One of the enduring strengths of a Queenwood education is its commitment to a liberal arts philosophy, an understanding that young people flourish when they are given access to a broad, rich, and humanising curriculum. At Queenwood, we value not just what our students learn, but how they experience the world. Within this landscape, the International Drama Tour, spanning New York and Los Angeles, stands as one of our most powerful offerings. It is where classroom learning meets lived experience, and where theatre becomes both a mirror and a window.
On this, our fourth International Drama Tour, New York gave our students more than the thrill of Broadway or the bustle of Manhattan; it offered them a chance to see themselves differently. One parent wrote to us after the tour: “She’s come back a different girl.” And it is true. Many were travelling without family for the first time, relying on their own instincts and one another to navigate the city. They learned how to catch the subway, read the grid, and move with the rhythm of a place that demands both confidence and pace. They observed New Yorkers, noting their presence and unapologetic stride, and gradually began to walk taller themselves, taking up more space with a growing sense of self-assurance.
They also experienced the city in its rawness and complexity. At times, they witnessed confronting realities and sought to understand what drives the heartbeat of the locals. It was a lesson in cultural immersion and perspective, all essential ingredients of a rich Drama education in the study of human experience.
But the journey wasn’t only outward. In both New York and Los Angeles, the girls stepped behind the curtain of the entertainment industry. They met actors, directors, playwrights, producers, and theatre managers—people who have built lives in the arts with courage, resilience, and a deep sense of truth. They heard firsthand what it takes to forge a creative path: the uncertainty, the perseverance, and most importantly, the joy of doing what you love. In those moments, the students saw not only what was possible, but what might be possible for them.
During a Q&A session at the Geffen Playhouse with the theatre’s Artistic Associate and Casting Director, our students stepped forward to learn about her craft and experiences. They asked how she navigated her path, how she built a life around her creative pursuits, and how she balances artistic integrity with sustainability. The girls’ questions were curious, intelligent, and unafraid. They weren’t simply observing the industry, they were engaging with it, testing the waters, and imagining themselves within it.
In a devising workshop at Off The Lane Theatre Company, the students were asked to introduce themselves by answering just one question: “What makes you bold?” The responses: “Being on stage.” “My friends.” “Being in a new city.” Then they got to work. What followed was a three-hour devising intensive that culminated in a fast-paced, irreverent staging of Witches? In Salem?!—a comedic take on The Crucible infused with Gen Z energy. The mood in the studio was infectious, and their confidence radiated. The students were also inspired by the young women who founded the company and impressed by how much they had achieved in what can seem like an intimidating industry.
The show schedule was one of the best we have experienced on the international tour, bearing witness to the Broadway renaissance in full bloom since the pandemic. The productions were provocations that stirred thought and feeling in equal measure. The Outsiders explored the sharp divides of class; Sunset Boulevard revealed the desperation of those clinging to relevance in a world that moves on without them. The Picture of Dorian Gray examined the moral decay and consequences of vanity, and Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club was immersive, sinister, and disturbingly timely, offering a spectacle that doubled as a sobering warning against complacency in the face of political unrest. These stories invited our students to think deeply and question assumptions. They held up mirrors to our shared humanity and opened windows to perspectives beyond their own.
The students returned not only with memories, but with a sharper sense of the world and of self. They have glimpsed the kind of lives they might lead, and what we can now ascertain is that their sense of who they are, and who they might become, has expanded.