Ed Theatre Mini Conference by Christine Gonzales-DeJohn

The 2012 Ed Theatre Mini Conference

By Christine Gonzales-DeJohn

The 2012 Ed Theatre Mini Conference, organized and hosted by the Ed Theatre Club Officers, was once again, a great success.  For the third year in a row, current and prospective students along with alumni of CCNY’s Educational Theatre Department gathered together for a day of professional development workshops and an opportunity to network and connect as an ensemble of theatre educators.

The day began with a “meet and greet” session allowing participants to re-connect and become acquainted with each other over coffee and pastries.  The room was a buzz with laughter and conversations of current course work, theatre projects and the challenges and successes that the participants had been encountering in their classrooms. 

The feeling of excited anticipation and camaraderie set the stage for the first workshop.  Blake McCarty the current Media Production Manager for The New 42^nd St project introduced fresh and innovative ways to integrate the classroom with social media literacy and digital communication technology, even when the technology is not available in the room. Through the use of social media inspired templates such as Facebook profiles and Twitter updates, Blake facilitated fun and engaging activities that participants could use with their students to explore character development, play analysis and the beginning stages of playwriting. 

Participants were then treated to lunch and invited to complete a “Game Share” handout detailing the name and steps of one of their favorite Theatre Games.  In an effort to create a database for the students and alumni of the Ed Theatre Department, all of the games were collected and compiled into a Google Doc that the participants would be able to access, reference and continue to add on to as time goes by.  

The Mini Conference continued with two breakout sessions, giving participants the opportunity to choose a workshop they were most intrigued and curious about exploring further.   This year, Alumni of the Educational Theatre Department, Keeshon Morrow and Cliff Campbell each facilitated a session they created specifically for the conference.   

As a theatre teacher at The Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts, Keeshon revealed his approach to warm-ups and their priority in the classroom.  Participants in his session were introduced to a variety of different warm-ups with emphasis on strengthening the focus and energy of their students while integrating performance skills.  This lively, upbeat workshop energized and inspired its participants as they discovered and discussed how to create an effective warm-up structure and attain greater success in the classroom.

Cliff’s session was aimed at helping Theatre teachers integrate the common core standards for writing into their classrooms.  Cliff, a theatre teacher for the Uncommon Charter High School invited four of his students to present their writing and participate in the session.  The Ed Theatre Participants had the unique experience of working side by side with teens, exploring their writing and helping them to re-write and edit scenes/monologues through the process of improvisation. 

At the close of the Mini Conference, participants gathered together for a final reflection giving them an opportunity to share out their experiences and reactions to the day’s events. The participants expressed being inspired and excited by the new tools and knowledge they had gained as Theatre Educators.  They were thankful for the chance to connect outside of their Graduate coursework and spend the afternoon learning and creating with their fellow classmates. 

The Ed Theatre Mini Conference continues to be a unique and valuable extension of CCNY’s Educational Theatre Department.  Here’s to another successful year and may the tradition continue to grow for years to come.  

Family Arts Saturday by Jono Waldman

Family Arts Saturday, by Jono Waldman

Today, I was Old MacDonald.  Armed with only a ukulele and a cheesey southern drawl, I took an entire zoo worth of animals on an adventure.  There was a talkative lion, a pensive girraffe, a pair of shy pigs, a frog that was full of feck.  There were cows and horses and tigers and bears and so many other kinds of animals.  We sang together and they all took turns singing their own special animal noises.  When the song was done, we travelled around the hills, under a mountain, through a forest, and over a river.  After the animals dried off from their swim, we all lay down on the shores of the bay.  There we sang again, making up rhymes and laughing.  When the song was over, all the animals sang a lullabye with me and they fell asleep under a canopy of stars.  All in all, I'd say it was a pretty great Saturday morning.

Family Arts Saturdays occupy a world halfway between classroom and clubhouse; part reality and part fantasy.  Like in a classroom, there's sitting in circles and raising hands, there are grownups and rules.  But there is also a spark of magic and mystery.  On my first Family Arts Saturday, I appeared in role as Old MacDonald.  Sobha had brought a bag full of animal masks and after the children put them on, they practiced moving around the space as their animals.  While Rob was leading them around the room, he suddenly got a phone call from his friend Old MacDonald, who - coincidentally - was looking to do some singing with some animal friends.  I entered.  I could see a mix of skepticism and excitement in the kids' eyes, trying to figure out if I was, in fact, the same Old MacDonald they'd been singing about for so many years.

After we sang my song, we took our long journey to the bay.  Sobha had also brought a long piece of fabric which featured prominently as the mountain we went under, the stream we swam acoss, the bay we lay down next to, and even the night sky over our heads.  We sang Down by the Bay and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  As we traveled from place to place, I watched the children constructing the environment around them, imagining each location. I saw them devising entire worlds.

After the lesson, I put down the ukulele and dropped the southern drawl.  I was myself again.  Still, a month later, when I bumped into one of those same kids on Family Arts day, she came right up to me, took a long, slow, sidelong glance at my face, and said finally, "I know you!  You're Old MacDonald!"

Cecily O'Neill by Marissa Porto

A Visit From Cecily O'Neill by Marissa Porto

Before I even began taking classes in the Educational Theatre department at City College, I had heard several conversations about a woman name Cecily that came to school to run something called a process drama. All I knew was that it had something to do with young people, Lord of the Flies, and that everyone really liked whomever this woman was. Of course, it took me all of a week to learn just who she was and to become infatuated with her teaching philosophies. I was also instantly jealous of everyone that had the opportunity to see her lead a process drama in person!

                One can imagine, then, how unbelievably excited I was to hear that she offered to come back! On March 1^st, I finally had the chance to see Cecily O’Neill, who has inspired me since beginning my studies, in action! And even more, have the chance to participate in one of her process dramas, not just watch it!

                I walked into the green room of Aaron Davis Hall and the first person I saw was Cecily and I was instantly star struck. I wanted nothing more than to go up to her and tell her what a big fan I was of her work, but instead I turned into a gawking schoolgirl who lingered in the corner, wishing I were brave enough to approach her. As soon as we began the workshop, however, I realized that she is one of the most approachable and humble people I have ever met.

                The first thing we were instructed to do was pair up with someone and to describe, in detail, our bedrooms as we had left them that morning. The person listening was not allowed to ask any questions; just listen. She then instructed us to take out paper and a pen and draw the bedroom our partner described to us. To make it even more dramatic, we were to be graded on our drawing as well…

                From here we moved into new pairs and played out scenes as reporters and the very wealthy people that were showing us their magnificent homes we were writing about. Seamlessly and without even realizing what was going on, we were in the midst of an intense rumor mill that led into an hour-long process drama about a mysterious family and the skeletons in their closet. When I look back on the day, I truly don’t know how we got from point A to point B, but what I do know is that every single one of us was 100% engaged. Cecily has this uncanny ability to hold a room and gracefully usher her students through various adventures.

                At the end of our time together, we asked Cecily a million questions, which she elegantly answered. One of the participants asked “Did you have that all planned out? Or did you just have an idea of where you wanted us to end up?” To which she replied, “No. I came in here with an entirely different idea, but you all seemed so interested in the stories we were uncovering, that I felt I needed to follow you there.”

                It is that ability to follow and honor her students that makes her so unbelievably great at what she does and what will continue to inspire me. I hope that Cecily plans another trip to New York and offers to work with us again, because you all deserve the opportunity to work with this master in our field. And I will certainly continue to seek out and attend any chance I get to work with her again!