Young actors learn the foundational skills needed to pursue careers on stage, screen, and television.
Over the span of two years, Residential High School actors test their growing craft in a series of ever-increasing challenges including scene presentations, rehearsal projects, cabarets, dance demonstrations, and main stage productions. The focus is on developing sound values and techniques that form the entire student—voice, physical instrument, intellect, creative spirit—as well as the basis of a life-long pursuit of excellence.
Led by professional artists and performers, the Drama program is built on a conservatory model and provides training in the following areas:
Acting | Voice and Singing | Movement and Dance | Technical Theatre
Seniors participate in the Unified Theatre Auditions in New York and Chicago, where they audition for the foremost colleges and conservatories in America.
Student Achievements
- 10 Drama students have been Theatre Finalists in the prestigious National YoungArts Competition, including a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award Winner.
- 13 Drama students have been awarded scholarships to the famed Juilliard Drama Division.
- 9 Drama graduates have appeared on Broadway stages since 2010 and have received three Tony nominations, including one Tony Winner for Best Lead Actress in a Musical.
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3 Drama students have received the Carnegie Mellon Presidential Scholar's Award—the Theatre Division's highest honor—while 2 Drama students were awarded the Kenan scholarship (four-year full scholarship) to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts...in the same year.
Application & Audition
How to Apply & Audition
Students apply in 10th grade to attend our school in 11th & 12th grade. An online application process, which includes demographic and arts information, must be completed to be considered for admission. The online application portal will be used to request recommendations and upload other required materials.
Drama applicants are also required to submit an audition video along with their other application materials.
Learn about our deadlines and financial assistance and program fees!
Drama Audition Process
Phase 1: Submit a 4-minute video recording of two contrasting monologues and one song (details below). This video must be submitted by January 7, 2022.
Phase 2: Residential High School Drama Auditions will be held in-person this year. Selected applicants will be invited to this phase based on their application materials and video audition. During this 20 minute audition, students will perform their monologues and song, will be interviewed by SCGSAH adjudicators, and a coaching session may take place.
Auditions will take place on various Saturdays during late January & early February. A Residential High School Callback session for selected students may take place after the initial auditions.
Monologues
Two Contrasting Monologues
Students will select and prepare two contrasting monologues (60 seconds each). This should be material you connect with personally and reflects your age, experience, and understanding.
The first monologue should be from a modern/contemporary playwright (from a play written after 1920).
There are two options for the second monologue. Students can either choose to perform a second, yet contrasting, monologue from a modern/contemporary playwright OR a Shakespeare monologue (prose or verse).
Modern/Contemporary Plays (published after 1920)
The plays listed below contain one or more monologues suitable for audition purposes, though some may need to be cut together or edited somewhat. You may use the list as a guide, or choose material not on the list by written by established professional playwrights.
If you have difficulty finding material, note that the modern classics listed below with an * should be easy to find in many school and local libraries.
For Women
The Red Coat, John Patrick Shanley
A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry *
The Piano Lesson, August Wilson *
Jitney, August Wilson
Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley
The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams *
I Oughta Be in Pictures, Neil Simon
Barefoot in the Park, Neil Simon
Collected Stories, Donald Marguiles
Sight Unseen, Donald Marguiles
A Young Lady of Property, Horton Foote
A View from the Bridge, Arthur Miller *
All My Sons, Arthur Miller *
Eleemosynary, Lee Blessing
Sally’s Gone, She Left Her Name, Russell Davis
You Can’t Take it With You, Kauffman and Hart *
Picnic, William Inge *
Inherit the Wind, Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee
For Men
Biloxi Blues, Neil Simon
Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller *
A View from the Bridge, Arthur Miller *
The Crucible, Arthur Miller *
The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams *
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, William Inge *
Picnic, William Inge *
Bus Stop, William Inge *
The Piano Lesson, August Wilson *
Jitney, August Wilson
A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry *
In a Northern Landscape, Timothy Mason
Conversations with My Father, Herb Gardner
Sally’s Porch, Russell Davis
The Red Coat, John Patrick Shanley
Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay Abaire
Proof, David Auburn
Catfish Moon, Laddy Sartin
Master Harold…and the Boys, Athol Fugard