April 29, 2026

The pursuit of the arts is an important one at ECCS for many reasons, and our Drama Program is a vital part of encouraging and exploring creativity. Since God is creative and we are made in His image, when we pursue something that is good, beautiful and true, we are connecting to our Creator in a very special way, says Mrs. Sandi Luna, one of our drama teachers. 

While the plays presented are not specifically Christian or classical, they are carefully chosen for good writing and valuable lessons. “The amazing thing about theatre is that God places Himself within good plays, even if the playwright didn’t necessarily intend for Him to be there. A well-told and well-acted story can definitely point an audience to Christ,” says Mrs. Luna.

Mrs. Luna started acting when she was in kindergarten and never stopped. While her love of drama and theatre sent her to many places, it was becoming a part of the ECCS faculty that helped her realize that she also had a calling for teaching. Her time teaching at ECCS started with co-curricular drama three years ago, and although she had never taught drama to kids, she says she loved it and realized that teaching and directing are very similar. It’s so important at ECCS, because she says you cannot have classical education without the arts.

“Drama is one of the classical arts; its birthplace is Ancient Greece so it perfectly aligns with all things classical. Since classical education seeks to make a student well-rounded in all things, we must learn to see that the arts are a vital part of that pursuit,” she says. “Humans are much more than the sum total of skills, insights, and facts that they acquire. They are also feeling and relational creatures and it's in music, the visual and dramatic arts that we explore that side of what it means to be human.”

The benefits of participating in drama for students are numerous, she says: improved public speaking, being more comfortable onstage, learning to understand how plays work, an appreciation for good storytelling, the ability to watch a play or movie and evaluate it, and gaining a deeper connection to their own thoughts and feelings. 

“I could go on and on,” she adds. “But my very favorite thing is the sense of teamwork that inevitably develops and the concept of an ensemble. This is the idea that there are no stars, but a group of actors of equal importance working together to tell a story. If one actor were not a part of the group, the ensemble would suffer.”

Our Grammar Drama Program, led by Mrs. Amanda Wortham, presented their play, Charlotte’s Web in February, and in March, the Intermediate Drama class presented the Sophomore Showcase, which included a variety of Shakespearean scenes and monologues. “The class put it together from beginning to end, learning about acting techniques, script analysis, and staging,” says Mrs. Luna. “The result was an excellent performance where the personalities of the students really shone.”

The Introductory Drama Class recently presented their play, Oz directed by Dr. Wendy Kautz, and the Advanced Drama Ensemble, made up of juniors and seniors, also recently performed William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 

There are still opportunities to see the ECCS Drama Program in action. Logic Drama (6th, 7th and 8th grade students) will perform Alice @ Wonderland by Jonathan Yukich on May 1 and 2 at 7:00 pm in the gym. Mrs. Luna says the play is a modern interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. “Modern Alice is, like most teenagers, very attached to her phone and social media but when she falls down the rabbit hole, Alice learns that imagination is better than the online world.”

We are so thankful for Mrs. Luna, Dr. Kautz, and Mrs. Wortham for the time, effort, and passion they pour into our drama program!