wht education report 12-13

8/13/2019 WHT Education Report 12-13

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Overview

During the 2012-2013 school year The Warehouse Theatre (WHT) surpassed our goals for educ

tional programming. Generous gifts for education programs at WHT have provided the suppowe needed to reach out to more schools, educators, students and at-risk youth than even wthought possible! WHT reached more than 6,400 students in 2012-2014.

Key, and renewed support, from the: TD Charitable Foundation, F.W. Symmes Foundation (ThWooden O), BMW Manufacturing Company, GHS Childrens Hospital (Healthy Living TheatProgram), The Metropolitan Arts Council, South Carolina Arts Commission, The Graham Foundtion, corporate and individual donors, such as Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., CertusBANK, T

Ethel and John Piper Fund, Jean T. and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation, and The Derrick FamiFoundation have made these programs possible.

The following pages are a brief summary of our activities this season.

Please contact us with any questions or

to add your support to these vital programs!

THANK YOU!Your support makes these programs possible.

The Impact of Arts Education and Exposure:

We feel that the ability to expose all students to the arts is vital to their academic and person-al success. A recent study published by the National Endowment for the Arts found that stu-dents who have exposure to the arts specifically those students who are deemed at-risk,may experience higher levels of success than those who do not have exposure. Released onMarch 30, 2012 by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Arts and Achievement for At-RiskYouth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies, revealed a positive association between arts-exposure and participation, finding that youth who have access to arts either in or out ofschool have better academic outcomes, higher career goals, and are more civically engagedthan those with little or no exposure. For example, at-risk students with access to the arts inhigh school were three times more likely than their peers to earn a bachelors degree. Youthwith arts exposure were more likely to volunteer their time than those without significant artsexposure (47 over 23%.) Also, roughly 50% of low socio-economic status at-risk youth whoparticipated in the arts set their goals toward professional careers (such as those in law, edu-cation, management or healthcare) compared to only 21% among the students who did notparticipate.


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Healthy Living Theatre Program2012-2013 was the second year for our applied theatre outreach programming, entitled Healthy Living, which usfacilitated discussion, sociodrama and improvisational techniques to provide a platform for participants to explonot only choices and dilemmas affecting their physical health, but also those influencing social and psychologicwell-being. Our emphasis is on exploration and expression, and we work in concert with organizations who seryouth to identify issues and help them work through issues in the areas of self-esteem, interpersonal relationshibullying, personal identity, conflict resolution, goal-setting and planning for the future. Short-term residenciwill, by the end of the summer of 2013, have allowed us to work with over 525 youth and young adults.This program continues to gain momentum as we partner for a second year with Sterling Community Cente

Teen program, The Huddle, as well as Bridges to a Brighter Future and New Impact. New partners incluLaFrance Elementary School and Fostering Great Ideas. Here are some highlights:

Eating Disorders Support GroupTherapist Heidi Moss and a group of her colleagues, who specialize in treating people who suffer from eatingdisorders approached WHT to ask for some programming specific to this issue and population in support ofthe activities they planned around National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

WHT Education Director, and NYU-trained drama therapist Melanie Trimble worked with the therapists todesign an applied theatre workshop for 23 clients which focused on common issues surrounding eating disor-ders and self-image.

Bridges to a Brighter FutureIn 2013 WHT partnered with Bridges to a Brighter future for a second year. This summer, our second year thisyear, the Healthy Living workshops with Bridges to a Brighter future were integrated with the programs sum-mer academic curriculum. Warehouse Theatre teaching artists and social studies faculty collaborated to createa curricular unit which addressed the question how has history made me who I am? WHT teaching artists

facilitated the Bridges students exploration of the social and psychological impact of historical events on theirpresent lives and goal-setting for future choices, using facilitated improvisation and playwriting in the form ofcreating original monologues.

Sterling Torch Program -The Huddle2013 marks the second year of our partnership with this YMCA-sponsored after school program for teens. Layear, teaching artists conducted multiple sessions with teens, introducing them to the basics of theatre and stostructure, and using applied theatre techniques, humor and storytelling to explore issues of importance to them.

