“TheatreWorks Education Department is incredible! The whole theater production, from the support you gave my students in the classroom to the support at the theater—it was overwhelming. Thank you for all the support and love.” Michael Martin, Redwood High School Teacher, student matinee for Of Mice And Men
“The Young Playwrights Project is for you to put your imagination to the fullest. Put your mind to work. Leave everything else behind you. Leave your problems, your worries, and everything else and it lets you focus on one thing: your play.”
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our Young Playwrights Projects were produced this year and all of them were unique. During the fall semester, a partnership formed with College Track allowed playwright-in-residence Jake Arky to work with five high school students from East Palo Alto. At the same time, nationally known performance artists and playwright Adelina Anthony worked with students at Downtown College Prep in San Jose to create the first bilingual Young Playwrights Project. In the spring, students at Crystal Spring Highlands worked with Jake Arky on crafting original monologues and plays they staged for friends and family at an open house performance in April. Playwright Bill Bivins worked in residency at Palo Alto High School with students. The Young Playwrights Project is a two-month, in-school program that pairs professional playwrights with high school students to teach them tools of penning a theatrical script. The first half of the residency consists of writing exercises, as well as the basic craft of dramatic writing. The second half dives deeper when every student in the class is assigned to craft an original ten-minute play using the skills they have acquired. Once each student has finished writing a first draft script, a small handful are chosen to be developed for another four weeks in an intensive workshop with the playwright-in-residence. The next four weeks are devoted to revisions, editing, and give constructive criticism. A celebration of what each class has produced comes together in a day that pairs each young playwright with main stage actors and a director to rehearse staged readings of the students’ original work. In the evening, families, friends, and the community are invited to share in watching the young playwrights efforts come alive for the first time on a professional stage. Accomplishment and self-confidence are what students take away from the Young Playwrights Project in addition to refining their language arts skills and the voice of their writing. Many students walk away from the experience telling everyone that it “was possibly the first time in a
LOOONNNGGGG time I had a real smile on my face . Spending time with my closest friends seeing my writing come to life was surreal. I could not asked for a better day :D”
“I enjoy TheatreWorks because the activities are fun and it helps get my mind off other things.” —LPCH patient from “The Children’s Healing Project”
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heatreWorks visits Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital weekly providing interactive theatre arts at bedsides, in the elementary, middle and high school classrooms and in the Comprehensive Care Unit (a unit for eating disorders). This year, our dedicated teaching artists returned for their third year providing physical and emotional support through theatre games. Bringing joyful moments of laughter and much needed physical activity. Making an entrance with their exemplary skills and perhaps a musical instrument, they can been seen in the kidney dialysis room, the isolation rooms as well as the full functioning classrooms that are part of Palo Alto Unified School District. This year we embarked on a four month process to gather simple assessment of the program. The theatre impact study was designed to determine the psychosocial effect the class had in both the classroom environment and in patients’ lives. 53 patients were surveyed over a period of four months and the study found positive outcomes in relation to patients’ attitudes and socialization in the classroom: Answering questions with “Absolutely” being the highest rank and “Not at All” being the lowest: 89% of the ranked our visits as absolutely a valuable part of their school experiences. 76% of young patients reported that the exercises they learned in the drama classes absolutely had a positive effect on their mood. 67% of patients surveyed reported the drama class absolutely helped them feel more confident about speaking and expressing themselves to others. 78% of patients surveyed said that the exercises absolutely allowed them to engage with fellow students in a new and interesting way. Our teaching artists found a direct connection between the theatre experience and a positive effect on the mood of the patients. The last effects can be summed up by one student who told TheatreWorks that the Children’s Healing Project “it makes me happier, more imaginative and more active.”
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