Hackley School

The Upper School program aims to accommodate a wide range of dedications and intensities.

The program supports those students who wish to make music and drama a small part of their lives as well as those who aspire to become professionals. In addition to the orchestra, band, chorus, and jazz band programs, our Upper School students can participate in guitar ensemble, small jazz groups, vocal ensembles, and chamber ensembles. Drama students can participate in productions ranging from the classics and Shakespeare to contemporary plays.

In April, student writers, actors and directors presented SECRETS, a series of short plays written, produced and directed by Hackley students.

In April, student writers, actors and directors presented SECRETS, a series of short plays written, produced and directed by Hackley students. Students in Creative Writing, an Upper School English elective, launched a playwriting contest based upon Frank Warren’s book Postsecrets. This book is a collection of postcards sent by people who want to reveal a secret, usually about themselves, but want to remain anonymous. Hackley playwrights were encouraged to submit a scene in which one or more persons reveal a secret.

Many plays were submitted and eleven short plays were chosen. The production was deliberately “bare bones” — with nothing more than open space with some lighting and fairly generic props for a set – in order to focus on the students’ words and what their text reveals to us about ourselves. In a perfect little marriage of what playwrights and actors (and even real people) do, Secrets offers a look into some things Hackley students think about, experience, muse about, or imagine. Based on real life experience or entirely imagined, the “secrets” are real even if the characters aren’t. The stories were simple, straightforward, funny, and some, truly sweet; all were imaginative and a credit to Hackley’s writers; all were entertaining; some even contained a lesson.

The Middle School program is based upon the concept that developing adolescents learn best through performance.

Therefore, each student chooses to participate in orchestra, band, or chorus and has the option to participate in drama and jazz band programs. Once again, all of our students perform throughout the school year.

Theatre Arts offers Middle School students an opportunity to explore concepts of performance based upon character. Over the course of their experience in the Middle School, students are exposed to the craft of scene writing, character development, stage presence, blocking, and the behind-the-scenes technicalities that bring theatre to life.

Seventh and eighth grade students who elect to major in theatre arts shall choose between Acting and Technical Theatre. Seventh and eighth grade students who minor in theatre arts shall choose between a performance-based class and a creative writing course.

Middle School drama classes and extracurricular plays round out the performing arts curriculum.

The Lower School program introduces all of our students to the fundamental concepts of music through motion and instrumentation.

All students participate in a program that lays the foundation for a life with music and performing arts. In addition to the regular program, Hackley offers optional string programs for our interested Lower School students. All of our students perform in major school performances, smaller special events, or mini-recitals depending upon their level of participation. The Lower School program includes opportunities to perform in plays and musicals designed to complement the academic curriculum.

Our music program is an integral component of the Lower School experience. It promotes an appreciation for music as a discipline and as a vehicle for personal expression. Students explore singing, rhythmic development, and creative movement. Children are taught to identify such musical elements as rhythm, pitch, melody, and harmony as well as the study of musical notation and sight reading. To facilitate this experience, students participate in chorus and learn to play Orff instruments and recorders.