Brandon Price wanted to push his theater students at Manhattan Middle, an arts focus school in Boulder, beyond the comedies and lighthearted plays typically performed by middle school students.

So he created a unit on classical monologues, with the 27 students in a combined seventh- and eighth-grade theater class learning pieces from ancient Greece, the English Renaissance, Molière and Spanish tragedies.

Every other year, he switches to Shakespeare monologues, giving students who take the class twice a new option.

“The monologues give them the opportunity to flex some acting muscles they wouldn’t normally get to flex,” he said.

“Everything is so grand in these pieces. It really lets them unleash their potential.”

This year, for the first time, they’re planning to perform for parents and the community, with the performance set for 6 p.m. today at the school — or Friday, if the midweek production is canceled because of weather. The students also will perform twice during the school day for classmates.

To create a performance art piece, Price and the students worked together to add blocking — or stage movements — to each monologue for the entire cast to perform. Students are on stage the whole time, supporting each other’s monologues by creating the scene around them.

“They support each other so much,” Price said. “I’m so incredibly proud of them.”

Several students focusing on theater said the program is why they chose Manhattan.

“I really love acting and theater, and the community is always amazing,” said eighth grader Ursula Rigan. “I like expressing myself and entertaining people.”

Students started in December by breaking down the monologue material, learning word meanings and researching to understand the historical perspective of the piece.

Once they have a solid understanding of their piece, they work individually with Price and each other to perfect their delivery. Last, they learned the movements to support classmates during the other monologues.

Students said remembering all the movements is the most challenging part of the performance, noting they just learned them about two weeks ago.

“We have the monologues really down,” said seventh grader Rocco Casson-West.

While the monologues aren’t easy to perform, the students added, it’s a good challenge.

“It’s a good exercise for theater people,” said seventh grader Seneca Griebel. “Our teacher chooses something for us that we could be really good at, but we have to get better at.”

The emotional nature of the monologues also gives them an opportunity to channel their anger, grief, sadness and other emotions, the students said.

“You can take any emotions you’re having and put it into your work,” said eighth grader Magnolia McIntyre-Stauber. “My monologue suits me as a person. It feels really personal. I’m able to go out on stage and do something really amazing.”