NEW IMPACTFor the second year, WHTs Healthy Living applied theatre outreach arm partnered with the Greenville Hos-

pital Systems New Impact Program, which provides comprehensive treatment for children and teens suffer-ing from obesity. Working closely with New Impact director and therapist Dr. Cara Reeves, WHT teachingartists conduct applied theatre workshops for younger, elementary aged New Impact patients and a separateseries for teens.

These workshops gave the patients an opportunity to interact in the spirit of creative play while they explorethe theatrical art form, collaborative storytelling and scene work to investigate identity, self-esteem, and tohelp them solve problems and make strong choices.

Thank you to our generous

corporate sponsors!


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Healthy Living Theatre Program

Romeo & Juliet Matinee and Pre-Show TalkThis event brought older youth (middle and high school) from the Huddle Teen Center at Sterling Communi-ty Center, as well as patients in the New Impact childhood obesity treatment program together, providingtickets to a matinee of Romeo and Juliet. Prior to the performance, Education Director Anne Tromsness lead apre-show discussion on the play and its relevance to todays youth covering hasty decisions and their long-lasting consequences, multi-generational prejudice, and violence between teens. Included in the cast weretwo of the teaching artists who worked with these groups in Healthy Living programming so the youth hadthe opportunity to watch their instructors on stage.

Fostering Great Ideas PartnershipThrough the generosity of individual sponsors, Susan and Steve Bichel, and our education program sponsors,the WHT had the opportunity to partner with Fostering Great Ideas (FGI). This Greenville non-profit is ded-icated to improving outcomes for children in the foster care system. Complimentary tickets to The ChristmasThat Almost Wasnt were provided to mentors and their FGI students, followed by time for fellowship (hotchocolate and Christmas cookies), and a workshop with WHT teaching artists designed to engage those

young people in the foster system in positive communication with their mentors.

LaFrance Elementary SchoolIn the fall of 2012, a team of WHT teaching artists spent one week in residence at this innovative Title I schooAnderson County, supporting the schools guidance and anti-bullying curriculum, working with all studentgrades 3-6 for two sessions each, and providing a professional development workshop for teachers on usimprovisation in the core curriculum.

R & L) WHT teaching artists with a 6th Grade

workshop, C) Anne Tromsness leading the

Romeo & Juliet Pre-Show discussion.


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This Wooden O and Actors in the SchoolsDuring the school year, with generous community support, This Wooden O sends teams of teaching artists intomiddle, high, and beginning last year, elementary school English Language Arts classrooms, to enhance studencomprehension and appreciation of Shakespeares plays (and by extension other classical and dramatic texts) bteaching the actors strategies to unlocking these works. This hands-on, arts-integrated learning experienceoffers students and their teachers a curriculum based opportunity to investigate these plays from a differentperspective and to enliven their experience with the texts.

Through generous support, The Warehouse Theatre has identified and invested in training a team ofexperienced, engaged teaching artists who participated in workshops on curricular design, arts-integration,and inter-disciplinary, differentiated instruction techniques.

Grants and funds donated for This Wooden O make it possible for us to offer these programs to elementary,middle and high schools in the Upstate for much less than the programs cost. With these subsidies, the cost toschools is at an affordable level, and we are able to offer workshops to urban, suburban and rural schools whicserve diverse populations of students across ethnicities and the socio-economic spectrum. We also customize tworkshops, working with individual teachers to identify their unique curriculum goals and develop a lesson pldesigned to address the specific needs of each classroom. This flexibility also ensures that we can work with stdents at all instructional levels from College Prep to Honors to Advanced Placement and Gifted/ Talented.

This Wooden OIn 2012-2013 WHT provided residencies for 14 middle and high schools throughout the Greenville district, work-ing on texts such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth. Working with over 40 teachers district wide,providing approximately 600 hours of hands-on, arts-integrated instruction to over 1500 students in grades 6-12.

3rdGrade Challenge WorkshopsThis year, we provided Introduction to Shakespeare master classes for students in Greenville County School Dis-trict Gifted and Talented programs at 24 schools, often providing more than one workshop per site. We will introduce the actors approach to Shakespeare to nearly 1000 third graders in the district!

