Bring Berkeley Rep to your school

Bring a story to life! Using sound, movement, dialogue, and improvisation, students turn the classroom into a living theatre, becoming characters in a story chosen from our reading list. This workshop introduces students to theatre and helps develop literacy and communication skills in an artistic environment.

Depending on availability, Story Builders has the option of a bilingual program for Spanish-speaking ELL students.

Note to teachers: You have the option of recommending a story from your class (as approved by Berkeley Rep staff) or you may choose from our literature selections list. 10-hour workshops may conclude with an in class sharing of work for other students or families.

How can young people activate their voices for positive change? Through collaborative creative writing prompts and critical thinking exercises, students will use playwriting and Theatre of The Oppressed techniques to craft narratives connected to real-world problems, exploring how we identify resources, brainstorm solutions, and work to en(act) brighter futures.  

Change Makers is appropriate for mature upper elementary and middle school students and may be tailored to specific modern or historical social movements and figures. 

Help your students unlock their public speaking and collaboration skills through acting! Using theatre games, scene work, and improvisation, students are introduced to the building blocks of theatre: self-expression, character development, text analysis and presentation skills.  

Acting workshops are appropriate for both beginner students and more seasoned performers. This workshop may also be tailored to specific curricular texts or learning goals. 

Discover teamwork, storytelling and spontaneity through improvisation. Using theatre games, listening exercises, improvisations, and narrative scenes, students will learn to communicate effectively and trust their impulses. Students will gain an understanding of story structure, on-your-feet problem solving, and critical listening skills that can help them be more thoughtful writers, respectful community members, confident performers, and quick thinkers.  

Improvisation is appropriate for both beginner actors and more seasoned performers. 

En garde! Stage Combat is an engaging and physical workshop in which students discover the fundamental tools to create the illusion of violence. Stressing safety and teamwork, students will learn from a professional fight choreographer and explore techniques including falls, ear pulls, tripping and slaps, as well as how to use stage combat as a storytelling technique. Students will learn a choreographed fight and create a scene that puts the fight in context, using partner exercises to create the illusion of violence.

Bring safe theatrical combat to your next school production! Stage combat workshops are also available as fight choreography/direction sessions for existing school performances.  

Bring stories and text to life! In this workshop series, middle and high school students create original plays, rooted in either a particular topic/novel/historical period, or a topic self-generated by the class. In this hands-on, interactive creation experience, students are taught the practical theatre skills necessary to bring a play to fruition—from acting and playwriting to collaboration and listening. This group-oriented process helps students understand how to create and perform characters while developing and structuring their own play. 

Performance Lab is appropriate for both first-time performers and experienced theatre students. Teachers may choose to tailor the creation process to a particular curricular text, historical subject, or theme. Performance Lab is offered as a minimum 10-hour workshop series and concludes with a culminating sharing or performance. Final play length is based on the number of scheduled workshop hours.  

There’s a future Pulitzer winner in your classroom! Immerse your students in the world of dramatic storytelling with playwrighting workshops. Through individual writing and collaborative theatre exercises, students will explore the structure of written plays, character building techniques, and methods for generating ideas. As they work to develop a basic script, students will learn how to identify and create main events, given circumstances, obstacles, motivations, and themes.  

Playwriting is appropriate for both first-time creative writers and experienced bards. Teachers can choose to tailor the workshop to a particular literary style, historical time-period, or studied theme. Scripts may also be focused on personal storytelling and identity. This curriculum is an excellent addition to English, theatre, social studies, and creative writing classes.  

Seeing a Berkeley Rep Show as a student group? Enhance your experience with a  pre- or post-show workshop! Before and/or after the performance, these workshops deepen engagement by introducing, exploring, and further grounding the work students see onstage at Berkeley Rep.