One of my favorite stories from American theatre history is also connected to one of the most tragic. Last year, I included it in the discussion of theater and stage spaces in the middle school Theatre classroom. As I've previously written, that class is often populated with students who have been placed in the class rather than chosen it. Their interest in the art form is tepid, at best, so I love connecting it to other subjects whenever possible. The students' reactions to those connections are excellent.
This story may have taken place around this time of year in either late 1864 or early 1865 and involves the only surviving child of President Abraham Lincoln (Robert Todd Lincoln) and the older, more successful brother of his assassin, John Wilkes Booth (Edwin Booth). The story was told by Robert Lincoln to a friend in a letter dated many years after the event and goes something like this:
Edwin Booth as Hamlet
Robert Todd Lincoln was standing on a crowded train platform in Jersey City, NJ. He was pressed against a train that suddenly started moving. He lost his balance and slipped into the narrow opening between the train and the platform when someone grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to safety on the platform. Lincoln turned to thank the helper and found himself face to face with Edwin Booth, arguably the most famous actor in America at the time. Lincoln said he thanked Booth by name; however, it is not clear that Booth recognized Lincoln. At that time, Robert Todd Lincoln would have been about 22 or 23 years old and serving in the Union Army. He had not yet held any public office and presidential families were not as public and therefore not as recognizable as they would be today.
Obviously, Edwin Booth's youngest brother would murder President Lincoln just a few months later. Booth was devastated by this and it took him quite a while to return to the stage and the public. It is said that learning he saved the life of Robert Lincoln helped Edwin heal and feel a sense of redemption. It is also a remarkable coincidence and fantastic story!
When school went virtual last March, our winter musical performance was put in hold. This happened everywhere, of course, but we were hit especially hard because the call to postpone came just minutes before the end of the school day - just 3 hours before students would return for hair & make-up on opening night. The experience resulted in an incredible story of resiliency starring my students, but that's for another time.
Without a live event, and the uncertainty of what lay ahead, the creative team began exploring options to showcase the students' work in another way. We considered a scaled-back concert, outdoor performances, and inevitably some kind of stripped-down streaming presentation. Circumstances kept changing and, unfortunately, we ran out of time. The show was cancelled and in deference to the seniors, we decided not to repeat the show again the following year. One thing haunted me throughout the experience - if we had just recorded one dress rehearsal, we could have worked with the licensing company to present it online. Lesson learned. I would not make that mistake again.
This past winter, we forged ahead with the goal of a live performance, but with digital/streaming as a backup plan. I recorded something at least once every week as a way to document what we were doing behind the scenes and to get the audience acclimated to watching online... just in case.
We had plenty working against us, both Covid and non-Covid related. Eventually, the decision was made to film the show and stream online. The final two weeks were a unique experience that none of us will forget. While the result wasn't we wanted, streaming the show had plenty of positives. For one, we were able to have a show where we couldn't last year and likely wouldn't under the circumstances we faced. Also, being online expanded our audience beyond the doors of the auditorium to reach far away relatives, friends, and other theatre people who would not have seen the show live. Plus, the students had the unique experience of watching their performances "in real time".
On September 13, we will be 18 months removed from the first day of Covid quarantine. That is a long time to endure without an art program and I saw our survival in the push to keep doing something. In the professional field-at-large, there are organizations who found ways to continue producing their work digitally while others have struggled to survive. I get it. Theatre is live performance and doesn't always translate well to the screen (an irony that my middle school students pointed out when we were virtual), but surely that is better than nothing.
I've seen concern from some theatre artists via Twitter that some organizations and communities are moving away from digital presentation as buildings begin to open up again. It is surprising to see that given how successfully companies like the National Theatre in London, among others, had done so. I realize that the collaborative nature of theatre and the copyrights, licenses, contracts, and other elements provide a hurdle as currently constructed. Surely, with digital technology so prevalent and easy to access we should continue to explore ways to not only make the art accessible during times of inaccessibility, but more equitable, too.
