Women and War

The most recent play our group attended, Women and War, was very powerful. An ensemble cast of six sought to tell the stories of women who have been affected by war. There were some spectacular, stand-out performances. The woman who played the rape victim interpreted the role with sensitivity and respect. This same actress also played the role of an African-American soldier. Her interpretation was spot on. One can clearly see how this work would be extremely challenging and rewarding for an actor.

That being said, an aspect of the performance that I found frustrating was the lack of diversity of the cast. I believe it is safe to say that a majority of the people most directly affected by war in the past 50 years have not been of European descent. The cast of the play did not reflect this diversity. I know that it would take a very large ensemble cast to represent all women touched by war, but there were only one or two actors who were not white. There were no Asian actors, though there were numerous stories about Vietnamese war survivors. A more diverse cast certainly would have strengthened the production.

Despite these flaws, this was a brave production which sought to explore a topic that is rarely discussed in mainstream circles. This play could definitely serve as a conversation starter or as a culminating event after a classroom study of war time experiences. One might partner this play with a reading of a war memoir written by a woman. Of course, this production would be for a mature audience. I don't think it would be appropriate for many high school students, but would be well suited to a college-level class.

Canterbury Tales

For years, I had wanted to check out The Shakespeare Tavern. What an excellent idea... Shakespeare in a small intimate atmosphere, pub food, yummy desserts.. What could be better? I am so glad I had the opportunity to check out Chaucer on Peachtree.

The show was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the variety of the sketches performed. All of the sketches had some element of humor to them, but in a moment they could change and take on more dramatic flair. I particularly enjoyed The Franklin's Tale. The actress who played Dorigen did a remarkable job. The Wife of Bath's Tale was also well done. Bravo!

I have never taught Chaucer, but I could see how it might not be an enviable task. The language would be, to put it mildly, a challenge for most students. However, adapting the stories into a more modern context, as this Shakespeare company does, would make Chaucer much, much more accessible to students. They would be able to see the classic themes inherent in each tale. Pride, jealousy, trust, drinking, gambling- these are all themes in today's TV sitcoms and movies. The basic ideas and themes don't change, just the guises they come in. That is an important lesson for students to learn and production such as this one does much to move them in that direction.

Theatre in the Classroom Workshop

I thoroughly enjoyed the day that Dr. Emert planned for our group on January 21st. The morning and afternoon workshop were filled with visits from local theater professionals. Who knew we would spend the morning out of our chairs creating special "superhero" hand motions to share with the group or saving each other from disastrous situations using our budding improvisational bravado?!? These improvisational techniques are excellent tools to use not only as ice breakers and to create community within the classroom, but could be easily adapted to assist students in analyzing and understanding content in new and creative ways. How one could do this is only limited by the imagination. These kind of exercises literally get students out of their chairs and connected to content. These are the sort of activities that students will leave the classroom and tell their peers about. "Hey, did you hear what we did in Ms. Pate's class? That was pretty cool." What could be better?

Meeting different theater folks in the community was also extremely useful. Our visitors from Dad's Garage and The Shakespeare Tavern really opened my eyes as to the resources available to theater aficionados in Atlanta. In high school, I was somewhat involved in theater and very involved in musical theater, so the value of these experiences is not lost on me. I was part of the "theater crowd." It is interesting to think about how performing theater as a venue and experience has changed over the past (gasp) 20 years. With the advent digital media and the internet, why and how is theater still a viable and important experience for students today? Is it that the medium has changed, the way people receive the message, not the content itself? I think these are important questions to ask ourselves as educators and to have our students explore.

I suppose one for the key ideas that stayed with me at the end of the workshop day was something that we discussed at length as a group: the importance of being a creator as opposed to a consumer. Isn't that at the core of what learning is all about? Isn't that what we want our students to be: active creators of their lives and experiences, as opposed to letting life just "happen" to them? I think inviting these theatrical techniques into our classrooms, takes us one step closer to making our students creators, not just consumers.

Second City in Atlanta

The show at the Alliance Theatre we attended during the holidays was my first exposure to live improv theatre. What a wonderful performance! The references to Atlanta experiences and scenes made me feel like a native Atlantan, though I am not.

What I most took away from the show in terms of teaching practice, is the how powerful improv methods could be if applied in the classroom. What would be the best way to go about translating this to a classroom experience? How would you keep students on task and engaged in producing the sketch? Definitely an explorable topic!