Coed, independent, PK3-12th grade school in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Shorecrest Performing Arts

Shorecrest Performing Arts has grown over the past 20 years from a small group of students performing in a gymnasium to one of the most renowned high school performing arts programs in Florida. The performing arts department at Shorecrest welcomes students of all experience levels. 

Theatre, Dance and Musical Theatre

Under the direction of Bill Leavengood and Cheryl Lee, Shorecrest's Thespian Troupe 3140 has garnered many top honors at both the District and State levels, including presenting one-acts and mainstage productions at the Florida State Thespian Festival in 2014 and 2015. The focus and love for performing arts is nurtured starting in Middle School through drama class, chorus class, band lessons, Jr. Thespian competitions and an annual musiclal production. Upper School students typically put on a fall play and spring musical production each year for the community, in addition to Thespian competition acts.

2018 Florida State Thespians Accolades
  • Straight Superiors - Student Directed Scene
  • Straight Superiors - Monologue
  • Straight Superiors - Playwriting
  • Straight Superiors - Duet Musical
  • Excellent - Large Group Musical
  • Excellent - Monologue
2017 Florida State Thespians Accolades
  • Superior - Solo Musical
  • Superior - Solo Musical
  • Superior - Duet Acting
  • Excellent - Monologue
  • Excellent - Duet Acting
  • Excellent - Duet Musical
2016 Florida State Thespians Accolades
  • Straight Superiors - Duet Musical
  • Straight Superiors - Solo Musical 
  • Straight Superiors - Solo Musical
  • Superior - Large Group Musical
  • Superior, Critic's Choice Runner Up - Playwriting
2014/2015 Florida State Thespians Accolades
  • Jimmy Award Nominee for Best Actress in the State of Florida (National High School Musical Theatre Awards)
  • Two State Critics' Choice Awards in Playwriting, both also selected for the Young Dramatists' Project
  • Six Critics' Choice Honorable Mentions
  • Four Superior Awards
  • State Selection for One-Act Performance (Spacehunter)
  • State Selection for Mainstage Musical Performance (Anything Goes)
  • District Representative performance in State Opening Ceremony
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2015 Mayor's Youth Showcase of Achievement
  • Winner and Finalist: Literary arts
  • Winner: Middle School Performing Arts
  • Solo performance
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The 600+ seat, state-of-the-art Janet Root Theatre opened its doors in 2002. With a stage size comparable to professional theatres, fantastic acoustics, real dressing rooms, good sightlines and a black box rehearsal theatre on the side, this space becomes a home away from home for many of our performing students.
 

A Capella

Treblecrest, Shorecrest’s new a capella ensemble, made its debut at the 2015 Valentine's Day assembly. The group explores a wide range of material from this increasingly popular style of vocal performance. Members of Treblecrest are selected from the Advanced Musical Theatre classes and rehearse during class time.
    • Treblecrest performing at the 2017 Fall Arts Showcase

      Treblecrest performing at the 2017 Fall Arts Showcase

Did you know?

  • Shorecrest alumnus Patrick Wilson '91 received a Tony nomination in both 2001 and 2002 for his Broadway performances. He also starred on screen in "The Alamo", "Phantom of the Opera", "Insidious", and received Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations in 2003 for his acting in "Angels in America." Watch Patrick's recent Shorecrest Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award acceptance.
  • Shorecrest alumna Monica Raymund '04 won the 2013 Imagen Award for Best Actress in Television. You may have seen her on TV starring in "Lie To Me" or "Chicago Fire".
  • Students from the Shorecrest Playwriting Class have had their works produced and performed in theaters off-Broadway, in Los Angeles, California, and in Telluride, Colorado, as well as produced locally.
  • Competing with hundreds of high school and college talent throughout the country, Shorecrest musical theatre students are consistently selected to train with some of the most renowned artists of this era at Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project.
  • Shorecrest theatre, musical theatre, playwriting and dance students have won "Superior" and "Critics' Choice" ratings at District, State and International Thespian Competitions.
  • Shorecrest was the first independent school in the Tampa Bay area to offer a course in Videography/TV Production. Students have won many awards for their programing.
  • The Shorecrest Theatre instructor, William Leavengood, is a two-time Eugene O'Neill Award winning playwright. He has several off-Broadway plays to his credit, including "Florida Crackers" which was part of Circle Repertory's 20th Anniversary season. His one-act play, "Steve", was chosen to be included in "Brave New World: The American Theater Responds to 9/11" which was presented 9/11/02 at New York's Town Hall.
  • The Shorecrest Dance instructor, Cheryl Lee, trained with members of the Royal Ballet, the New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet. She has won numerous regional and national awards for her choreography of tap, lyrical, jazz and musical theater productions.
  • The Shorecrest Concert Band has been invited to play at a presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C.
  • During the past twenty-five years, the Shorecrest Cultural Enrichment Program has brought hundreds of national and international artists to perform and hold workshops on campus.

Arts Events

  • May
    23

    5th Grade Show

    Location: JRT

Upper School Arts Faculty

The exceptionally talented faculty includes a nationally recognized playwright who has two Eugene O'Neill Awards to his credit as well as several off-Broadway plays and screen plays; a musical theatre instructor who has published four original musicals and written and directed the music for more than a dozen American Stage productions of Shakespeare in the Park, and a highly respected dance instructor who has trained with members of the Royal Ballet and the New York City Ballet and has won national awards for her choreography of tap, lyrical, jazz and musical theatre productions.

Upper School Performing Arts Faculty

List of 5 members.

Pro Theatre Prep

During summer break, join us for Pro Theatre Prep even if you're not a Shorecrest Student!
"Each year, parents and faculty ask, 'How are you going to top a show like X?' or 'What are you going to do now that Y and Z are graduating?' I usually respond, 'I don’t know, X was great, and Y and Z are super talented.' But the truth is that, without disparaging the awesome individual talent that has come through Shorecrest, our program is designed to succeed with whatever our talent pool may be. Because of Shorecrest Theatre’s reputation in the community, the support of our administration, and the training each student receives, we always have talented and capable stars waiting in the wings for their chance to shine in another sparkling, new production."
~ Bill Leavengood '78, Upper School Theatre Teacher

Shorecrest Preparatory School

5101 First Street Northeast
St Petersburg, FL 33703
Phone: (727) 522-2111  |  Fax: (727) 527-4191
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Shorecrest Preparatory School is a private, non-sectarian, coeducational, college preparatory day school for students preschool through high school, located in St. Petersburg, Florida.