Nathan Hale Theatre

Telling stories that matter…together.

 

Mission

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Nathan Hale Theatre is a family where students can have fun, build community, grow as theatre artists, and bring their own unique talents and strengths to this theatrical round table (by performing, building, tech-ing, leading, bonding, goofing, collaborating, or something else).  We’re here to build a supportive and productive community that fosters a sense of belonging for all abilities, backgrounds, and levels of theatre experience.  Whether or not you consider yourself creative or capable, we’re here to tell you that when you are here…you are both.

 

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Statement of Purpose

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The theatre department at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, Washington exists to provide quality theatre education to Nathan Hale students and professional-level performances for the entire Nathan Hale community.

 

With that goal in mind, Nathan Hale Theatre aims to create an inclusive, fun, creative environment where differences are celebrated and utilized so that we can all say, ‘Hey, we built this together and it’s beautiful!  I belong here.’

 

Theatre productions and course offerings are designed to provide comprehensive knowledge of the dramatic arts; refine acting, production, and technical theatre skills; and provide a wide range of performance and technical opportunities for ALL students.  

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Statement of Inclusion

 

We at Nathan Hale Theatre are committed to making our community a safe and welcoming place for people of all genders, races, religions, cultures, sexual orientations, and abilities.  We believe in the power of storytelling, particularly through theatre. We believe that all stories matter and that much of storytelling’s power comes from diversity. We see the immense influences all cultures have had on theatre and that these influences are often missed. We believe in the importance of lifting up these contributions and cultures.

That being said, most of the theatre we practice here at Nathan Hale is a more western style of theatre. Therefore, there are many styles of theatre that we don’t showcase. We acknowledge that western style theatre historically has been dominated by white people and that the repercussions of that still influence us. We acknowledge that Nathan Hale theatre as a group is not fully representative of Nathan Hale’s student body. We recognize that we have a long way to go to be fully inclusive and anti-racist, but we are willing and committed to making the necessary steps to get there.  We strive to build a fully inclusive and representative community. Some of the steps we are taking to get there are;

We strive to give equal opportunities by providing grants and scholarships for students. When we are able, we provide financial aid for activities like doing a show so that money is not a barrier to participating in theatre.

We strive to bring a focus to underrepresented groups in theatre through what shows we choose to perform, and through presentations we research, create and present during drama club. In addition, to make theatre available to as many people as we can, we offer a full inclusion drama class. This is a class where students with all ability levels collaborate to write, rehearse and perform a show. This includes students in both general and special education, students who are nonverbal, in wheelchairs, on the spectrum, and fully able. 

We give students access to local professionals to bring authenticity and diversity to our shows. During the rehearsal process of a show, we bring in professionals from our larger community when relating to topics that we don’t have sufficient knowledge or experience in. For example, when one of our shows required ASL, we brought in someone who is part of the deaf community as well as a theatre professional to teach us about their community and ASL. We hope to continue strengthening our relationships with local professionals and our community as a whole.  We strive to seek out problems and things we need to work out to make necessary changes to our program. To do this, we send out a climate survey in our community about once a semester. This survey asks about if those in our community feel included and in what ways they feel we could improve. In addition, we have semi-frequent discussions about diversity in our community and how to uphold our anti-racist and inclusionary message. Based on those discussions, we make decisions to better our systems and our community.

We acknowledge that we have and will make mistakes. One of our biggest ongoing goals is to properly deal with our mistakes and take accountability to repair harm in our community. We are constantly striving to make this community available, welcoming, and safe for everyone.  If you have any questions, concerns or feedback please DM us @nathan_hale_theatre. You can also find other contacts for us here.

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