Participation in annual full-grade plays is a beloved Green Vale tradition. From Kindergarten through 3rd Grade, plays are part of the core curriculum and directed by a grade’s classroom teachers in collaboration with the music and art faculty. In 4th Grade, a long-time research-based tradition known as The State Fair involves a student presentation that parents attend. In 5th-8th Grades, a single combined musical becomes an elective extracurricular.

Theater is deeply embedded in the Green Vale culture, with each play standing as a formative milestone. Alumni fondly associate classmates with their performance roles long after Green Vale. As a channel for cultivating public speaking skills, theater builds confidence in front of an audience. Effective verbal and bodily expression, while innate for some, can be learned and always improved. Students summon imagination and empathy to inhabit a character. Teamwork is abundantly important as diverse contributions are critical to the quality of the whole.

Indeed, staging a complete and thoughtful play is project-based learning at its best: pursuit of a sustained common goal with a deadline and a final product.