This spring break, Coppell High School Drama Club members are encountering the international theater through a trip to London.

Apart from experiencing the city and visiting its famous attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Piccadilly Circus, the trip is designed to give students an enriched, real world theater experience.

Planning for the trip began last June through London Theater tours. On their weeklong visit, the 45 students and chaperones will be staying in the West End – London’s theater district – and be able to experience English theater.

“It gives them a much broader perspective of how things work,”  CHS theater booster board president Karen Tamayo said. “High school theater is great and they have a tremendous learning experience at Coppell but going into the real theater world and being able to tour the theaters and see shows there, it just kind of broadens their world.”

As part of their trip, students are scheduled to attend a workshop with a cast member of the musical “Matilda” and watching a performance of the musical “Dreamgirls”.

Other trip highlights include watching “Much Ado About Nothing” as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and visiting Stratford-upon-Avon to see William Shakespeare’s birthplace.

“With the workshops and visiting so many historical theater sites and seeing other shows, it’s always amazing to be able to look at other actors and other technical aspects of shows and be able to bring that experience into your own acting and your own perception of the art,” CHS junior Abbie Hall said.

Besides experiencing the city and encountering significant historical sites, the students look forward to spending the trip with their friends and growing closer within the CHS theater department.

“We’re all going to come together and we’re going to form another relationship on a different level with each other because we’re going to spend six days together,” CHS sophomore Kyra Holmstrup said.

The students left for London on Wednesday and return Tuesday.