PS - My assumption is that visual artists and organizations fared better during quarantine as digital is inherently visual. The art teacher at my school did an excellent job getting her students' work out online even though there was a large learning curve for her to do so). However, that is not my field and I really don't know the realities of the visual art world and would love to hear from some of you about that!
Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday sparked two thoughts for me:
how traditions are often refreshed and revived for the better
just how resilient we can be in times of difficulty
I want to start with that last one because it sticks with me in a new way this year. It is easy to get caught up in how difficult things are in any given moment. The last eight months have certainly been awful with Covid ravaging around the globe, but let's notice how well people have been adapting and, in many cases, thriving, in this environment. I have an example specific to the parade, but let's first look at my field of educational theatre.
As you may know, school theatre programs were unceremonious and suddenly shut down in mid-March as schools and municipalities were forced to close to prevent the spread of Covid. My students and I were informed of the postponement of our production of Into the Woods just minutes before the end of the school day on opening night. Delivering that news to the cast and crew on that day was the most difficult thing I've ever done. However, those students were so incredibly resilient. We had the opportunity to get back a significant portion of our rental costs for the backdrop and costumes if we boxed them up and shipped them back THAT DAY. A significant number jumped right to the task. That act of strength in the face of heavy disappointment has allowed us to secure the rights to a bigger show at a very reasonable cost this year. We are thankful for Charles H. Stewart Backdrops, The Costumer, and MTI for their flexibility throughout all of that last year. It leaves us in a great position to do whatever possible to put up a show this spring.
I share that story to highlight how school theatre programs, as well as local and regional theatres, across the country are working extra hard to create opportunities for their students and communities to gather safely and experience the art of live theatre. Many schools are filming their shows and streaming to paying audiences (our likely process this spring). In some locations, even in my home state of New Jersey, it is possible for small, socially distanced groups to attend live performances in the theatre spaces... something that Broadway cannot allow. Yet, all this time, there is such a heavy focus on how Broadway is closed down. We are out here making theatre happen and I strongly encourage those craving live performance to support their school theatre programs and community playhouses!
There will be a lot of school theatres breaking with tradition in order to mount productions this year. As I recently told my students, the one thing we can be sure if is that we can't be sure of how anything will ultimately go. Macy's and NBC found a way to break with tradition and give us a refreshed and captivating Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday. While it was odd to see the parade without people lining the streets, and the daylight and clear weather in some segments were obvious signs that some portions were previously recorded, the result was exciting! I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of the Land Acknowledgement and Wampanoag Blessing and the inclusion of groups from some of New York City's other parades. This was a great way to liven up the event and give us something that we don't always get to see. I hope these can become regular segments of the parade and that Macy's & NBC can further explore avenues to bring in performances and groups that aren't commonly seen on television. Frankly, they could cut back on more of the pop stars and celebrities in order to do it. Maybe adopt more of a variety show type atmosphere? That's what makes shows like NBC's America's Got Talent so appealing. Where else do you "fringe" performers like spoken-word poet Brandon Leake, ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer, or dog shows like Olate Dogs, celebrated so publicly?
In the end, I'm grateful to have a new perspective from which to view my own work and popular entertainment in general. The holiday season is a great time to dream about new beginnings in the New Year. What great examples for me - and for all of us - to embrace as we continue to move forward throughout it all.
This weekend wraps up the summer edition of the Conversations Series on the Young Playwrights Guide YouTube channel. I had such a great time connecting with the artists & teachers with whom I worked on the NJ Young Playwrights Festival. Their stories and insights are excellent resources for not only youth creators, but many of us looking to reconnect with and rekindle our passion for the art form. Please head on over to the YP Guide YouTube channel to check out the videos; please reach out to the artists interviewed, too. They are excellent people to work with!
This summer I read the book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseveranceby Dr. Angela Duckworth. This was an enjoyable read with easy to follow concepts and relatable examples. Within the first two chapters were ideas that I see as easily adapted to the theatre classroom or after-school program. The most exciting part of the book was a later chapter that included an entire section devoted to how after-school & extra-curricular activities are the best environment for students to learn and develop perseverance. This perseverance is what Duckworth defines as "grit".
