On Friday, February 28th, 2025, the Senior IB Theatre students of Windermere Preparatory School took center stage, presenting solo performances that showcased their understanding and creativity. Each student wrote, directed, organized, and designed independently, ​​drawing inspiration from a theatre theorist who influenced both the field and their artistic journey. 

The students also engaged in an interactive, reflective process. After each student’s performance, they asked questions to the audience, gathering feedback to complete a 1,500-word reflection on whether their theatremaker intentions were met. Camila Tavares, Mariann Burgos-Ramirez, and Keira Beggrow all chose the theatre theorist Anne Bogart–who used kinetic response, architecture, and repetition of words and movement–to carry their point across an audience. All three students used Bogart’s aspects of theatre mixed with their scripts and storylines to create their masterpieces. 

Noor Nawaz and Dominic Tarantino both used the theorist Bertolt Brecht, a playwright and practitioner known for his “epic theatre” approach, in their performances. During these pieces, Noor and Dominic both had moments in which they would disconnect from the character and connect with the audience. By disconnecting from the character they met the goal of focusing less on the acting and more on trying to convey the message of social or political issues, thereby following the method of their chosen theorist. 

Maria Luiza Beccari studied the work of Augusto Boal in which she delved into the issues of political power. Caroline Schools did not have lines in which to read. Rather than words Caroline had a routine–she choreographed a danztheatre routine to embody love represented by a rose and its petals. All pieces in the showcase were meant to make the audience feel something; whether it be sympathy, sorrow, or joy, everybody had an intention with their performance. 

Dan Goebel Guzman requested 18 volunteers to be an on-stage audience. Every member of the on-stage participants was informed that there would be loud sounds such as screaming and a chainsaw motor. The result of Dan’s performance was a newfound understanding of the political unfairness in Latin American Countries as well as an unsettling feeling in the volunteers’ stomachs inspired by the work of theorist, Antonin Artaud. 

Peers, teachers, and audience members witnessed an evening of thought-provoking theatre, while the performances were also recorded for IB submissions.