1.0 Artistic Perception:
Through workshops, performances and the Program Guide that accompanies each performance, students are better able to fully participate in the theatrical experience. Theatre terminology is used to describe and examine each story, building vocabulary and cognitive skills. Theatrical presentations of multi-cultural literature develop analytical and interpretive abilities and familiarize students with a wealth of multi-cultural literature.
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2.0 Creative Expression:
Through workshops, performances and the Program Guide that accompanies each performance, students are better able to fully participate in the theatrical experience. Theatre terminology is used to describe and examine each story, building vocabulary and cognitive skills. Theatrical presentations of multi-cultural literature develop analytical and interpretive abilities and familiarize students with a wealth of multi-cultural literature.
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3.0 Historical and Cultural Context:
Each production presents four stories from different cultures or ethnic backgrounds. The workshops focus on one of these stories. The stories demonstrate a variety of cultural experiences and character lessons. Masks, props and costumes are used to illustrate the stories to create the appropriate cultural references. The stories promote discussion and familiarize students with the uniqueness and similarities between people and promotes acceptance and respect.
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4.0 Aesthetic Valuing:
Our shows and workshops stimulate the student's desire to perform and explore literature through a theatrical process. Students become storytellers themselves, relating their experiences to their friends and families. They form opinions about the stories they see or perform and determine what aspects they enjoy most. They are better able to comprehend the meaning of the stories and develop critical judgments about the lessons portrayed. This allows them to become more discriminating about other performances in the future.
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5.0 Connections, Relationship, Applications:
Our shows and workshops motivate students to read and create theatrical interpretations of stories. Teachers often use our performances as topics for journal writing which increases literacy and critical thinking skills. Students send us illustrations of our stories which helps visualize concepts and enhances aesthetic appreciation. This vibrant theatrical experience improves students' comprehension and language development and enhances problem-solving techniques. Students learn how an action creates meaning, that characters bring that meaning to life and how an ensemble communicates ideas to an audience. These skills have a positive impact on overall academic success and teach life-long skills.
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Our theatre program supports language arts and literacy acquisition skills. All of the Component Strands are an integral part of our program. The theatrical process is one that easily demonstrates the standards of Creating, Performing, Evaluating and Perceiving information in the world around us. From the assembly to the workshops, the students are provided with the vocabulary, concepts and skills to meet the performance and analytical standard criteria.
In the first workshop we discuss the actor's instrument and the tools the actor uses to create the character that helps tell the story. Imagination, Feeling/Emotion and the Five Senses are demonstrated through improvised activities and games and references are made to the assembly that illustrate these concepts. We discuss the language of the body and movement and how meaning is defined by posture, expression, pace and vocal intonation. As we discuss, the students begin using new vocabulary to express themselves. They start drawing conclusions and forming opinions as they realize how the actor develops a character. They learn to understand their own feelings by identifying with the emotions and motivations of the characters in the story and in this way learn to empathize with others as well.
As we progress through the workshops the students create improvisations using emotions and actions. They take the story they will perform and break it down into the sequence of events, (beginning, middle and end), while working collaboratively with other students. They learn the importance of forming a cohesive ensemble that understands the plot and setting of their story so they can perform it successfully. The students create dialogue, make choices and learn the staging for their play in the classroom, which allows them as well as their teacher, to see how a theatrical presentation is just as valuable performed in the classroom as performed in an auditorium.
In The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, by Howard Gardner, he suggests that effective curriculum taps into and develops the multiple intelligences of children which includes their artistic and social skills, verbal and mathematical strategies and intuitive and logical methods of understanding. Providing young children with the opportunity to experience literature through the art of theatre humanizes the learning process and enables young minds to make connections between concepts, words and actions.
Seeing a live performance and then participating in one allows students to learn and synthesize information aurally and through visual cues. This enhances their abilities to decipher meaning, form ideas and develop oral language skills. Theatre Arts maximizes the use of creative intelligence and is integral in conceptualizing and learning. This will lead to higher achievement throughout school.
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