Expanding further, Duckworth defines grit as "passion and perseverance for long-term goals" ("What is Grit?"). Grit is purposeful determination aimed toward achieving higher-order goals. Grit is what Duckworth's research shows may be the greatest indicator of future student success.
What incredible supporting evidence for my experience that I learn more about how well a student will do in a theatre class, or a school production, based on their demeanor and conversation in an audition or rehearsal room. Often that tells me more than "talent". In fact, while Duckworth identifies talent as the first step toward developing grit, effort "counts twice" in that pursuit.
This is explained in Duckworth's achievement theory, which works like this:
talent x effort = skill
skill x effort = achievement
Based on this theory map, talent is the first step toward skill development, which is necessary for goal achievement. It isn't enough to have talent - one must apply their talent through effort. Further effort, bolstered by subsequently developed skills, brings achievement.
This makes a lot of sense. How many times have we theatre teachers and directors - and I would assume coaches in school and youth sports - seen a child with talent who did not realize their full potential due to a lack of effort? However, there is one slight adjustment I might make to the achievement theory above. I don't know that talent is an essential first step toward goal achievement. Perhaps "interest" is all that is needed?
Let's consider "talent" as a natural skill that gives a person a head start toward achievement. As explained by the theory, a talented person still needs to put in the effort to accomplish the end goal. However, those who lack the same "talent", but posses a strong interest in goal achievement, can still get there through effort. It may not be as easy, but it is certainly possible.
That is an important idea to keep in mind when conducting our classes and leading our productions. In fact, I envision that first level of the Achievement Theory as the classroom and the second level as the production. Skill can certainly be developed through effort in the rehearsal process, but the classroom provides time for individual instruction and for focus on specific skill development that cannot always be achieved in the rehearsal room. It is an interesting model that I am eager to bring to my high school classes. I'd be curious to hear how you view this approach and whether or not it may, or has, worked for you.
"Revise and Resubmit" is not exactly the comment that a writer wants to receive after submitting a manuscript for publication. I've had my own experiences with this over the summer that I am still trying to parse out (thank you, Reviewer #2), but it helps me to remember that revision is a process of improvement. It is similar to the Stoics' reminder that "the obstacle is the way" and that every challenge, or difficulty, offers an opportunity for improvement.
I've done a lot of curriculum writing and lesson plan revision this summer. Most of this is for the theatre classes in middle school and high school (some are new, but some is for the potential need to adapt to online learning again). This week, I have turned my attention to the TYA course that I teach for the Program in Educational Theatre. I've been teaching this class since 2014 when I inherited it from a long line of influential people in the field: Dr. Lowell Swortzell, Laurie Brooks, and Jonathan Shmidt Chapman. The course structure has evolved over time and I have continued that tradition by adapting Jonathan's syllabus and making adjustments and tweaks to the course every year since.
About two years ago, I incorporated the 25 year anniversary anthology from the New Visions/New Voices Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. New Visions/New Voices is one of three major new play development programs in the field of TYA currently in existence in the United States (along with Write Now and NYU's New Plays for Young Audiences Series). The anthology was a way to focus on current scripts while emphasizing the importance of new play development in the field. Perhaps most importantly, using the anthology reduced textbook costs for students. The NV/NV plays are serviceable and the last two classes have enjoyed them; however, one of the strongest suggestions received from the classes was a desire to delve into even more current and relevant scripts. I have made that my goal while preparing for the fall.
When constructing the syllabus, it is also important to recognize the variety of students on the class roster and their varied perspectives. The class is typically made of students from freshman to doctoral candidates, Educational Theatre majors to performance majors from Tisch, as well as students from outside the arts who are interested in exploring the world outside of their math and business majors. The students are, or plan to be, theatre praticioners, educators, and producers, or are simply interested in story from a teller and/or audience point of view. All of these perspectives inform my planning and I plan to balance the reading list with scripts that are of historical significance to the field and that are often produced in professional venues and schools. The EdTA 2020 Play Survey was helpful here. I am including some of the titles on these lists with those from the NV/NV anthology.