Sterling Charles Townes Center Shakespeare FestivalThe third annual Shakespeare Festival at the Sterling Charles Townes Center for gifted students caps off a greatyear of Shakespeare-based instruction for Warehouse Theatre teaching artists. A team of eight instructors willwork with ALL students, grades 5-8, on a school-wide celebration of all things Shakespearean includingworkshops on Elizabethan-inspired improvisation, scene and sonnet study, as well as a prop and costume scaven-ger hunt, and a performance by the 8thgrade.


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I especially appreciated the full cooperation andsupport of [Warehouse Education staff] in im-plementing our desire to focus on Shakespearessonnets and improvisation. This effort was inaddition to their regular workshop activities.

Stimulated further interest in the Elizabethan era, and Shakespeareswriting in particular. They [the students] brought books from home,checked out books from the media center, researched on the Folgerlibrary website, and mentioned classroom links to social studies andfigurative language.

I had heard great things but was still surprised atthe complexity of what [the teaching artists] of-fered. This was fun, but the content was also chal-lenging and spot-on in terms of my instructionalgoals. They incorporated my needs for the twodays, and then went beyond.

Students felt comfortable learning and responding to new wayof engaging the textsMany aspects can be translated to otherclassroom text materials and projectsLater, when an essay warequired for a section of Miltons Paradise Lost, students said skilearned in the workshops helped them organize their papers. .. Amost successful workshop!

This was great my students were engaged, learned a greatdeal, and will use this info to enhance their understanding ofShakespeare.

This was great my studentswere engaged, learned a great deal,and will use this info to enhancetheir understanding of Shake-speare.

We thought the experience wasgreat. It gave [the students] a chanceto share what they learned whilestudying Shakespeare.

Students were having fun while learning and gained a beunderstanding of how to read Shakespeare.

Student engagement was high. Work with the nuances olanguage and meaning was well done.What Teachers are Saying About

This Wooden O

De-mystifying Shakespeare gave students achance to feel a sense of personal accomplishmentwith a normally daunting text.

Appealed to bothHonors and CPstudents, who wereactively involved.

What Students are Saying About This WoodenThey [ the teaching artists]were easy to understand!

I thought Shakespeare was hard. That stuff ispretty easy to understand, when you reallylook at it.

Are those guys comingback tomorrow?

Do we get to see theShakespeare lady again?

This Wooden O, Continued:

This Wooden O Sponsors: The TD Charitable Foundation, F.W. Symmes Foundation, Ellen & Alan Weinberg


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Audience Enrichment SeriesIn our third full year of the Audience Enrichment series, we have seen a growing interest in these programs aofferings. The series includes pre-show talks with directors or scholars in the genre or historical context of play, talkbacks with actors, directors, and designers about the specific production, and forums which transposeissue raised in the play to our contemporary culture by assembling a panel of community members with an invement or expertise in that area. Some of the themes these forums explored included: a citizens guide to participing in the political process (November), suicide awareness (Romeo and Juliet), and a vision of the future for ocommunitys children (The Christmas That Almost Wasnt). This event included a non-profit fair, which engag

staff from over a dozen local non-profits and entities which serve the needs of children in a discussion about panership, setting goals for the future, and interacting across sectors to increase the impact on our communitys mprecious resource our children.

Community ForumsWHT Forums offer community discussion, at no cost tothe participants, based on important themes related tothe shows topic. This year 270 people attended forums.

Panelists have included community leaders, clergy,scholars, industry leaders, and artists from many disci-plines. We are very grateful to all who have given their

time to foster dialogue and discussion!

Topics from the 2012-2013 season: Modern Morality and Culture Democracy for Sale: Politics as Commodity Celebrating Those Who Support Our Communitys

Children A Love Letter to Life: The Importance of Story in

Life Transitions A Way to Live: Understanding and Preventing Suicide

Pre-Show TalksThese discussions take place in the theatre just prior to the last Thursday performance of each Main Stageproduction. Pre-show talks are led by scholars in a related field or professional theatre artists.

TalkbacksGives the opportunity to engage directly with the directors, designers, and actors after the performance. Talk-backs take place immediately after the first Sunday matinee of the production.

