Mission
Gaudete Academy is dedicated to teaching the craft of the theatre from stage managing to crew to acting within a moral community setting. Like its name (Gaudete means Joy), the Academy actively works towards a positive, safe environment that extends past rehearsal time and performances to create a true family atmosphere.
Currently, Gaudete Academy is focused on a summer show per year. In 2006 we began with the best of all possible plays, William Shakespeare's Hamlet (see picture, right), followed by 2007's Much Ado About Nothing. This summer, we will continue the tradition with Romeo and Juliet.
About the Director
Since 1998, Emily C. A. Snyder, the director and founder of Gaudete Academy, has been working both independently, and within school and community theatre associations to create her unique brand of theatre that is as intensely interested in the true craft of the stage as well as the well-being of those who come together to produce a play. "It's the process, not the performance," she often says. That is, the real magic of stagecraft is that which occurs before any audience member ever filters in: in the self-confidence, the trust in others, the pleasure taken outside and inside the rehearsal space, the parts of one's personality that come to the fore in taking a role, the intelligence required to tackle difficult pieces, and the integrity demanded of each participant to work as a unified whole.
Miss Snyder is currently attending Emerson College as a graduate student in the Theatre in Education stream. A graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville's drama program, Miss Snyder has since also trained with the Theatre in England and Shakespeare School in London and Stratford-upon-Avon, England, as well as the ActOne Screenwriting Program in Hollywood, CA. She has just completed five years teaching theology and drama at Hudson Catholic High School. In addition to the many school productions, Miss Snyder has also worked with the Arts Alliance and the Sudbury Savoyards and has just begun working with the Hudson High School drama society. When not otherwise engaged, she spends her time writing, and is the published author of several novels, including those from the Twelve Kingdoms. She is also a playwright in several genres.