One text that has not changed from my first courses at both Manhattanville College and NYU is Moses Goldberg's collection titled TYA: Essays on the Theatre for Young Audiences. This is an EXCELLENT book that I could not do without!
I am excited by this changes and look forward to exploring the works with a new group of students and to seeing and hearing their reactions and insights. There are still some areas of the field that I can't quite cover in the time provided for the class. I plan to ask students to explore those topics in their midterm project and see what may come out as the most important aspect to incorporate in the revision for next year.
Remote learning was challenging. That's no surprise and while each stakeholder has their own reasons why, we can all agree that it was a challenge. But from my perspective as both a teacher and a parent, it was a challenge well-received and one that - after a series of significant hiccups - went pretty well.
That's not a consensus view, I know. Plenty of people want school buildings to open up rather than struggle with the challenges of remote learning again. I miss working directly with my students and want to return, too. I'm all for a return, provided that we can do so safely. The rising numbers in my neck of the woods is troubling and hopefully we can get things under control before September. I'm also fortunate that my school district is starting a week later than most in order to finish some major construction projects at the middle school/high school complex. We are six weeks from the first day. The district is also planning very thoroughly and the plan currently under consideration is sensible and oriented toward safety for us all.
Whatever the return to school buildings (NOTE: not to "school" as some people will claim. Schools didn't close in March, the buildings did. We all continued with school even when working from home - an important distinction)... the return NOT be a return to normal. I think that under it all what we really want when talking about going back to school is a return to "normal". That leaves me in an interesting place where I am planning for something that is not quite clear, or understandable. But that's all things, isn't it? No matter how often we've experienced a certain something, or know what that something has been, it is never the same one year to the next - not even one day to the other. That idea is important to keep me from overthinking things. I'm going to plan for my classes and be more open than ever to the unknown of our hybrid classroom/remote learning model.
I'm excited to return. It's all I can think about and I'm doing my best to temper that excitement so as not to overwhelm my supervisors with questions and ideas that need to take a backseat to the pressing details of just how we all get back into the building safely.
That excitement comes from a love of my work and is further fueled by frustration. We had incredible excitement and momentum surrounding the high school winter musical and the new Theatre classes at the middle school. I know the students feel that frustration, too, and suspect that it will fuel them as it does me. Above all else, this whole experience reminds me the importance of grit and resilience and the need to just keep swimming, especially when the current gets rough.
This week, I return to Monmouth County Parks to teach a newly developed "Theatre Design" camp for students in grades 6-8. I worked with the parks last year on the "Theatre Techie" camp, which had to be revamped in lieu of the current Covid-19 restrictions. It occurs to me that this will be my first time in a classroom setting with students since my school shut down on March 12th. I will also have one of my middle school students in the camp. They were in my 4th marking period class, which only met online, so while they were a student of mine for 4 weeks, tomorrow will be the first time that we meet face-to-face. Crazy!
I'm looking forward to the program as it draws from some of the design elements that I brought to my general Theatre class at the middle school this year. However, with design as the focus we can spend a LOT more time on it than we did before. We will do some text analysis, sketching, modeling, revision, and "building". The end goal is for students to create a model set out of foam core. This something that I've seen done, but have never tried on my own. I'm curious to see how it will work and look forward to creating along with the students. More to come!
This weekend, Seth Godin posted an interesting idea on his blog called "Break the Lecture". In short, Godin is suggesting that we live in a digital age where interactive technology is nearly ubiquitous and people experience things less in person than they did years ago. One area he suggests hasn't changed is the classroom lecture, which has remained one-sided whether in person or online. He offers the idea of a "back channel" app that asks students questions throughout the lecture. This provides a means for engagement while offering a speaker feedback in real time. I like the concept and agree that lectures need to be rethought in order to engage with the audience. However, I don't know if using our digital technology is the best way.
PeopleImages/Getty (Is that the lecturer from HigherEdJobs.com?)
