OUR MAGNET PROGRAM:

Our Theater Magnet has been in place for 5 years now and we are small but mighty. The limited number of students in each level of the program allows for teaching to be tailored to students' specific interests, strengths, and talents. Each student is afforded several opportunities a year to be on stage and to be a part of productions in myriad ways. Our theater instructors spend lots of one on one time focusing on their students and ensuring that everyone is meeting the high academic standards of the program. Students form close bonds with each other over their four years and the family feeling is fostered and supported by administration.

SCHOLARSHIPS:

The first group of graduating seniors in the Acting Magnet, class of 2020, are all attending a 4 year university with scholarship money in their pocket. 

ACTING COURSE WORK:

Each year students spend 2 blocks with their theater teacher. Freshmen Actors and Production take an Intro to Theater class together, and then split to focus on their chosen paths. Sophomore Actors take two blocks of Acting 2, a more in depth exploration of the topics introduced in Acting 1 and with a focus on project development. These students often write, act, direct, and produce scenes by the end of the year. They are introduced to different methods and schools of acting and we work to find their individual voices. Junior year actors continue to narrow their studies and explore their voices in Acting 3, as well as stretch their talents with a course dedicated to movement and another to script writing. It is here where our small program is allowed to tailor courses to fit the interests of the students, if a group of students wants to focus on another aspect of theater, like musical theater or Shakespearean theater, we can make that happen. Finally, senior year, Acting and Production students reunite for a Theater Production course where they plan, script, rehearse, direct, and produce their senior showcase performance. Actors also take Acting 4 which is a mostly independent study that allows them to prepare for college and professional auditions.

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION COURSE WORK:

TYPES OF PERFORMANCES:

Each year we hold schoolwide auditions for the fall play and spring musical. In addition to these open castings there are magnet performances in October, December, and April at Magnet Showcases. 

OUR TEACHING STAFF:

Arinita Crawford, Technical Director and Design and Production Teacher, has performed professionally with world-renowned choirs in London, Germany, Switzerland, the Canary Islands, and the USA as a lead vocalist. She has also performed as a featured soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Soulful Symphony, and the opera, Cosi Fan Tutti. In years past, Ms. Crawford has performed in several stage plays including Telling it Like it Iz (1991, Talbert), Black Voices (1993), and The Wiz (2005-2009). She continues to perform locally and abroad as a soloist as well as lending her design and production skills to the magnet program here at Milford where she has worked for the past 16 years assisting in and performing in plays. Nothing is closer to her heart than the arts (except maybe her husband and children!).

Erin Bateman, Director and Acting Teacher, has been working in high school theater since she was in high school herself. As a performer, she was a member of Once on this Island, Little Shop of Horrors, FAME, Seussical, Trilogy of Terror,  and countless choir performances. In college she participated in minor performances with friends but always knew she'd come back to theater in a major way as a teacher. During her tenure at Dundalk High School she rekindled the theater program and directed two plays: The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet and a student written production, Around the Campfire. When the opportunity arose to rejuvenate the theater program at Milford Mill, she jumped right in. Under her direction, the Acting Magnet has produced a number of minor student written shows as well as 4 major productions. In 2018, with the help of her brother, she wrote the spring musical, Mischief and Misfits.

Both instructors continue their theater education with professional development from BCPS as well as colleges and universities in the area.