Learn Hardcore Russian: Сейчас она выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью. - Now she performs in the school theater and is proud of every small role.

To perform (on stage)
- выступать в театре – to perform in a theater
  In your sentence, this is clearly the meaning: she is acting/performing in plays.
To speak publicly / give a speech
- выступать на конференции – to give a talk at a conference
To appear / step forward / come out (in public)
- выступать на сцену – to step out onto the stage

In this context, выступает в театре школы most naturally means:
“She is performing in the school’s theater / She performs in her school’s theater.”

Why is выступает in the present tense? In English I’d say “is performing” (present continuous). Does Russian have a separate continuous tense?

Russian does not have a separate present continuous tense like English.
The simple present tense in Russian covers both:

English simple present:
- Она выступает в театре. – She performs in the theater (in general).
English present continuous:
- Она сейчас выступает в театре. – She is performing in the theater right now.

Here, the adverb сейчас (“now”) makes the meaning clearly “is performing now.” The form выступает itself is just present tense; context decides whether you hear it as “performs” or “is performing.”

What is the difference between сейчас and теперь, and why is сейчас used?

Both can be translated as “now,” but they have different typical uses.

Сейчас
- Neutral “now,” often focused on the current moment in time.
- Very common in spoken Russian.
- Fits well with actions happening right now.
- Example: Сейчас она выступает. – She is performing now.
Теперь
- Also “now,” but often contrasts “now” vs “before.”
- Implies a change of state or situation.
- Example: Раньше она стеснялась, а теперь выступает в театре.
  – Before she was shy, but now she performs in the theater.

In your sentence, we’re simply locating her action in the present moment, so сейчас is the natural choice.

Why is it в театре школы and not в школе or в школьном театре? What case is школы?

В театре школы literally means “in the theater of the school.”

в театре – “in the theater”
- театр → prepositional singular в театре (in the theater)
школы – the genitive singular of школа (school)

So театре школы = “the theater of the school” / “the school’s theater.”

Could we say other things?

в школе – “at school / in the school (building)”
- Much more general; doesn’t specifically mean in the theater.
в школьном театре – “in the school theater”
- Also correct and very natural; uses the adjective школьный (“school”) instead of школы (of the school).

So:

в театре школы and в школьном театре are both good, stylistically slightly different:
- в театре школы – literally “in the theater of the school” (noun + noun).
- в школьном театре – “in the school theater” (adjective + noun).

In normal speech, many people would probably say в школьном театре, but в театре школы is completely correct and clear.

Why does гордится use каждой маленькой ролью and not каждую маленькую роль? What case is that?

The verb гордиться (to be proud of) in Russian always takes the instrumental case.

гордиться кем? чем? – to be proud of whom? what? (instrumental)

So:

каждой маленькой ролью is in the instrumental singular:
- каждая → каждой
- маленькая → маленькой
- роль → ролью

That’s why it’s not каждую маленькую роль (accusative).
The pattern is:

Она гордится своей ролью. – She is proud of her role.
Она гордится каждой маленькой ролью. – She is proud of every little role.

Whenever you use гордиться, remember: noun after it must be in the instrumental case.

What does the -ся in гордится mean? Is гордиться reflexive?

Yes, гордиться is a reflexive verb because of the -ся ending.

Base idea: гордить (not used by itself in modern Russian)
Reflexive form: гордиться – “to be proud”

The -ся often indicates:

Reflexive actions (washing oneself, etc.):
- мыться – to wash oneself
Reciprocal actions:
- встречаться – to meet (each other)
Passive-like meanings, or states:
- заниматься – to engage in, to study
- гордиться – to be proud (state of a person)

Conjugation of гордиться (present):

я горжусь
ты гордишься
он/она гордится
мы гордимся
вы гордитесь
они гордятся

In your sentence: она гордится – “she is proud.”

Why is каждой маленькой ролью in the singular when in English we might say “all her small roles”?

Russian uses каждый + singular noun where English often uses “every” or “all … (plural)”.

каждая роль – every role / each role
каждая маленькая роль – every little role
Instrumental: каждой маленькой ролью

So:

Она гордится каждой маленькой ролью.
Literally: “She is proud of every little role.”
Natural English: “She is proud of each (and every) little role she gets.”

The singular is required by каждый/каждая; but the meaning is distributive, covering all her roles one by one.

Why is роль spelled with a soft sign (ль) and how does that affect ролью?

Роль is a feminine noun of the third declension, typically:

Ends in a consonant + soft sign (ь) and is feminine, e.g.
- ночь (night)
- дверь (door)
- роль (role)

Instrumental singular for these usually ends in -ью:

ночь → ночью (at night)
дверь → дверью (with the door)
роль → ролью (with the role / of the role, after гордиться)

So the soft sign is part of the stem and leads to the instrumental form ролью, not something like ролем.

Can the pronoun она be omitted, especially before гордится? Could we say: Сейчас выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью?

Grammatically, yes, Russian often omits subject pronouns when they are obvious from the verb ending.

Выступает в театре. – (She/he) is performing in the theater.
Context would tell you who.

Your full sentence without the pronoun:

Сейчас выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью.

This is possible, but:

It sounds more natural if the subject has been very clearly established in the previous sentence.
With она, the sentence is immediately clear and natural on its own.

So:

With context: omitting она is OK.
As a stand‑alone sentence, Сейчас она выступает… is better for clarity.

Why is the subject она only stated once, before выступает, and not repeated before гордится?

Russian, like English, doesn’t need to repeat the same subject for multiple verbs joined by и (“and”), as long as the subject doesn’t change.

Pattern:

Она читает и пишет. – She reads and writes.
Она поёт и танцует. – She sings and dances.

Here:

Сейчас она выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью.
Literally: “Now she performs in the school’s theater and is proud of every little role.”

The subject она obviously applies to both выступает and гордится, so it’s only said once, just like in English.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Она сейчас выступает в театре школы or Она гордится каждой маленькой ролью сейчас?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though not random. The basic meaning stays, but emphasis changes.

Some acceptable variants:

Она сейчас выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью.
– Neutral, perhaps slightly emphasizing она and сейчас.
Сейчас она выступает в театре школы и гордится каждой маленькой ролью.
– Emphasizes the time frame “right now”.
Она выступает в театре школы сейчас и гордится каждой маленькой ролью.
– Puts extra weight on сейчас as new information at the end of the first clause.
Putting сейчас at the very end of the whole sentence (…ролью сейчас) is possible in speech, but it may sound a bit less natural or slightly stylistic/expressive. More usual is to keep сейчас close to the verb it modifies (выступает).

All of these remain understandable; the original order is the most neutral and natural-sounding.