Immediately, I think of my middle school and high school classrooms where technology is a constant distraction. This is particularly true in middle school. While Godin's theoretical app would block all other apps and programs, I wonder if it only exacerbates the distance that device use has created. Listening and discussing during a lecture is an important skill that will be of benefit to students in the future. Interacting with a live person - while becoming an incredibly less prevalent experience in our society - is a skill that needs nurturing; one might argue it to be one of the most important for children in the middle school years.
So instead of an engagement app, I propose making those lectures more engaging. A good first step would be getting some of that text off the screen (or at the very least, please stop reading what text is up there). Using tech to elevate engagement in the lecture will go a long way. In the end, it always comes down to the age-old "know your audience" and gear the presentation toward their needs and interests. Admittedly, with students, they also need to be willing to take that journey, but as a teacher it is my job - our job - to meet them at that point and provide an interesting path forward. Jordan Tannahill explores this idea within the context of creating theatre in his book Theatre of the Unimpressed. Plenty of strong ideas in there that can be applied to the classroom. I am trying to do this myself, but the jury is still out on it... but so far, so good.
Receiving wisdom from Lowell Swortzell Rehearsals for Lucky Peter's Journey February 2000
A few months ago, I was cleaning out an old filing cabinet in the education office at Writers Theatre. In one drawer was a series of teaching artist files and resumes from actors/directors with whom we've worked in the last 20 years. One of the last folders in there was mine, which contained my original letter of application and resume. It was remarkable to look back at some of my earliest work in the graduate program at NYU, particularly two TYA directing projects: a staged reading of Lucky Peter's Journey adapted by my mentor, Lowell Swortzell, and a devised, collaborative piece called The Greenwich Village Project.
Theatre In Our Schools Month kicks off today and for the first time I am participating as the leader of a school drama club. Our state Thespian chapter shared a series of prompts for the occasion that were created by Thespian Troupe #5840 at Gloucester County Institute of Technology. I have adopted and shared these with the community at Lacey Township High School with the goal of getting as many students, teachers, staff, and community members involved in celebrating. While I look forward to seeing what they share, I am also excited to share a few things myself, particularly today with the prompt:
“Favorite song that you have performed or want to perform”
I am a huge musical theatre nerd. The history of the genre is fascinating to me and I have also been known to burst into song on occasion. This is something I usually try to keep under wraps, of course (unless I’m teaching upper elementary or middle school students whose appalled amusement is quite enjoyable), so it may come as a surprise to some reading this blog (and not quite a surprise to others, like those who live in my house).
Finding just one favorite song for this prompt is tricky. So here are a few that might fit the bill:
1. “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’!” from Oklahoma!
I’ve written about this song before and how much I like Hugh Jackman’s performance of it. This is an easy song to sing and I think I manage it pretty well in the car. Not a role I’d ever want to play, nor is it one in which I’d be cast. The character’s name (Curly) isn’t accidental!
2. “If I Can’t Love Her” from Beauty and the Beast
Similar to “Mornin’”, this is a great song to sing and way back when I was an auditioning actor (as opposed to a working one), this was one of my go-to songs. It fit my range well and the emotional depth of the song is moving. Terrence Mann sung the song well, but Josh Groben's pretty good, too.
3. “A Little Priest” from Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical. It has all of the Sondheim qualities to enjoy and is an amalgamation of performance styles that feel appropriate to, if not actually of, the Victorian era in which the story is set. “A Little Priest” is a good music hall / vaudeville routine that swings across the emotional and psychological spectrum of the murderous, vengeful Todd. I have never played Sweeney Todd - and would gladly welcome the chance to do so -, but did perform the song during my freshman year of college. In my undergraduate program, senior Honors students research and present a performance thesis at the end of the year. I was cast with three other students to perform a musical revue that included “A Little Priest” and the preceding “Epiphany” (another excellent song).
Click here to see Angela Lansbury & George Hearn perform this song.
4. “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid
That may seem like a goof, but file this song under “favorite that you want to perform” for me. A few years back, I was teaching a playwriting residency to a large group of 4th and 5th graders. We were talking about how sometimes a play is fueled by a character who wants, or needs, something that they feel they must have. This song popped into my head and I went with it... actually, I began singing it… and it worked. Ariel has everything she could possibly have, but what she really wants is a whole world away from her. We all feel like that at some point in our lives. It is also a good touchstone for younger audience members from elementary school to high school who can’t wait to get older and get out into the world to see what is beyond what they’ve always known.
