Theater at SGCA

Performing in a theatrical production challenges students to enter deeply into difficult texts and rewards them with an experiential understanding of the story, a richness of language, and a sense of accomplishment that encourages them to approach classical literature with confidence. Memorization, attention to detail, public speaking, and expanding one’s comfort zone are embodied within the dramatization of a theatrical production. We are thrilled to be able to offer theater across our school, as we welcome Tess McKinley to Saint George Classical Academy.

Tess McKinley joins us as a theater and humanities teacher. She will integrate theater across the curriculum, offering our students experiences in dramatizing Aesop’s Fables, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and much more.

Tess McKinley has been interested in classical education for many years and is delighted to be a  part of the vision and formation of Saint George Classical Academy. She has taught English and theater for the past 16 years at public and private middle and high schools and is the founder and Artistic Director of Imago Stage Company, a ministry of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Danvers. Her English classes have focused on the reading of classic books, the memorization of poetry, speeches, and soliloquies, the study of grammar and writing, and the Greek and Latin roots of English vocabulary. She studied theater and dance at Interlochen Arts Academy and is a  graduate of the New York University Tisch Theater program. She taught dance and theater classes while raising her three children and later returned to school to earn a Master’s in English education. She has directed several community and student productions, and conducted Shakespeare workshops for middle and high school students. Tess and her husband Dan have collaborated in musical productions of Narnia, A Secret Garden, Oliver Twist, A Tale of  Two Cities, Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo, Pride and Prejudice, The Sound of Music, a  staged reading of Much Ado About Nothing, and she is currently preparing for a production of  Fiddler on the Roof in November 2024 at Imago Stage Company.