On performance night at Stuart-Hobson Middle School, drama teacher Tori Pergerson doesn't go backstage. She stays out front and lets her students run the show.
"I officially hand them their show. They know what they're supposed to do," Pergerson told East of the River DC News.
That moment of trust caps months of work at the Ward 6 school (410 E St. NE), where Pergerson has spent a decade building a theater program around confidence, belonging and student leadership. Stuart-Hobson is one of three District middle schools using drama to develop social-emotional skills in students ahead of the DCPS school year opening Monday, Aug. 24.
At Stuart-Hobson, sixth graders start with acting fundamentals, audition in front of peers and try improvisation. Older students mentor them in small groups. Seventh grader Gigi Bruckner-Rust, who played Tracy Turnblad in the spring production of "Hairspray," said mentoring younger students taught her leadership. The program also serves as an academic motivator: students who skip zero period before the school day miss that day's rehearsal and any scene changes assigned during it.
The program's results are measurable. In January, Stuart-Hobson's DramaPlayers won the All-Festival Performance Award at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, according to Hill Rag. They were the only public school among nine groups selected from 141 participating schools nationwide. It was the program's first-ever JTF appearance.
"This award affirms what we see every day — students rising to the highest level when given access, expectations, and support," Pergerson said in January after the win.
Teamwork at KIPP DC Valor Academy
At KIPP DC Valor Academy (5300 Blaine St. NE), drama teacher Andrea Gerald structures her program around a simpler goal: getting students to work together. Most arrive with little acting experience and move through auditions, callbacks and rehearsals as a group. A whiteboard in Gerald's classroom lists community reminders: give each other applause, try your best and learn how to say yes.
Gerald also uses theater to teach time management, she told East of the River DC News. Rehearsals often overlap with sports practices, and Gerald works with coaches to help students honor both commitments until they can manage their own schedules.
The school staged "Lion King Jr." May 21–22.
Academics on stage at Capitol Hill Day School
At Capitol Hill Day School (210 South Carolina Ave. SE), a private pre-K through eighth-grade school, drama builds progressively. By fifth grade, students take two performing arts classes each week. Fifth graders write, produce and perform their own show. Sixth graders perform a one-act play and serve as apprentices at the Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St. NE).
Tom Sellevaag, upper-grades head and outplacement coordinator, told East of the River DC News the program connects theater to English language arts. Students interpret scripts, study character motivations and, by seventh and eighth grade, work to get "inside their character's head," Sellevaag said.
Research backs the approach
A 2019 report by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and Ingenuity reviewed more than 200 studies spanning six decades and found that arts education develops social-emotional competencies when educators are intentional about structuring the work. The report cautioned that effects can be positive or negative depending on the environment adults create.
Getting involved
DCPS students return to class Monday, Aug. 24, according to DC News Now. Charter school families should check directly with their schools for start dates. Families interested in drama programs can contact Stuart-Hobson at (202) 671-6010, KIPP DC Valor Academy through kippdc.org, or Capitol Hill Day School through chds.org.
