Governor's School for the Arts

The Governor's School for the Arts is a regional secondary arts school sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education and the public school divisions of Chesapeake, Franklin, Isle of Wight County, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Southampton County, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach. It is one of 19 Virginian academic-year Governor's Schools and provides intensive educational opportunities for identified gifted students in instrumental music, vocal music, dance, musical theatre, theatre & film, and visual arts. The school is housed in the historic Monroe Building in downtown Norfolk.

Of the 97 student reviews of the School's programs on the School Report Site, Niche, all are average or above with 58 ranking the school as "excellent."

Dance
The dance program provides a broad range of styles to its students, including ballet, modern, and jazz. The dancers showcase their skills three times annually, one of which is a joint performance with the Virginia Stage Company. In addition to these performances, the dance department hosts the regional high school dance festival every two years.

Theatre & Film
The theatre program has an average membership of 50 students. It is housed in the Monroe Building/Wells Theatre complex, home of the Virginia Stage Company. A flexible black-box theatre in the complex serves as the principal producing space for the theatre program.

Students have the opportunity to work in the Wells Theatre, which closely resembles Broadway's Helen Hays Theatre. Instruction takes place in classrooms, studios, and rehearsal space, and students receive hands-on experience with computer lighting and sound equipment.

The department produces about four or five main stage productions and several workshop productions per year. Students have the opportunity to train and perform with professional theatre artists and visiting faculty from university theatre departments. Internships with the Virginia Stage Company (LORT C) are available for selected students.

In curriculum, the Theatre Department offers hands-on performance experience in a variety of dramatic styles and periods, ranging from Classical Greek to Shakespeare, Commedia dell'arte and contemporary American writing, including on-camera work and screen material. Students are also provided many college-level courses such as Theatre History, Acting For The Camera, Directing, and Scene Study. Moreover, students are offered training to support the demands of heightened language and stylized material, preparing them for auditions at the collegiate level. Students also have the opportunity to rehearse and perform material that is unavailable in a typical secondary school setting. Productions of note include Heathen Valley, The Wrestling Season, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Laramie Project, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Playing With Fire (The Frankenstein Story) and original student work focused on contemporary issues and civil rights.

Musical theatre
The Musical Theatre Department is the smallest department at the Governor's School for the Arts. The department consists of roughly 30 students with an equal male-to-female ratio. The program is designed to prepare students for professional careers in musical theatre, music/recording, television, film, and popular live performance venues such as Broadway, theme parks, cruise ships, and cabaret.


 * In Dance, students are grouped according to ability from beginner to intermediate to advanced. All Musical Theatre students take regular classes in ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop.
 * Vocal coaching focuses on the fundamentals of vocal production, classical literature, musical theatre literature, and also explores the correct and safe execution of the BELT/POP voice along with the development of the legit voice.
 * Acting lessons are intended to help the performer be more relaxed and confident on stage. The differences between film/television acting and stage acting are discussed and practiced. Monologues and scene work contribute to an advanced refinement of song interpretation and communication.

Instrumental music
With an average enrollment of 80 students, the instrumental music program is one of the largest of the GSA departments. The program offers professional training and a variety of performance experience to classical and jazz performers including those interested in conducting, composition, and audio engineering.

Instrumental music students are given three hours of intensive training each weekday afternoon in many facets of music including chamber music/jazz combos, sight singing, ear training, eurhythmics, keyboard skills, literature, improvisation, theory, composition, computer technology related to music, audio recording (Pro Tools), sectionals, music business, audition preparation, performance classes and ensembles such as the Big Band, and the Symphony Orchestra. All classes take place on the downtown Norfolk campus.

Governor's School instructors include members of the Virginia Symphony, faculty of Old Dominion University, administrators of the Virginia Arts Festival, and musicians from Hampton Roads and beyond.

Graduates of the Instrumental Music Department that choose music as their profession have continued their studies at music universities and conservatories including the Eastman School of Music, Rice University, the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Manhattan School of Music. Students of GSA have spent their summers studying at music festivals such as the Meadowmount School of Music, Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, the Encore School for Strings, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the National Orchestral Institute.

Graduates occupy positions throughout the music world including positions with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony and Saint Louis Symphony, seats in the orchestras of Broadway shows, recording contracts with the record industry in Nashville and New York as performers and engineers, and teaching positions at universities and arts schools all over the United States.

Visual arts
The visual arts department encourages in-depth exploration and research in an array of studio courses in the fields of printmaking, painting, photography, computer imaging, video imaging additive, subtractive, constructed sculpture, design, and other areas such as medical illustration and fashion design. Additionally, students take drawing and art history classes as well as classes that focus on conceptualization, analysis, and criticism.

The schedule for Visual Arts students is based around two-hour elective studios which are taken daily, along with either art history, concepts, or criticism. Each student chooses two elective studios from a variety offered each nine weeks. Portfolio development is a focus of the visual arts program. With guidance from the department chair, students select two electives for each of the four nine-week grading periods. In addition to the typical electives, advanced students may apply for independent study in a particular area.

Vocal music
The Vocal Music Department has an annual total enrollment of 30-40 9th-12th grade vocal students. The department offers classically-based training in all aspects of music, from theory to applied voice.

Students perform solo and ensemble roles in student productions, and learn vocal repertoire in opera, operetta, art song, and legitimate musical theatre as well as small- and large-scale choral works. Solo singing is encouraged and expected of all students.

The Vocal Music program provides serious students with intensive focused training that is designed to carefully develop the maturing voice. The program instructs students in all aspects of vocal music and fosters the formation of habits that enable them to use their vocal instruments to the fullest.

To augment this instructional program, vocal music students have the opportunities to attend professional opera performances and meet performers such as Plácido Domingo, Dawn Upshaw, Denyce Graves and Mirella Freni. Students also take trips to view productions by the Virginia Opera, the Washington Opera, the New York City Opera, Russia's Kirov Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. Additionally, vocal and instrumental students have traveled and performed outside the United States in such locations as England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Austria.

Notable alumni

 * Paige Jennifer Barr, "Sarah's Key"
 * Matt Caplan, Rent Broadway and National Tour, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark Original Broadway Cast
 * Mary Faber, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Broadway, American Idiot Original Broadway Cast, Avenue Q Broadway, Saved Off-Broadway.
 * Grant Gustin, Glee as Sebastian Smythe, West Side Story National Tour, The Flash as Barry Allen (The Flash)
 * Tiffany Haas, Wicked Broadway/National Tour, The Drowsy Chaperone National Tour
 * Van Hughes, American Idiot Broadway and National Tour, Hairspray Broadway, 9 to 5 Broadway
 * Tiffany Howard, Memphis Broadway
 * Ross Iannatti, Rema Hort Mann Grant.
 * Zachary Knighton, Happy Endings on ABC, The Hitcher
 * Marjorie Owens, Met National Council Auditions Winner 2006
 * Emmy Raver-Lampman, Hair National Tour/Broadway, Jekyll & Hyde National Tour/Broadway, A Night with Janis Joplin Broadway, Wicked (National Tour), Hamilton
 * Ryan Speedo Green, Met National Council Auditions Winner 2011
 * Daniel Turner, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Award, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award
 * Adrienne Warren, Danielle in Bring It On OBC, Dreamgirls National Tour, The Wiz, Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tour, Tina Turner in Tina Turner The Musical