What’s Next?

 By Joey Kovach

I started my college journey a while ago. It seems a little surreal that it’s almost over. Way back in 1999, I graduated from the local community college in my hometown of Fort Walton Beach, Florida with an associate degree in Performing Arts. There, I learned all about the ins and outs of the theatre. What was next? I started performing professionally after graduation. I always said to myself, “I’ll go back to school when the time is right.” After seventeen years, the time was right.

I applied to the undergraduate theatre program at City College in 2016. There were many calls to the admissions department and eventually they took most of my credits from years prior. I worked hard to get my bachelor’s (in one semester I took seventeen credits), and eventually graduated in the fall semester of 2018. But what was next? I always wanted to teach but didn’t have any formal training in education, so I applied for and was accepted to City College’s Educational Theatre program.

It’s been a whirlwind to say the least. We had one and a half semesters in person before the world came to a halt. The global pandemic made all classes go remote. Now I’m about to finish this degree before going back to in-person classes. While I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to go back to the classroom as a student, I’m very much looking forward to finding my classroom as a teacher. But what is next?

There are many unanswered questions about the future that will shape my plans. We’re just now starting to see the country bounce back after the pandemic, but theatre will take a long time to fully recover from their losses over the past year. Will that affect my employment decisions? My husband and I are planning on moving out of the city, but within commuting distance. Will that affect my employment decisions? I’d like to continue for a doctorate at some point. Will that affect my employment decisions? There are a lot of “Ifs” and a lot of “what abouts” left to be answered, but each step I take, my associate degree, performing, bachelor’s, and master’s, I check a new box on the road to my future. Questions surfaced after each of those moments in my life. I answered them and moved forward. City College has prepared me for the challenges ahead. I know that, even though I don’t have all of the answers right now, those answers are right around the corner, and I’ll be ready. My training here has made sure of that.

So, to answer the question, “What’s next?”…I don’t know. And that’s ok, I will. I know I’m a lot further on my journey than where I started. My first step after graduation…I’m going to Disney World!​

How to overcome to the “Pandemic Panic” (Tips and Tricks I’ve learned in the Educational Theatre Program at CCNY)

By Charlotte Exton
 
To think that it has been a year since the coronavirus pandemic officially started is a wild thought. Our lives have changed, we’ve adapted to working and living in different ways than we’re used to. Almost a year ago, I thought I had come to terms with the situation we were in, processing the tragedy and anxiety that the pandemic causes. However, during my Capstone class this semester, I found out quite surprisingly that I, in fact, have a lot of unprocessed trauma due to the pandemic. It’s scary enough to be graduating from graduate school, diving into a new field of work, but you add a global pandemic into the mix and things get a bit dicey. 

With all of that said, after talking to my professor and revealing to her my feelings of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty, I realized that because of my experience in the Educational Theatre program, I am more prepared than I have ever been. And I want to share that knowledge to anyone who may need it. Whether you are also graduating from a graduate program, you’re transitioning into a new career, or you’re just feeling the same “Pandemic Panic”, I hope these tips that I’ve gained during my three years in the program will give you the same amount of confidence and support that it’s given me.

7 Steps to Overcome the Pandemic Panic: 

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and forget the most basic and important principle: breathe. When you arefeeling like you can’t control a situation or are overwhelmed, remember to take a breath or a few. 

 

Finding your network is extremely valuable and makes a difference when it comes to job opportunities. Try and connect with others who are in your field or the field you want to be in. More often than not, people are willing to talk about their own journey and share advice to help your own. And most importantly, always stay connected with those folks. You never know when that one person you had coffee with will say to their boss, “Hey, I know someone who would be a great fit here!”. The pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty regarding jobs and careers, so if you have some time, use it to connect and grow your network.

 

We all love that feeling of being offered an opportunity or job. We are wanted! We’ve been accepted! How nice that feels. But sometimes every opportunity that approaches us is not always the right one. If you have a gut feeling that something doesn’t feel right, chances are that means that it isn’t. If you need a second or third opinion, reach out to that network you created (see what I did there?) and ask their opinion. Ultimately, the decision is always yours, but it can be good to have an extra set of eyeballs on a situation. Do what’s best for you at the time, always.

 

As a perfectionist, and someone who’s worst enemy is always myself, the word “mistake” is terrifying. And to think that mistakes can be a good thing…what are you talking about? But in actuality, mistakes can be your best friends at the right moment. No matter how much we want to deny it, we will make mistakes. But these mistakes are what help us grow into better professionals and human beings. The real test is how you deal with those mistakes. Sometimes the only way to discover if something works is to try it out and see what happens. If it fails, you learned something and then you can apply that to your future and grow from it. Life is a learning process, and we should always be constantly learning.

 

Life will throw curveballs at you. Like, I don’t know…a global pandemic? There will always be uncertainty, ups and downs, and tons of hills to climb. You have to make sure you have a support system around you. This group of people can be family, friends, colleagues, mentors, or professors. This group can be as big or as small as you need it to be. But you must have it. Not only is it great to have people in your corner for the hard times, but you also want people there for you to celebrate your successes! It’s hard enough navigating the professional world, don’t do it alone.

 

This is a big one – one of the most important. We walk through life constantly trying to please everyone. We want to be accepted that we sometimes forget a key person in the scenario – ourselves. You must advocate for yourself and know your worth. As someone who recently tried this, I can tell you from personal experience, it feels really, really good! It’s important to stand up for yourself and advocate for the things you need in a professional and respectful way. And advocating does not always have to be for the really big things like raises or promotions. You can advocate for anything that’s important to you: reimbursement for materials you purchased for a job, travel stipend, or to have a sit-down meeting with your supervisor. And I know, it sounds really scary, and it can be. But once you’ve done it, you will feel so good about yourself, no matter the outcome. And despite what we think, no one will judge you for advocating for what you need. Take the chance, who knows what will happen?

