwood will be there for a couple years after it's partially built, and the remainder of the campus - including any theatre or fields - will be added while Northwood is there.

Of course, some cranky neighbors are trying to NIMBY everything around Woodward, so who knows what it'll look like in the end.

[Anonymous]

Sherwood has had good ones the past couple years, before the pandemic. They switched to a different director or something recently. They also I think do the A/B casting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

This is a rumor.

Is the new Woodward High School going to be an art magnet school?
Phase 1 building is designed for all the programs necessary for Montgomery County High School students to graduate from the new Woodward High School. Phase 2 program has not been determined yet.

1+

I don’t know if this is the same person who goes to thread to thread saying this but this is not true. Especially after Covid and budgets being cut, I’m not even sure MCPS can think about funding another magnet. Also Performing arts school like Duke and Baltimore receive donations and funds from other resources. Einstein or Blake are your best bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

I agree with this.

There have been threads about theater and music within MoCo before, and it is very hard to judge which school has the best theater programs. In part because most families don't end up having kids in various high schools to be able to compare experiences, and, as PP pointed out, any kid who is really into theater is not using their high school theater program as their main training.

I have a theater kid, and I don't think I'd choose any MoCo high school just for theater. I've been to Whitman, Walter Johnson, Blair, Einstein, and Blake productions. They were all good high school productions with nice sets and costumes. I know that Blair and Einstein have A & B casts to give more kids a chance to perform (I don't know about other schools). Einstein has a performing arts "academy" and may offer more classes than other high schools (though I would check the syllabi rather than assume, especially because it is a smaller high school) and along with Blake has a reputation for having a strong theater program. Blair is a big school so has a large talent pool to pull from. No school in MoCo is like Duke Ellington. The kids I know who work in local theater seem to be at "W" schools for the most part, probably because their parents are wealthier and can afford expensive voice, dance, and, theater training. There is an active cappies chapter here in the metro area, and you can check out the website to read reviews of various high school productions and see which schools have won awards.

Einstein doesn’t do cast A or B crews. Einstein has a stronger pool of kids when it comes to theatre. They receive kids who have taken theatre classes from Loiderman and also offer a wide variety of theatre classes. Einstein has also gone toe to toe with cappies nominations with other PA schools. Back in 2015, they went to a exclusive international theatre festival in Scotland for the schools with the top theatre programs. I guess no one knows this because MCPS doesn’t really highlight their arts programs. The W’s don’t hold a flame to Einstein and Blake’s performing arts programs. Top theatre program goes to Einstein and Blake no doubt because they have performing art programs that better support their students in this aspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child? Woodward will open in 2025 as a performing arts magnet. Brand new building, designed is being overseen by the guy who designed Strathmore

Is this true? Last I heard, MCPS backed off that plan because they couldn't get both a performing arts space and a football field, so defaulted to football field.

To the OP - Your child can audition for Duke Ellington as a Maryland resident and tuition is pretty low. Much better than cheating the city, particularly in this time of enhanced scrutiny.

With that said, theater is like everything else in this region. If your child is really dedicated and ambitious, school productions will be a bonus, not their main training.

I agree with this.

There have been threads about theater and music within MoCo before, and it is very hard to judge which school has the best theater programs. In part because most families don't end up having kids in various high schools to be able to compare experiences, and, as PP pointed out, any kid who is really into theater is not using their high school theater program as their main training.

I have a theater kid, and I don't think I'd choose any MoCo high school just for theater. I've been to Whitman, Walter Johnson, Blair, Einstein, and Blake productions. They were all good high school productions with nice sets and costumes. I know that Blair and Einstein have A & B casts to give more kids a chance to perform (I don't know about other schools). Einstein has a performing arts "academy" and may offer more classes than other high schools (though I would check the syllabi rather than assume, especially because it is a smaller high school) and along with Blake has a reputation for having a strong theater program. Blair is a big school so has a large talent pool to pull from. No school in MoCo is like Duke Ellington. The kids I know who work in local theater seem to be at "W" schools for the most part, probably because their parents are wealthier and can afford expensive voice, dance, and, theater training. There is an active cappies chapter here in the metro area, and you can check out the website to read reviews of various high school productions and see which schools have won awards.

Einstein doesn’t do cast A or B crews. Einstein has a stronger pool of kids when it comes to theatre. They receive kids who have taken theatre classes from Loiderman and also offer a wide variety of theatre classes. Einstein has also gone toe to toe with cappies nominations with other PA schools. Back in 2015, they went to a exclusive international theatre festival in Scotland for the schools with the top theatre programs. I guess no one knows this because MCPS doesn’t really highlight their arts programs. The W’s don’t hold a flame to Einstein and Blake’s performing arts programs. Top theatre program goes to Einstein and Blake no doubt because they have performing art programs that better support their students in this aspect.

My soon-to-be Einstein kid was excited to read that they have an extracurricular pit orchestra option. I thought that was pretty impressive, to have a live orchestra for a high school musical, but I realize now that I don't have a lot to compare it to.

Do any of the other MCPS high schools typically do live music with their musical theater productions? Any experience with Einstein's pit orchestra?