Mimicked voices, scattered footsteps, and muffled laughter fill the Little Theater as Mr. Skylar Grossman, the new theater director at the high school, teaches his Acting II class. Having taught theater at both Tyngsborough Middle School and Franklin High School, Grossman is adapting the current courses to align with the curriculum he used to teach.
“The best choice for this curriculum is to introduce and reinforce the topics that students who take drama on the middle school level are able to continue building upon and essentially are scaffolded into becoming advanced theater artists,” said Grossman.
Each course that Grossman is proposing will replace one of the current Acting I, II, III, and IV classes, and continue a similar linear and prerequisite structure as before. However, he wants to ensure that each class builds on the previous, while not associating an acting level based on the grade students are in.
“It is a completely scaffolded curriculum with a rigor that says, ‘Awesome, you’ve completed this, you’re ready for the next step, and you’re ready for the next step, and you’re ready for the next step,’” said Grossman.
In addition to structuring the progression of courses, Grossman has also created a more organized class environment.
“Acting class would be fun and entertaining before, but it didn’t feel like we were learning much,” said Ciara Caffrey ’25, an Acting IV student. “The more organized classes have allowed me to expand beyond what I already know.”
These courses, yet to be approved by the school administration, are built around the 2019 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework in Fine and Performing Arts. This framework is rooted in four areas — create, perform, reflect, and connect — which Grossman has integrated into his own curriculum.
Replacing Acting I is Foundations of Acting and Improvisation. This new course would be a semester-long ACP leveled class where students build on their acting skills, while also learning about ensembles, ensemble building, and audience etiquette. He also wants to prepare students to audition for the Improv Troupe, so the course has a big emphasis on improvisation.
“I’m trying to work to revert that culture [where students audition for the improv troupe without taking theater classes] so that folks who audition have done acting before, and they have the appreciation and the understanding of it,” said Grossman.
Actors’ Workshop will replace Acting II. This is another semester-long, ACP level course that, along with building on skills and knowledge learned in its prerequisite, Foundations of Acting and Improvisation, takes a deeper look into the aspects of scene study, theater practitioners, and integrating their methodologies.
“I want to build [the students’] literacy and play reading and analysis, so we read a lot of plays,” said Grossman.
“It is more like a full elective, where you are actually learning stuff about what you are doing, comparable to Ceramics. The curriculum itself is a lot more in depth [than Acting I]: we are reading plays, going through scenes, and looking at different acting practitioners,” said Acting II student Oscar Allan ’27.
Students in Acting II engage in the theatrical exercise Columbian Hypnosis where students follow the hands and feet of the leader with their faces. Photo by Alexis Lee.
Grossman also wants to introduce the idea of creating an audition portfolio and teach students how to audition for a variety of different plays.
Acting and Play Studies Honors will replace Acting III. Unlike the original structure of Acting III, Acting and Play Studies Honors will be a year-long, honors level course.
“If you’ve taken Foundations of Acting and Improvisation and Actors’ Workshop and are ready to move into the third level, that gives me the inclination that you are very serious about your work. So I want to propose that students are able to take it for an honors credit,” said Grossman.
Instead of the literary and methodological focus of Actors’ Workshop, this course will focus on playwriting, directing, and producing. Students will also have the opportunity to see plays outside of class and connect what they saw to things they had previously learned inside the classroom.
Acting IV will turn into Acting and Directing Studio Intensive — a year-long, honors level class where students will learn how to bring the worlds of tech and directing together through a student directed project or student production class.
“By the time they graduate, I want the students to have established their actors’ toolbox, but have also been able to direct and produce shows as well,” said Grossman.
“It’s interesting to work on playwriting having done a lot of acting in the past because you get to experience the other side of theater and what goes into it before actors get their scripts and start rehearsing,” said Caffrey.
Grossman also intends the class to be an opportunity for students to work with him to put together a portfolio, start to network, and find ways to work outside of the classroom.
To get these courses approved, as with any department, Grossman has to send a proposal to Ms. Sandy Trach, the teaching and learning assistant superintendent, and then if approved by the school administration, these plans will be sent to the school committee for final approval.