Since the 2001 opening of the 250-seat Valenzuela Theater, the performing arts program has been continually expanding.
Every year Presentation produces two main-stage shows – a fall musical and a spring drama. This November students will perform Legally Blonde, and in March they will produce The Good Woman of Setzuan.
Students are very active running Presentation’s chapter of the International Thespian Society. In the fall they produce an evening of one-acts called SnipITS, and in the spring they perform Musical SnipITS. They also produce a concert in which they include other PHS clubs as well as the Jazz Choir, Jazz Ensemble and Dance Team, and they donate profits to a different organization every year.
Bella Voce, the PHS Women’s Chorale is another major part of our performing arts department. In April 2010, the choir traveled to New Orleans to compete in a music festival, garnering a beautiful trophy for their performance. In the spring of 2011, the choir performed at a jazz festival in Marin County, receiving a rating of superior and another trophy. In 2012, the band and choir traveled to Disneyland to perform in at the Heritage Music Festival, earning a Gold rating and invitations to compete in the 2013 Festival of Gold in San Francisco, as well as to be a part of the National Youth Choir at Carnegie Hall in New York City in upcoming years. This April the choir is accepting the invitation to be part of the San Francisco Festival of Gold and will be competing against select women’s choirs from across our state and nation.
Presentation also has its own improvisation team, Spontaneous Combustion. This hilarious group competes against other schools and performs two of its own shows every year.
None of this would be possible without the help of our parent booster club, the Theater and Arts Development Association. better known as TADA! This group is extremely active, volunteering their time and expertise with set builds, costume construction and running the front of house for all of our productions. They also produce a show of their own every year to help raise money to support the students. Past productions include Little Shop of Horrors, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Rodgers and Hart: A Celebration. This year they will produce The Lady of the Lantern, a full-length production about the life of Nano Nagle and the creation of the Presentation high schools.
Finally, every summer the Presentation Theater opens its doors to students age 12-17 for its five-week program, Presentation Repertory. These students take classes in various theatrical disciplines such as acting, improvisation, dance, and technical theater, as well as rehearsing and performing two productions.
Tickets to our major performances are available at the online Box Office.