Roanoke Catholic nurtures our students’ artistic expression during the school day by providing credit courses in band and the visual arts:
Outside of the academic body of the day, Roanoke Catholic offers flourishing Drama and Choral programs.
The lights go down and the show is about to begin. It is this single moment of anticipation that made me fall in love with the first production I ever saw. I have been involved in theater since I was 10 years old and in a production about Thomas Edison and the electric light bulb. Even today I still love that moment of quietly charged energy before a show.
My theater journey continued as I explored acting with Mill Mountain Theatre’s youth program. At Longwood I found my home in the dark of backstage as well as in the light on stage. I went on to work backstage for numerous regional theaters around the country including Omaha Playhouse, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, and St. Louis Repertory Theatre. Eventually the mountains of Virginia called me home.
Four years ago I revitalized the theater program at Roanoke Catholic School, focusing on building self-confidence, finding outlets for creative projects of interest to our community and being an advocate for theater arts in our school.
Statistics show that students successfully finishing a theater or speech class are 50% more likely to be successful in college and the work force. A school like ours affords your student the opportunity to participate in dramatic arts and sports within the same season. We are dedicated to helping to create a well-rounded individual that is well-versed in presentation, team work, and finding an outlet for their creative energies as well.
In the last few years the drama program at RCS has grown by leaps and bounds including productions of Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, A Night of Monty Python, Military Monologues, The Reluctant Dragon, Live Stations of the Cross, and a Nativity Play.
We offer grade-level appropriate education in dramatic arts to PreK through Grade 12. We’ve offered workshops on improv, how to create a monologue from an interview, and traditional play practice experience. This year we are proud to present two productions: a play in the fall that features our Lower School students (PreK-7) and in the spring a full length musical for Grades 7-12.
For more information, contact April Corbett, Director of Theater Arts, acorbett@roanokecatholic.com.
When I was 8 years old, my mother turned to me and sweetly asked, “Michael, how would you like to go to summer camp?” Visions of slingshots, campfires and canoeing flooded my brain … only when I got to “camp” did I discover it was for singing not scouting, more about a cappella than air rifles.
And so began my musical journey that continues to this day. Despite this shady start, I went on to sing with the Birmingham Boys Choir and John Carroll High School Honors Choir, both under the direction of composer Ken Berg, the Birmingham-Southern College Concert Choir under Dr. Hugh Thomas, and church choirs ever since.
Six years ago, Michael Hemphill, former Director of Marketing at Roanoke Catholic, founded Roanoke Catholic’s Celtic Singers with 13 brave students — two of whom were my daughters. Now boasting more than 30 students, the Celtic Singers performs regularly at school liturgies and in the community, produces a Christmas-time Lessons & Carols service, and travels in the spring to compete in a “Music in the Parks” festival competition. At Williamsburg’s Busch Gardens in 2017 and 2018, the choir received “Excellent” ratings (grades of 80-89 on a 100-point scale) while competing against high schools with up to 750 students (RCS’ 9th-12th grades comprise 1/5 that number). During these trips, the choir also performed at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond.
In Spring 2019, the choir competed at Hershey Park, Pa. On their return trip, the choir visited Washington, D.C., and perform at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Roman Catholic church in the United States and North America and one of the ten largest churches in the world.