“Isn’t wonderful how the show just comes together at the end!” The curtain has fallen, and someone’s mom, or grandma, or doting auntie is all smiles. Congratulations are certainly due to the student actors and crew members, and although I always smile and nod, my inner monologue is expressing anything but agreement.
As every Teaching Artist knows, there is little left to chance in any arts education experience. It takes a great deal of strategic thinking, careful planning and plain hard work to achieve the desired outcome, especially an outcome that looks like it all just “comes together at the end.”
Like most arts educators, I work very hard to keep the focus on the students’ process throughout the rehearsal period and let the final product take care of itself. However, to do that requires a strict daily rehearsal plan, a willingness to accept imperfection along the way and the constant reminder that adult egos have no place in arts education. When Teaching Artists focus on the quality of students’ works as validation of their own worth as artists, the students are no longer being served.
Theatre is my particular discipline, and I certainly love a good show as much as the next person. I want my students to have a great experience during the rehearsal process, culminating in a production in which they can be genuinely proud of what they have accomplished. I am focused on student success every moment of every rehearsal. I use every teaching skill and performance trick I have accumulated over many years as an actor, director, writer and teacher. I explain, encourage, cajole, insist, cheerlead, demonstrate and inspire. I do whatever it takes to get the best performance from every member of the cast. But ultimately, they must be allowed to fail.
This is the secret weapon of the first dress rehearsal. By allowing students to fail while still in the protected environment of rehearsal, we are giving them the greatest educational opportunity possible. Through a myriad of mistakes, dropped lines, misplaced props, mangled dances and the inevitable missed entrance, students are forced to take responsibility for their own work. It is through these “mistakes” that the greatest learning happens. The student who misses his entrance, and accepts personal responsibility for doing so, will never miss that entrance again.
If there is truly magic in the theatre, it happens somewhere between the first tech/dress rehearsal and opening night. Grounded in hours of preparation, student actors are finally prepared to enter the crucible of live performance. If I have done my job well, they will be able to do so with confidence and joy. But ultimately, they must take the final steps on their own.
Showing posts with label actors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label actors. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Power of Enactment
I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. ~Oscar Wilde
What makes theatre such a powerful tool for teaching? To begin with, at the most fundamental human level, "acting it out" changes everything. There's a reason that early man put on animal skins and danced around the fire to tell the story of a successful hunt. Almost any story becomes more compelling to an audience when it has been brought to life by human beings who re-enact the tale as if it is happening in front of our eyes at this very moment-not a story that happened in the past, once upon a time.
Beyond the audience, the actors who are presenting the story experience it very differently. One way of thinking about this is that "acting it out" provides an opportunity for differentiated instruction that can be very effective for certain students to learn any subject, depending on their particular learning style.
But the tremendous power of enactment goes far beyond the entertainment of the audience or the performers' learning of curricular material. As humans, our emotional connection to the material being presented in live theatre becomes far deeper and more complex than simply reading words on a page. Perhaps in part this emotional connection is based on our understanding that we are watching real, live people who exist in the same space with us and breathe the same air. The tightrope-walk of live performance can connect both the audience and the actors to the story in ways they may not fully understand.
The possibility of this deep emotional connection must not be discounted, especially when working with children. Educational theatre is not psychodrama. Certainly theatre is an excellent method for teaching and learning about any number of difficult issues. Creating and watching characters who are different from us builds empathy and understanding. But as Teaching Artists, we must be sensitive to the particular capacity for self-identification that theatre holds. Sometimes a character's backstory may be uncomfortably close to the student-actor's personal history. When this backstory involves painful issues such as divorce or death of a parent, the theatre educator should be especially vigilent it choosing who will be playing such characters.
When a young actor begins work on a character, he begins to draw parallels and connections between himself and the characater. Some questions the actor asks: How am I like this character? How am I different? If I met this character, would we be friends? How has this character's life so far been like mine? How has his life been different?
As the student actor digs into the text, he brings to his performance character traits and behaviors observed in others, as well as drawn from within himself. In the best scenario, this self-identifcation can lead students to both a greater understanding of others, and deeper knowledge of themselves.
What makes theatre such a powerful tool for teaching? To begin with, at the most fundamental human level, "acting it out" changes everything. There's a reason that early man put on animal skins and danced around the fire to tell the story of a successful hunt. Almost any story becomes more compelling to an audience when it has been brought to life by human beings who re-enact the tale as if it is happening in front of our eyes at this very moment-not a story that happened in the past, once upon a time.
Beyond the audience, the actors who are presenting the story experience it very differently. One way of thinking about this is that "acting it out" provides an opportunity for differentiated instruction that can be very effective for certain students to learn any subject, depending on their particular learning style.
But the tremendous power of enactment goes far beyond the entertainment of the audience or the performers' learning of curricular material. As humans, our emotional connection to the material being presented in live theatre becomes far deeper and more complex than simply reading words on a page. Perhaps in part this emotional connection is based on our understanding that we are watching real, live people who exist in the same space with us and breathe the same air. The tightrope-walk of live performance can connect both the audience and the actors to the story in ways they may not fully understand.
The possibility of this deep emotional connection must not be discounted, especially when working with children. Educational theatre is not psychodrama. Certainly theatre is an excellent method for teaching and learning about any number of difficult issues. Creating and watching characters who are different from us builds empathy and understanding. But as Teaching Artists, we must be sensitive to the particular capacity for self-identification that theatre holds. Sometimes a character's backstory may be uncomfortably close to the student-actor's personal history. When this backstory involves painful issues such as divorce or death of a parent, the theatre educator should be especially vigilent it choosing who will be playing such characters.
When a young actor begins work on a character, he begins to draw parallels and connections between himself and the characater. Some questions the actor asks: How am I like this character? How am I different? If I met this character, would we be friends? How has this character's life so far been like mine? How has his life been different?
As the student actor digs into the text, he brings to his performance character traits and behaviors observed in others, as well as drawn from within himself. In the best scenario, this self-identifcation can lead students to both a greater understanding of others, and deeper knowledge of themselves.
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