Obviously, I will never play Ariel, but if there was ever a “miscast” performance like they do at MCC Theatre’s annual gala, this would be a song I’d like to sing. Or perhaps even “Never Go Back to Before” from Ragtime. That’s a good one, too.
5. "Lily’s Eyes" from The Secret Garden
When this show opened on Broadway, I fell in love with it to the point of jealousy when my sister received a copy of the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. We lobbied to produce the play in college and when it was chosen for the season during my junior year, my friend Lou and I auditioned with “Lily’s Eyes”. We were cast in the roles of Archie & Neville Craven, respectively, and sang this song quite often. I couldn’t get enough of it. The song still moves me today and is absolutely the most favorite song I have performed.
We can learn a lot from the theatre. We learn from our experiences as audience members by absorbing and reflecting upon the adventures, connections, and struggles of the characters who inhabit the story on stage. We also learn through the process of creating art; I’m fortunate to work in a field where I get to see students transformed by their experiences creating, rehearsing, and performing original theatre works. And this past Sunday the entire world had the chance to learn from the passion and compassion of theatre-makers on the Tony Awards. I “grew up” in the theatre. My first experiences were performing in elementary school plays, but it was in middle school when I really connected to it. I’ve written about this before, but I feel that the opportunities I had in the theatre as a kid saved my life. James Corden’s effusive opening number, “That Could Be Me” (at right), was so poignant: that young, dreaming child in the song WAS me. It was many of us who have made a life in the theatre.
There’s a joy and wonderment in the work that we do and many of us “theatre people” are just so thankful to be able to do what we do. I saw that sense of thankfulness and a level of compassion and encouragement in the speeches given by just about all of the Tony winners. My friend, Braden Bell, wrote a beautiful blog post about that this morning. (So, while I initially wanted to post this on Monday, I’m glad it was delay so as to include Braden’s words.) Also, the Broadway world used these moments to lift us up in the wake of that morning’s horrors in Orlando. (See the LA Times for a collection of these.) I particularly appreciated the statement by Hamilton producer Jerry Seller speaking about a vision of America that “embodies the best values, the best impulses that make our nation a beacon to the world: inclusiveness, generosity, ingenuity, and the will to work hard and make our dreams come true.” He finished with a repeated phrase from the show: “Look around. Look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now.” The Tony Awards had a difficult job to do. How can we possible celebrate in the face of danger and uncertainty? This is a time when it is easy to feel defeated. Horrible things happen around us, and to us, but we have a choice of how to respond and how to move forward. It is fascinating to hear the characters of Hamilton sing about how lucky they are to be alive in a world that is turned upside down, but that’s the perspective we need to keep moving ahead. If I’ve ever questioned how something so lighthearted as musical theatre can be relevant in difficult and important times, the answer is now quite clear. Theatre is not an escape from the world (as some might argue), but an answer to it. (Or at least a suggestion.) What was said and done at the Tony Awards on Sunday put that idea on display for us all to see, and feel, and reflect upon, just as any work of theatre is supposed to do.
How lucky am I to be alive and working in the field right now?
"Thank you for inviting me here today to celebrate with you the induction of these young people into the International Thespian Society. Though I’ve been involved in the theatre since the age of eight, I have never had the privilege to take part in a program like this and I am honored to be a part of the ceremony today.
"It is fitting to celebrate students’ work in theatre with a ritual like this as it is in ritual and storytelling that theatre has its origins. Our earliest ancestors gathered around the fire to hear a shaman incant tales that demystified the unknown things around them and within. These stories became the basis of ethics and religion and education as our ancestors evolved from those earliest days to the present day. Throughout that history, we humans continued to gather to tell and hear stories much as the ancients did, but with new technology constantly upgrading the meeting places and advancements in philosophy and training reshaping and refining the storytelling methods.
