What I'm up to this summer

[crboltz]

This summer I am teaching in a program that teaches the techniques of devised theatre to high school students. Since most folks aren't familiar with devised theatre, let me explain. Devised theatre is a technique which uses improv exercises, and writing prompts to have the participants create short scenes and monologues about their own life. I had initially worried that with high school students there were going to be lots of "oh-woe-is-me" stereotypical complaints. What we actually have is very poignant, personal, real writing. Is every piece a success with every student? No. Are the students any good at self identifying what the really powerful stuff from the kind of weak stuff they wrote? No. Some of (in my opinion) best stuff is crossed out. The good news is that the final show will be put together by four of the instructors (including me). The other thing we are doing (which is sometimes but not always done in devised theatre), is we are taking the writing anonymously. After working with the kids, I could probably identify 80% or more, but that doesn't matter. We are going to collect the best writing, and put it together into a show, and assign the speaking roles among the students with no regard for who wrote what. This policy has really freed up the students, I think, because they don't have to worry about saying how they feel about their parents in front of their parents. Who wrote what will not be divulged (like I said, we don't know for absolutely certainty for much of it). The program has been exhausting -- and we still have two weeks to go -- both emotionally and physically. But, I guess that is life.

So, that is what I'm up to at the moment.

And I hope this first entry gets me back in the habit of journaling.