4th Quarter 2006
In-School Theatre Education Continues To Expand
| 4th grade students in Grove enjoy their theatre classes and improvs |
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The program that OCTA initiated a few years ago is garnering strength and beginning to expand to schools across the state. Theatre teaching artists are collaborating with their school systems to fill the vacuums in theatre education as well as forge audiences for the future.
Last September, Lawton Community Theatre took the original curriculum that introduces children to theatre in their classrooms and adapted it to the needs of two classes at one of their elementary schools, Whittier Elementary. Richard T. Johnson led a total of twelve hours of instruction in two classes each day, four days a week, for three weeks. The kids (76 of them!) loved it and the teachers were sorry that it had to end. Richard added a section on writing a short play, which many students, evidently, continued after the theatre class was over. The schools recommended that the program be presented at another school this semester. So Be It! Richard is taking it to Swinney School this spring.
The Playmakers in Grove continue to develop curriculum for 5th through 8th grades, one grade level each year. They continue the Introduction to Theatre lessons for all 4th grade students every year, using six of their volunteer teaching artists who spend 3 hours with each of 9 classes. The Playmakers are still honing the original curriculum. This spring they put two of the 4 lesson plans together. Next year, they will try combining two other subjects. These combination lesson plans provide options, not only for Grove, but for other theatre companies who might have different schedules and numbers of teaching artists. The plan is to put all optional lesson plans from the participating theatres on the OCTA webpage.
The Playmakers are also taking a new curriculum into the fifth grade classes this month. The subject is Greek Theatre. There will be two hours of introduction to Greek theatre, complete with a Readers Theatre about Greek mythology for the students to perform in that class time. Then all fifth grade classes will attend a play, “Wiley & the Hairy Man,” by Susan Zeder, which has most of the elements of Greek theatre, the chorus being swamp creatures!
Playmaker youth theatre participants, adults and students, form the cast & crew for this production. The last hour, back in the classroom, will be a session on learning to analyze the play, in relation to Greek Theatre, and begin to develop an aesthetic sense. Sixth grade classes begin in April, based on the same format: 2 hours of introduction, a production, and an analysis. However, their subject is Commedia dell’Arte. The production for those grades is being co-directed by Amanda Pollen, the mid-school speech & drama teacher and Suzanne Boles, Artistic Director for the Playmakers. They are using one of the mid-school speech classes to present the Commedia play, “The Love For Three Oranges.”
Next newsletter, we will let you know what’s happening in Elk City and in Tulsa and Beggs,
as the program continues to expand. If you want to initiate this program in your school system, leave a message at the OCTA office (405-236-0788), or email us at: oktheatre@sbcglobal.net .
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