New
York State Funding for Arts Education
Partnerships - SAP
Renaissance
Charter School with Andrew Ronan
and Desi Waters - "Underage
Cabaret"
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This
year's SAP partnership was a comprehensive,
year-long program
that had 9th-11th grade drama students
writing original material that
was performed at Queens Theater
in the Park and The Renaissance
Charter School. The editing
process took place in drama class
as well as on collaborative Wiki-spaces
and in the ELA classes.
The
10th & 11th
grade students were on their second
and third year with this program,
and the maturity level of the plays
increased tremendously in scope,
imagination, plot, sequencing,
and character. Having a program
like "Underage Cabaret"
encourages them to dig deep into
themselves, trust their ideas,
and write from the heart. They
did. The monologues and plays were
some of the best writing the students
have done, and a preliminary look
at the high school Regents exams
is very positive. Students also
started reading plays on their
own.
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The
Underage Cabaret’s
goal is to use drama and writing
as a way for young people to
tap into their personal power
and stories and build the inner
strength to share those stories
with an audience in an honest
and authentic way.
The
project operates under two guiding
questions:
Who are you? What
do you stand for?
We wanted
to create a piece written, directed
and performed by young people,
ensure that all participants had
the opportunity to speak what was
truly on their minds and in their
hearts, and create an atmosphere
of safety and respect.
We talked
about what it means to be an actor,
to put your soul out in front of
an audience. We talked about being
an activist and what it means to
put your beliefs out in front of
the world.
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The
11th graders wanted to take the
process a step beyond creating
an original play and came up
with a proposal to create a theater
piece that would tour to middle
schools, designed to address
8th graders' apprehensions
about high school. Students
interviewed eighth graders about
their fears. Based on the stories
and interviews, the playwrights
created a show that
could tour to middle schools
and spark a conversation about
this transition.
They
designed a workshop to accompany
the play, which was successfully
piloted to the 8th graders at Renaissance. |
The
10th graders took their plays beyond
the typical
"teen angst" stage of
reflective writing, and came up
with very imaginative plots and
deeper characterizations than had
ever been evidenced in the student
plays in previous years. There
was also evidence of more sophistication
in the students’ appreciate
of varied forms of dramatic literature.
“I have been
teaching the elements of playwriting
to my English classes for several
years now, and I was astonished
and delighted by the UAC production
at QTIP this year. I thought my
11th graders’ choice of creating
a play about high-school to ease
the anxieties of 8th graders showed
real maturity and a sense of giving
back. I was very proud of them.” --
Sandra Fritz, 11th grade English
teacher |
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Students
had to stick to a timeline of
editing and production; the artists
made sure they were thinking
of the process as well as the
final product at all times.
"With
Andrew and Desi, students felt
comfortable in their roles as playwrights,
producers, directors and actors. Having
a new voice and a new sounding
board was essential in my classroom,
for me and my students." --Dennis
Gereritz, Drama Teacher
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"I
learned how to speak louder, be more
professional . . . something I’ll
remember for the rest of my drama experience
is that 'one should never be afraid of
making a fool of him/herself in front
of class.' If we don’t take
chances than we are not moving forward."
-- M.M., 9th grade
student
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