Arts

Performing Arts

Welcome to the Performing Arts Department of the Priory School. We offer a wide range of training in all aspects of the Performing Arts including Acting, Improvisation, Directing, Playwriting, Shakespeare, Stage Tech and Design, Stage Combat, Musical Theater, Choir, Wind Symphony, Jazz Ensemble, String Ensemble, Handbell Choir, as well as Guitar, Percussion, Music Theory, Composition, Music History, and more.

The Performing Arts are an integral part of life at Priory. At any given moment of the year, in both middle and high school, at least one-quarter of our student body is enrolled in a performing arts class, preparing to perform or run a production, or participating in an arts related club.

In Priory Performing Arts, all students are welcome to find and explore whatever art form may be their passion and hopefully try and discover new ones. We offer a professional, supportive and trusting environment where students are given skills to unlock their talents and encouraged to stretch themselves.

In the Fall of 2007 we opened our new Performing Arts Center consisting of:

The Rothrock Performance Hall, a 400 seat proscenium theater with a large stage and state of the art lighting, sound and audience seating.
The Verhalen Family "Black Box" theater classroom for classes and rehearsal space with full theatrical light and sound system.
The Marquart Family Set Shop, which allows us to construct sets on a grand scale.
The Barbara Crouse Choir Classroom and new Orchestra Classroom which are rehearsal rooms for our large Choirs and Orchestras, The Tamara and Dan Turner Family Midi Lab and Workroom which consists of eight computer stations with keyboards and composing software for music composition and analysis.
A complete stock of school owned instruments, instrument storage, two practice rooms with pianos, and recording equipment for instant playback and critique of rehearsals.

These facilities have allowed us to take already strong and growing programs and expand them even more. Our students are receiving training and producing productions and concerts at a collegiate or professional level and now they are putting that work up in world class facilities.

Upcoming Productions

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2025–26 Season Schedule

All-School Show
November 13–16
Alice in Wonderland

Do not miss this magical stage adaptation, which combines “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” in one play. All your favorite characters from Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece are here: Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledee & Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, Humpty Dumpty, and many more! Suitable for all ages, this is a show you won’t want to miss.

Playing for only four performances, Alice’s adventures come vividly to life in this adaptation by Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus. Join her as she navigates the upside-down world of Wonderland, where physical comedy, danger, and joyful discoveries hide around every corner. Some Wonderland creatures may even appear in the audience!

Upper School Musical
March 12–15
Mean Girls: High School Version
7:00 PM (Thu–Sat) | 2:00 PM (Sun)

Don’t miss the hit musical adaptation of Tina Fey’s cult classic film Mean Girls, featuring all the iconic characters you love and irresistibly hilarious songs. Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, this show is a satirical rollercoaster ride through the comedy and drama of high school life.

Cady Heron may have grown up on the African savanna, but nothing prepares her for the wild world of public high school in Illinois. When she takes on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George, Cady finds herself swept into a ruthless game of popularity. But when she and her friends hatch a “Revenge Party” to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you cannot cross a queen bee without getting stung.

Middle School Show
May 1–3
A Midsummer Night's Dream

Comedy, Mistaken Identities, Drama, Magic…don’t miss Priory Theater’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”!

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of Western Theater’s greatest comedies and it comes vividly and hilariously to life in Priory Theater’s production. Fun and appropriate for all ages, if you want a laughter-laden adventure, don’t miss this show!

Set in our modern time period, family troubles of humans collide with family troubles of the magical Fairy King and Fairy Queen. As four friends flee to the forest to escape an unwelcome engagement and five amateur actors gather in the same forest to write, act and stage what may be the funniest “so-bad-it’s-great” original play ever, both groups are pranked by magical, mischievous fairies.