Theatre

Codman Academy's award winning partnership with The Huntington Theatre Company's Education Department ensures that every Codman student receives extensive on-site dramatic arts training at the theatre.  All ninth and tenth graders are on site every other Friday throughout the entire school year.  In ninth grade,  every student is required to compete in the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Out Loud competition.   In tenth grade, all students are required to participate in the English Speaking Union's Shakespeare Monologue competition.  Ninth and tenth graders also present an annual showcase each May on the stage at the Wimberley Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts. 

Juniors at Codman build on their previous two years of theatre training by competing in a Spoken Word competition, with the finalists  performing at the local Dot 2 Dot Cafe in Dorchester.  

Codman Academy does not rank students and we do not have a valedictorian.  Instead, each senior prepares a Socratic Apologia, or defense of his or her life, to the entire school at Community Circle.   These powerful senior talks, inspired by Chapel Talks at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts,  have become a treasured Codman Academy tradition, starting with the first graduating class in 2005.  Community Circle is held every Thursday at 9 am.  If you would like to attend a Senior Talk,  please contact  mcampbell@codmanacademy.org for the schedule.

Each summer, The Huntington Theatre Company's Education Department collaborates with us for a student production.  This program began in 2006 when there was a spike in violence in Boston, and we were concerned about students' safety between 4-7 pm.   We approached Donna Glick, Education Director at The Huntington, who agreed to design a program under the direction of Lynne Johnson, Associate Education Director.  Students have performed five Shakespeare plays, including Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer's Night Dream and Taming of the Shrew.   The 2011 production will be a tribute to August Wilson, who during his life had a special relationship with The Huntington Theatre.  In fact,  Codman students had an opportunity to meet and talk with Mr. Wilson during his life.  The August Wilson tribute will include selections from each of the ten plays which span the 20th century African American experience.