"It is remarkable to think how important theatre must be to withstand such a span of time. The Roman poet Horace may have put it best in the Ars Poetica, his study of poetry and drama, when he said that effective theatre must be both dulce et utile: meaning sweet and useful. To put it another way: entertaining and educational. The theatre has always served both purposes though at times it may have drifted toward one end of the spectrum, or another. In our modern age, with the spectacle of falling chandeliers, rotating barricades, and pop music reviews, we swing a bit more toward the entertainment side of of the spectrum where it can be difficult to recognize the educational importance of the art form. At times, those of us in the theatre struggle to prove our worth in a world increasingly obsessed with higher numbers and 'better' results.
"Yet it is also in this same era that serious research has explored the impact of theatre participation and education on students’ academic and creative development. A few years ago, James Catterall, a professor of education at UCLA, concluded his 12-year study of visual and performing arts education at the secondary school level by finding that 'sustained student involvement in theatre arts associates with a variety of developments for youth: gains in reading proficiency, gains in self-concept and motivation, and higher levels of empathy for others' (p. 2). Additionally, in a 2012 study, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices surmised that the arts and culture sector can play a major role in the revitalization of local economies through 'community revitalization and the development of a better prepared workforce,' among other things. (p. 5). Education and creativity experts like Sir Ken Robinson speak of the necessity of arts education to ensure that our children have the creative capacity to survive and succeed in whatever future the remainder of 21st century may reveal.
Beyond these intrinsic benefits there also is much that is learned in the way of Core Curricular Content knowledge through the research, dramaturgy, and development that goes into the preparation of a theatrical performance. In order to prepare for a role, an actor studies the text and subtext of a character’s written dialogue and the historical and social contexts that impact his/her actions and language. Similar work is done by a director and a designer to bring the details of the play to fruition; not to mention the playwright who creates or recreates that world in the beginning. How many of you know more about our world after putting on, or seeing, an historical play?
Theatre helps us to better understand ourselves, too. For example I remember being an 8-year old boy sitting on the floor of the school gymnasium completely engrossed with an assembly given by a local opera company. At recess, I grabbed my four-color, retractable ballpoint pen to quickly record everything I had seen or heard at the assembly. I even cast my friends for a production that, unfortunately, never made it to my planned playground performance. My love of theatre was born that day and I began to soak of every experience I could have backstage and onstage and in the audience. Through the stories I experienced I learned about the world and imagined myself in it. This brought great joy and entertainment, but also a feeling of family as I worked with a variety of people in each production. That sense of belonging did more for me than I could have ever imagined at the time as it also gave me the necessary encouragement and validation I needed to get through future years complicated by a rare autoimmune disorder and a resulting lack of self-esteem. You may have similar stories of learning and growth that stem from your own interactions with theatre, or those of your friends, or children.
Which brings us back again to the theatre as a place for telling and hearing stories. With all of this learning going on, how nice that we are able to do it in the midst of the fun and excitement of a show! For let’s not forget the dulce in Horace’s description of the theatre: that its benefit is not just to feed the mind, but to please the soul as well. Congratulations to all of tonight’s inductees on their accomplishments in these pursuits. May all your future endeavors be sweet and useful. Thank you."
Photo of Bic 4-Color Retractable Ballpoint Pen from Staples.com
Preparations are just about done and this Sunday we begin rehearsals for the 32nd annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival. This is a program I have run for Playwrights Theatre since I started working there in 2002. For the past two months, I've communicated with the high school playwrights via email and phone, and finally had a chance to meet them in person at the NJ Governor's Awards for Arts Education on Wednesday. These four students have done a remarkable job not just crafting engaging stories, but also a pair of significant revisions using feedback from our contest readers and the festival dramaturgs. The first rewrite was a great way to assess the commitment to the process and willingness of the finalists to make changes to their work. The goal of the second rewrite under the guidance of a dramaturg, is to help jump start the playwrights into the rehearsal process.
