The program
A classroom becomes an ensemble.
A Chaplins residency turns a classroom into a working ensemble. From day one, students are on their feet speaking, playing, and creating together. By teaching theatre as a foundation, students learn to confidently stand in front of others, say what they think, and work cooperatively to make their visions come to life.
What a residency looks like
Every session follows a rhythm students come to trust:
Check-in
We open with a check-in circle, allowing students to share how they're feeling in front of their classmates, instilling public speaking as a habit from day one.
Warm-up
A question of the day that primes the imagination and explores our lesson's purpose. Then we begin warming up the actor's instrument: the body and the voice.
The lesson
A tool from the actor's toolbox that builds social awareness, cooperation, active listening, confidence and self-expression.
Reflection
A discussion about what students learned and how it ties back to their real lives and the other subjects they're studying.
The core idea · Getting on your voice
We teach students to "get on their voice" — to speak from feeling instead of hiding it in the back of the throat.
Getting on your voice means owning your point of view. That's the heart of Chaplins: giving young people a space to express the human condition, and the confidence to do it.
The curriculum arc — grade by grade
Performers Ready! is a 30-week sequential theatre curriculum, differentiated by grade:
- TK–2Foundations in Theatre
- 3Story & Character
- 4Creative Collaboration
- 5Monologues & Playwriting
- 6Spoken Word, Skits & Plays
Formats
10-week
Foundations
The foundational lessons of acting and performing, adapted to each grade's place in the arc. A supplemental introduction.
15-week
Differentiated
Everything in the 10-week, plus five weeks that go deeper into each grade's craft — puppetry in 3rd grade, scene work in 4th, and deepened performance exploration in 5th and 6th.
30-week
Full-year residency
The same class across fall and spring, experiencing the complete arc and building toward a final project. Our vision for a true district partnership: every student in a grade going through the full journey.