Drama Club
Ah, the arts. Watching a play done by professionals is great. Watching a play done by a bunch of acne faced teens? Not so much.
Most of you had a drama club in school. You know, a place where all those 'weird' kids went to hang out?
Usually, the Drama Club will be run by a Wide-Eyed Idealist teacher who believes everyone should get along, and what better way to get along then by performing a low class version of Romeo and Juliet? The club's members will almost always be a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits who don't fit anywhere else. If there are any kids who do actually enjoy acting, the Jerk Jock and the Alpha Bitch will always assume there's something wrong with them and tease them for it, because after all, only weird kids join the Drama Club, right?
If the main activities at the school are sports, then the Drama Club will be the Butt Monkey of High School society. If the main activities are more academic or artistic, then the drama club might be the most popular group in school.
They will, of course, put on the School Play.
The members of the drama club may include people from all over the High School Popularity Food Chain, from the meanest girl to the loneliest guy, but mostly from the bottom. One thing you can be sure of, there will almost always be a large ham.
Anime and Manga
- Keroro Gunsou sees Natsumi get shanghaied into the drama club by her friends when they realize that they're short on actors. Naturally, things go downhill when Keroro tries to incorporate himself into the play.
- Hitohira is primarily about drama club.
- The main story of Clannad centers around Tomoya helping Nagisa reestablish the drama club.
- The Drama Club in Star Driver doubles as La Résistance.
- The two main characters of W Juliet are in their school's drama club, and much of the action centers around it.
- Heartcatch Precure has a rivalry of sorts start up between the Drama Club and the Fashion Club one episode in preparation for the school festival. The leader ends up driving her entire club to quit because of her draconian directions. It isn't until she's turned into a Desertian that she realizes how stupid she was and the club returns and gives her and it a second chance.
Film
- Hamlet 2: Made of Playing With this trope.
- High School Musical: The drama teacher is clueless and overly strict and the Alpha Bitch belongs to the Drama Club. Then, Troy and Gabriella join the Drama Club.
- Jawbreaker: The most popular boy in school is in the drama club. One of the Libbys suggests that 100% heterosexuality is not guaranteed.
- Teen Wolf: Possibly the only film to portray a Drama Club entirely negatively: it is very much the preserve of The Libby and the drama teacher is a preening jackass who casts the hero solely for his freakshow potential.
- Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (and the book it was based on)
Literature
- The Drama! series is set at a school for the arts, so pretty much the entire school is the Drama Club.
- No More Dead Dogs
Live Action TV
- Glee: Well, not drama, but the same principles apply.
- My So-Called Life: But mostly emoteens there.
- Lizzie McGuire: The drama club makes a one-time appearance in the episode where Lizzie is running for School President. They're described as "second-tier popular", and Gordo has her try to schmooze them for votes. She's sucked into their clique, which seems to involve little more than wearing dark clothes and sunglasses.
- Victorious: Another arts magnet school, another case of drama club being popular and Serious Business.
Tabletop RPG
- Darths and Droids: Annie was in the drama club before joining the roleplaying group.
Western Animation
- The Spectacular Spider-Man: The "Growing Pains" episode is like this. Every member of the cast has a line to audition with, but Flash (the Jerk Jock) and his ex girlfriend, the cheelreader (The Libby) don't get parts, but about everyone else does...except Peter, who was too busy fighting Venom and Col. Jupiter to audition.
- American Dad. The whole school was after Steve and his friends. They got away from the drama club by insulting their performance of Bye Bye Birdie.
To sleep, perchance to...Uhhh...Line!