Theater
Theater Department
"Theater is a school of life, freedom and citizenship" (Antoine Vitez)
The theater department of the Académie Rainier III welcomes children, teenagers and adults with a curiosity or desire for theater and the art of acting. The theater curriculum adapts to students' different levels of motivation. We don't follow a dogmatic process, but rather teach from the students' desire. One of the challenges is to get students to listen to themselves and help them discover something about themselves they don't know. Our aim is to explore paths. It's by exploring these paths, appreciating each person's differences and accepting the complexity of all beings, that we help the student actor to grow and become more autonomous. As teachers, we pass on the fundamentals of theatrical art and the actor's creative process, encouraging observation, curiosity and openness. Drama can also prepare us for many other activities in life, and help us to take our place in the world we live in. It should provide access to structured thought. It forces us to question the past as well as the present, and sharpens the critical faculties of student actors through its dialogical function.
We create a state of openness, displacement and astonishment. It's important to get students to listen not only to themselves, but also to others. Let them be confronted with situations in which they perceive the other, and what will come out of them, and let them be astonished by it, so that it sets them in motion. The experiences we have plant seeds within us that will blossom elsewhere, in other ways.