In the spirit of the overall mission for our school, the Bellarmine Theatre Arts Program intends to empower each student to maximize his or her various artistic skills, especially in the areas of performance, stagecraft, and management. These developed gifts have value not only in themselves, but also as icons of the mark God leaves on each soul. But such gifts only have fullest meaning if they are shared whole-heartedly with others—specifically our audiences. We also strive to study, prepare, and present material that can sometimes challenge conventional wisdom, and move our members to a greater appreciation of how artistic creation can become a vehicle for social justice. Finally, it is our intent that the members of Theatre Arts learn always to work in loving concert with others, in order to share their talents most fully.
Bellarmine runs a full theatre season - fall drama, winter musical and spring comedy - in the Main Stage Theatre in the Sobrato Center for Humanities and the Arts. Upwards of 200 students are involved in the program every year, inclusive of stage performers, musical accompaniment and technical theatre/stagecraft crew. The technical theatre/stagecraft component gives students an opportunity to learn stage design, construction, lighting design, sound design, stage management, sales and marketing.
Our program has been recognized, both by the local press and by various national theatre organizations for its professionalism, vitality, variety, non-traditional casting, and non-traditional staging, as evidenced by such full-scale productions as "Arcadia", "Les Miserables" and "Seven Ages of Bob", which was written by directors Peter Canavese and Tom Alessandri, along with student Robbie Fitzsimmons, for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As one of the first high schools to produce "The Laramie Project", "Urinetown: The Musical" and Steve Martin's comedy "Picasso at the Lapin Agile", we relish the challenge of difficult projects.
Bellarmine's theatre arts program also includes a resident improvisational troupe, Sanguine Humours. Founded in 1988 by theatre students, including current program directors and faculty members Peter Canavese and Russ Marcel, the troupe is named for the medieval "sanguine" temperament, which is characterized as impulsive, boisterous and often-times sarcastic. They perform free lunchtime shows and one mainstage night-time show per year, in addition to providing local school and charity performances.