Pictured Right: Forum crowd from our November offering. Left one of our esteemed panels: Ron Jones (Culinary Specialist, GreenvilleCounty Schools), Will Ragland (GCSD Teacher of the Year), Frank Holleman (Attorney, Southern Enviromental Law Center) Jil Lit-

tlejohn (Director, Urban League), Brock Koonce (Business & Community Relations Mgr, Brown Mackie College)


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Educational Outreach Touring ShowsIn our second year of partnership with The Peace Center for the Performing Arts, WHT performed Lamplight and Shadow apart of the POP Program. Lamplight and Shadow is a play about the relationship between the life and literature of Edgar AllePoe, written by playwright in residence Jayce Tromsness and directed by WHT Artistic/Executive Director Paul Savas. Thplay addresses English Language Arts curriculum standards for middle school students.

The Peace Center also contracted WHT to bring Romeo & Juliet to the Gunter Theatre as part of the POP Program in Apr2013 after the production closed on the WHT main stage.

Combined, Lamplight and Shadow and Romeo & Juliet reached approximately 3200 students, primarily from the GreenvillCounty School District. Poverty indices for the schools attending averaged 78.3%.

Thank you to BMW Manufacturing Company for their generous sponsorship!

I love working with The Warehouse Theatre! As

a presenter, it is so nice to find a company that I

can trust will always produce the highest quality

live art in aesthetic and in educational val-

ue. From youth performances to master class

options, I think The Warehouse Theatre really is

one of the best!

Staci Koonce, Education Director, Peace Center

for the Performing Arts


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Educational MatineesThrough these matinees and workshops WHT was able to bring 125 elementary and early middle school age students, affilia

ed with community organizations which serve at-risk or underserved youth, to the theatre for two matinees of our holiday m

sical, The Christmas thatAlmostWasnt, followed by lunch with the cast and a page-to-stage workshop with our teaching a

ists. Each child left with a brand-new book, a souvenir of their experience, and an inspiration for creating their own storie

This day at the theatre not only exposed these young people to the theatre as an art form, but also allowed them to use the

imagination through literacy-based instruction and collaborative learning.

Our emphasis in the program as a whole was to combine arts exposure and interaction, while the emphasis in the workshop

focused on letting the children know they ALWAYS have access to making stories come alive. The teaching artists useprops all common household items - which were transformed through imagination into something completely differen

goal was to give the students the tools and the curiosity to continue this exploration long after leaving the theatre!

This program was generously funded through a Metropolitan Arts Council Project Grant, support from Susan & Steve B

The Jean T. and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation, Saffrons Sidewalk Caf & Catering, Rotary Read To Me and individual

donors!

Participating organizations included:

Sterling TORCH After School ProgramCamp Opportunity

YMCA Judson Community CenterYWCA After School Program


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Master Classes and Residencies:This school year WHT teaching artists have worked with drama programs at six schools, offering workshopson everything from Japanese shadow puppetry to audition techniques, improvisation, acting, and Shake-speare. These residencies were made possible by funds from the Greenville County School District.

Photos below are from WHT residency at Travelers Rest High School on Japanese Shadow Puppetryconducted by WHT teaching artists Melissa Vaughn-Kleppel and Kevin Frazier. All thanks to teacherextraordinaire Tim Brown, our partnership with Greenville County Schools, and your support.

We'd love to come to your school!

Shakespeare Bootcamp

This April, the 2nd annual WHT Shakespeare Boot Camp brought 43 actors, ranging in age from 14 60, from

experienced to novice, together for two days of intensive study with master teachers Susan Fenichell and

Jayce Tromsness. Workshops focused on connecting with the text, through acting technique and voice and

speech.

Educational institutions represented (students): Wade Hampton High School, Fine Arts Center, Christ

Church Episcopal School, Woodmont High School, Furman University, Anderson University, North Green-

ville University, Greenville Technical College, SC Governors School for the Arts and Humanities, Coastal

Carolina University

Educators: 10

Theatres represented: Centre Stage, WHT, Distracted Globe, Greenville Little Theatre, South Carolina Chil-

drens Theatre, Upstate Shakespeare Festival, FIRE

wht education report 12-13

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