The high school playwrights have always been directly involved in rehearsals, but this is only the second year implementing a pre-Festival routine (last year introduced the dramaturgs; this year, the finalist rewrites). A year prior, I noticed that only a handful of playwrights were actively participating in the program. There are a variety of reasons for this, of course, but it seemed that much of it had to do with the playwrights being thrown into rehearsals without any significant orientation. Seeing professionals work on your script can be exciting, but it can also be very intimidating. Hopefully we've alleviated some of that this year. I can't wait to begin working on the scripts tomorrow. What I can wait for is my new role in this year's program.
I've been directing portions of the Festival for many years, but this is the first time that I will perform in them. Festival scripts are often populated by youth, or young adult, characters; however, this year we were surprised that of the 13 total characters in the four high school plays, only five characters were young people. The majority of the actors that I typically hire for young playwrights presentations are in their early to mid-20s, so the challenge became finding the actors needed for the adult characters. We did well, but fell short to the point where a colleague and I will need to step into two roles. That's all well for my colleague who is a professional actor. For me, on the other hand, it is not a typical role. I've performed onstage before, but I haven't since the New Plays for Young Audiences Series in 2007. So, this should be interesting, to say the least!
On the morning of April 18, 1987, I came from a birthday party sleepover at a friend’s house and sat on the living room floor to watch TV. My mother was sitting on the couch behind me and noticed a small bald patch on the back of my head about the size of a quarter. Every morning for the next few days, I woke up to a pillow so thick with hair that I had to use a lint roller to remove it. Two weeks later, I had gone from having a full head of hair to a few weak patches near the top of my head.
This is me about a year before losing my hair.
Fourth grade can be tough enough for a child given all of the changes that begin to take place around that time. My fourth grade year was certainly an awkward one: I had new braces and glasses and adolescence with all of its glories lurking just around the corner. Just about everyone goes through those changes sooner than later, but what made it different for me was how quickly I morphed physically in front of everyone’s eyes. There were plenty of questions to be had. Some of my friends and classmates were genuinely curious and concerned about what had happened. Questions from certain others had a bit something less friendly about them. To make things worse, when I was eventually diagnosed with alopecia universalis (an autoimmune disorder resulting in the complete loss of body hair), the dermatologist prescribed a giant pill that was impossible to swallow and a cream for my scalp that stained my face several shades darker than my hands and arms. It is not necessary for me to go through the variety of ignorant and hurtful things that were said and done to me in the years that followed. It was not fun, to say the absolute least. Luckily, it was around this time that I was introduced to theatre and began to develop a love of stories both on the stage and on the page.
I began to read a lot; saw many movies, plays, and musicals. I enacted the stories in front of a mirror in the shelter of my bedroom and wrote scripts for my friends and I to enact and occasionally film. To my knowledge, nothing but one of these scripts ever got produced: we filmed a movie with a friend’s VHS video camera, but that was more of a collaborative effort than an independent script. Nevertheless, writing and stories became a way for me to cope. I kept a collection of journals from fifth grade through high school, which I kept until recently. Some of the writing was about life with alopecia, but much of it was the accounts of the day, or ideas for a new story. No matter the subject, the tone of my writing in the journals was unfettered and real. Writing in those pages helped me to reflect on and express emotions about everything that I was experiencing and, as the stage would later provide, provided a comfortable place to be myself and share my voice.
Now, through my professional life in theatre and in academia, I understand how important this involvement in story was to the development of my maturity and personality. I enjoy seeing that same development in the young playwrights that I mentor and/or whose work I produce; in the energy and confidence with which college students assert their artistry independently for the first time. There is something very powerful in a young person sharing their voice and there is little that can benefit the young writer / young artist more than having their work read and discussed. It is my hope that with the establishment of the Alopecia Writers Club other children with alopecia can find joy and encouragement similar to that which I experienced when I was in their shoes.
The Alopecia Writers Club is currently accepting new members and I hope to have writing prompts and tips going for Club members by the time Alopecia Awareness Month starts up in September. If you know of a child with alopecia, or a sibling of a child with alopecia, who would be interested in developing and sharing their creative writing, please see the Club section of my website for more information, or contact me at jim@jimdevivo.com. (April 2016: Please note that the Alopecia Writers Club is currently on hiatus.)
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