arts

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL

All of our artists at the Abbey help contribute to the beauty of our campus spaces and make life here fuller, richer, and more vivid for everyone.

PERFORMING ARTS COURSE OFFERINGS VISUAL ARTS COURSE OFFERINGS RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

8 Music Workshop 8 Fundamentals of Art 8 Abbey Players

8 Music Theory AP 8 Photography 8 Abbey Singers

8 Music 3 (Advanced Music) 8 Ceramics 8 A Capella Groups

8 Drama Workshop 8 2-D Visual Art 8 Chamber, Jazz, Drum Ensembles

8 Abbey Schola (liturgical choir) 8 Advanced Art 8 Dance

8 History of Art (AP) 8 Private Music Instruction

8 Pro Deo Orchestra

8 Studio Art After School (SAAS)

Performing Arts

There is something for everyone in the Drama Department: acting, singing, dancing, and stagecraft. Three formal productions are staged each year. Performing in front of a large audience can have a profound impact on a student, one that they will never forget. It is an exhilarating experience that builds self-esteem and confidence. Through a systematic rehearsal process, students are given the tools to intellectually, physically, and vocally expand and strengthen their stage presence and performance abilities. These experiences and skills will help students in future leadership, artistic, or public speaking situations. Theater is a collaborative art, drawing on the artistry and craftsmanship of other non-performative disciplines, such as stage, lighting, sound, and costume design. For each production, students are offered the opportunity to participate as a member of the stage crew, where they can develop their skills in all of these areas.

As part of our co-curricular activities in the fall, the Abbey provides an after-school program for students who are interested in dance. This program explores modern dance, ballet, tap, jazz, and dance improvisation. The program culminates in a performance for the Abbey community at the end of the term. Students also have an opportunity to dance in the winter term by participating in the musical. The dance program combines the basic goals of both the athletic and performing arts programs: to increase the strength, flexibility and coordination of the student, to refine social interaction, and to cultivate the capacity for presence and aesthetic sensibility.

Past Productions

AntigoneFiddler on the RoofFameMacbethThe Music ManA Midsummer Night’s DreamAnything GoesTaming of the ShrewMy Fair LadyInherit the WindInto the WoodsBeauty and the BeastRomeo and JulietThe Sound of MusicOklahoma!

take root

MusicOur Music Department offers students the opportunity to discover their passion for music and experience a wealth of performance and ensemble opportunities. The Abbey Singers are our select choir, performing three concerts a year with repertoire ranging from Mozart to Menken. Our student singers also lead our community through song at weekly Sunday Masses. The Abbey’s chamber orchestra, Pro Deo, provides an opportunity to develop technique and musicianship within the context of an orchestral setting. Our more advanced students can also take advantage of our Chamber Ensemble; this group meets daily and delves into the standard classical literature for the aspiring musician.

Portsmouth Abbey students have the unique opportunity to participate in our annual winter musical, complete with our full professional orchestra consisting of some of the area’s finest musicians from the Rhode Island Philharmonic, United States Coast Guard Band, and Naval Academy Band. Abbey students may also take private lessons from exceptional teaching artists and educators from Rhode Island’s colleges and universities. All lessons and classes take place in our newly renovated Music Wing, which is home to three grand pianos, eight practice rooms, and a guitar/percussion facility.

Visual ArtsAll students benefit from the process of solving visual problems and using this learning to communicate proficiently. The Arts requirement at Portsmouth is designed to expose all of our students to the creative arts while challenging them to develop personal and artistic problem-solving skills.

The Visual Arts curriculum is sequential, beginning with a strong introduction to two-dimension visual art skills in the Fundamentals of Art course and continuing with higher media and more challenging projects in our full-year courses of Photography, Ceramics, and Visual Arts, a more intense exploration into the two-dimensional area of the visual arts.

Third-year art students in Advanced Art may choose an independent study in the media and subject of choice. The private loft and studio spaces in the Fine Arts Building provide each Advanced Art student with an ideal environment in which he or she can focus on completing a portfolio under the direction and guidance of his or her instructors. Students are fully supported and guided in building a quality portfolio for submission to colleges and visual arts institutions. Lastly, students may also study in depth the historical and cultural contexts of art over the ages through AP Art History.

take rootPORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL285 Cory’s Lane Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871401-643-1248

www.portsmouthabbey.org

For more information:

www.portsmouthabbey.org/arts or call the Office of Admission at 401-643-1248