Portage Central Student Activities
PERFORMING ARTS
PERFORMING ARTS
Musical
Ashley Bowen
269-323-5310
abowen@portageps.org
Each year the award-winning theatre department at Portage Central High School presents a Winter Musical for our community to enjoy. As a high school program, we view ourselves as an educational program that provides professional-level opportunities for actors, technicians, and musicians. Past productions include Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Mamma Mia. Portage Central Performing Arts also prides itself on producing area and national premieres of challenging pieces such as the critically acclaimed 2012 production of The Phantom of the Opera and Big Fish's 2019 production. Big Fish was also awarded Best Musical in Michigan by the Sutton Foster Ovation Awards in the 2018/2019 school year.
Forensics
Tyler Baas
269-323-5312
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During the 2021 Forensics season, the team was the Forensic State Championship Team for Michigan!
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Forensics is the competitive public speaking team. There are twelve public speaking categories--six that are Public Address/Speech events: Broadcasting, Impromptu, Extemp, Oratory, Sales, and Informative--and six that are interpretation events: Storytelling, Prose, Poetry, Dramatic interpretation, Duo interpretation, and Multiple interpretation. Forensics starts practicing in January, but competitions are in late February, March, April, and early May.
Fall Play
Ashley Bowen
269-323-5310
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Liz Honeysett
269-323-5241
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Portage Central's Fall Play allows students to develop skills in the many aspects of theatre, including, but not limited to, costume design, stage management, run crew, acting, and hair/makeup design. The Fall Play is typically a smaller ensemble when compared to the school musical with a focus on educational theatre, meaning that both highly experienced theatre students and students without theatre experience can come together than put together an excellent production. Auditions for the Fall Play are typically during the first full week of school with performances near the end of October and beginning of November.