Performing Arts

The performing arts program is vital to the Suffield Academy experience. It provides students with a creative outlet, encourages them to grow as individuals, and offers them the opportunity to build confidence on stage. Tom Dugan, Chair, Performing Arts Department

Reach New Heights

Suffield Academy offers robust programs in music, theater, and dance. Students have numerous opportunities to excel in the arts—both onstage and behind the scenes. Each year Suffield produces two major theatrical productions, three popular guitar shows, a one-act festival, a new playwrights festival, several jazz and ensemble performances, multiple choral performances, and a full dance production.

These provide students with hands-on experience in performance, lighting, sound, stage management, set construction, and house management. Our extensive performing arts facilities include state-of-the-art theater, set design shop, recording studio, dance studio, and music center. The performing arts program supports experienced actors, dancers, and musicians, as well as those who want to get involved in the arts for the first time.

Suffield’s performing arts curriculum teaches students to:
• Understand performance as a form of communication and expression
• Discover the joy derived from creating and performing works of art

The Jeanice Seaverns Performing Arts Center is the site of Suffield’s theater, which is used extensively for dramatic and musical productions, dance performances, guitar shows, and other meetings and performances throughout the year. This 8,400 square foot theater has sophisticated lighting and sound systems.

The Williams Performing Arts Studio is home of Suffield’s dance program and also has a professional recording studio.

The Guttag Music Center houses eight acoustically engineered spaces for private study and music lessons. The Guttag Center also has offices for Suffield’s performing arts teachers. Private Music Rooms are acoustically engineered spaces for independent practice and private study.