Recent community art projects
New Program: Theater for Second Language Learners
Collaboration, Carrefour de Liaison et d’Aide Multi-ethnique and Collège International Marie de France, Montreal, Quebec, spring 2009 to fall 2010
Third Story Window is proud to offer this new program piloted last year. We used theater games adapted specifically for second language learners to help students with the speaking and writing of conversational English and French. These workshops give students of French and English a warm and playful atmosphere to take the skills teachers have been working on to the next level. Drama sheds students’ inhibitions in speech, bolsters their expressivity and, through humor and imagination, creates stronger classroom connections that enhance learning. The workshops were piloted with adult immigrants learning French and 4th and 5th grade native French speakers in an English immersion program; both groups and both teachers were highly enthusiastic. Email gailmail@thirdstorywindow.com for availability.
Recommendation:
‘Le côté ludique leur (les étudiants) a permis:
a) d’interagir en groupe dans un espace physique concret;
b) d’éliminer certaines inhibitions comme celle de parler
en publique;
c) d’utiliser leur imaginaire tout en ayant du plaisir à
improviser dans un univers créé par eux;
d) d’être dans le feu de l’action puisque tous sont
animés d’un but commun: celui d’assurer le fil de l’histoire;
e) d’utilier leur enfant intérieur, c’est-à-dire
leur spontanéité et leurs émotions.’
‘Personnellement, j’ai eu la surprise de voir évoluer
mes étudiants à travers l’improvisation comme jamais
auparavant. Plusieurs ont du talent à revendre et atteignent un
niveau élevé de confiance et de persuasion à travers
un personnage’
Elisabeth Olivier, Professeure de Francais, Carrefour de Liason et
d’Aide Multi-ethnique, Montreal
Dreaming
Collaboration with Cityscape afterschool program, Barre, Vermont, 2005
In this performance project, we met with a class of middle schoolers for twelve weeks and created an original theater piece around the theme of dreams. In the early weeks, we facilitated material-generating exercises in movement, writing, acting and video, having students share the dreams they had at night in addition to the dreams they had for the future. We then created a structure for the material, building a show which we performed for the community. In addition, we helped students create a theater workshop for the audience during which they led exercises and served as leaders.
Letters to the President: How Do You Spell Democracy?
Collaboration with Amy Stuart, M.S.W., and Community College of Vermont in Montpelier. Winter 2004
This was a two part community project exploring the concept and practice of democracy as a response to what we saw as an apathetic voting population in the U.S. During the first phase, Amy and I researched quotations about democracy and sent them in alphabetical order as “letters” to the U.S. president and other elected officials; we also connected with a college student who created a website and posted the letters on it each week. During the second phase, we worked in conjunction with CCV to create and lead performance and dialogue-based workshops for students about democracy. Finally, the third phase consisted of organizing and facilitating a “Festival of Democracy,” a multi-disciplinary community event celebrating, exploring, and questioning theories and practices of democracy. The event included a story circle about courage, an exhibition by CCV photography students about patriotism, a staged reading of the play, “Us and Them,” by CCV Acting class, a discussion about employment rights facilitated by a local attorney and the screening of film about disability culture followed by a discussion.
Performing Our Stories, Creating Our Communities,
Barre, Vermont, fall 2003
For eight weeks, this community workshop focused on building community through sharing stories from everyday life via different art forms. We utilized writing, mask, movement, improvisation, and video and explored the concept of “audience-less” performance, the value of creating for pleasure and relationship building.