 

Throughout the Educational Theatre program, we are always told to find the joy in whatever situation we’re in. Joy can be really big (a promotion, a compliment from a colleague or student) or it can be really small (beautiful weather outside, a smile from a stranger, or a great night’s sleep). When we find the joy in situations, we’re reminded why we do what we do. And when we feel joy, we can spread that feeling to our coworkers, students, friends, and family. Joyfulness is contagious, and I think we can all agree that we need a little bit more joy right now.

1. Take a breath

2. Network, Network, Network

3. Trust your instincts

4. Make mistakes, learn, grow

5. Have a support system

6. Advocate for yourself

7. Find the joy

The Artist Educator in the Classroom

 The Artist Educator in the Classroom

Finding theatre moments in our everyday teaching practice

By Alex Garcia

I became a full-time elementary school teacher at P.S 153 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in 2015. I began as a 1^st Grade teacher of all subjects. I am a graduate of The City College of New York (Childhood Education 2015). I am a general education teacher, but even in my first year, I always encountered moments that could naturally turn into play during everyday instruction. These presented themselves from the moment I would take attendance to dismissal time. With everything in between, I understand that student-centered planning and instruction is key to having a successful classroom, but I always believed that the teacher needs to motivate the students to perceive learning as playful. This is possible if the instructor perceives the experience as playful too.  

Teaching 1^st grade in my first year taught me how delicate and sensitive children can be. All my movements were closely observed, analyzed, and even imitated. I concluded that the delivery of standard instruction should occur with some of my own “swagger” or through my own “filters.”  I was not always perfect, and I had to pay attention to how my administration felt their teachers should conduct themselves. However, I realized that teachers still have much self-discovery to do in their own lives, and students reflect each of those discoveries. Some students might even reflect some of your greatest qualities. After one year, I moved to 5^th Grade and I have remained there ever since. My time in this grade inspired me to bring my guitar to school and play our favorite songs together.

 I feel blessed every day that I work with a staff that meets the standards of a traditional public school, but have a love for the aesthetics, music, pop culture and unique methods of delivering instruction. My Principal, at the time, always told us that she is willing to listen to any ideas if the idea was mainly focused on the students. My administration has always been open to the arts and putting on performances every year for the students and the community. If we meet our goals, respect due dates, and stay mindful of traditional public-school requirements, we have always been invited to find theatre moments in our everyday teaching practice. I find it interesting that finding these theatre moments will always be unique because of the infinite possibilities of student-teacher relationships.

Since the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the education system, many teachers and students began teaching and learning remotely. I still teach in-person every day (with some elements of online learning present in our instruction). Our interactions in the classroom must always be considered due to safety, but we still find ways to play and stay creative. This is especially necessary for the developmental years of my students in these times of delicate change.

My goal is to continue to discover myself, fine tune my artistry, and improve my music while helping my students do the same for themselves. Wherever that may lead me is a choice I leave to the best version of myself today and tomorrow, in and out of the classroom.

The video below is a Vlog I composed that further explains why I teach and how helping young minds grow and develop has helped me grow and develop.

“Why I Love Teaching”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL5rAQ8ieTQ

Reflections

Reflections by Simon Rubey

Everything we’ve ever done has lead us to this moment. Although it hasn’t always felt this way, I believe this statement to be true, because that is exactly what has happened to me. 

In my youth I was exposed to acting and the theatre, I had other talents and interests, but the theatre quickly took first place for me. I attended a public junior high school in NYC with an amazing drama teacher who seasoned me well enough that I was accepted to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School’s Theatre Conservatory. The school also had a great gymnastics team, which was the sport of my younger years, and the team at LaGuardia took 1st place in the city the two years I competed.

In college, I was a part of theatre productions and never strayed too far from the art form, but after graduation I became a kids gymnastics coach for 10 years and didn’t see a stage for a long time. In my late 20’s I did a good amount of film work in short pieces with a few young directors, and worked on some self produced short films, but something wasn’t right. Theatre had been my life and I had been the happiest when I had been a part of it. I enjoyed coaching kids gymnastics very much, but didn’t consider it for my career.

Music had become another artistic expression for me in my time away from the stage, and my song writing partner, a fellow LaGuardia drama major graduate and gymnastics teammate began a Masters Program in Educational Theatre. 

It didn’t click for me right away, but when I reached the point in my life when it was time to decide on a career I found myself looking up the Educational Theatre Program at City College. My timing was just right, a few weeks later there was an open house for the program. I put on some slacks and a blazer and went.

I was astounded by what I heard there, and made it my sole mission to be accepted into the program. I was so excited and determined to be accepted that I signed right up to take the maximum number of courses offered to prospective students. I hadn’t been a student for many years and I had never attempted graduate level classes, but I busted my butt in all three of my courses and received straight A’s. I was accepted into the program and have been overjoyed with my experience here. The education I have received here at CCNY is phenomenal, rooted by incredible professors and classes that are preparing me for the road ahead.

When I began coaching kids gymnastics in 2003 I had no idea that my work with kids would lead me back to the theatre. When I began acting in 1995, I had no idea that one day I would be as passionate about passing on the craft to young people as I am in developing my own. 

Two weeks ago I landed my first gig as a Teaching Artist at a day camp in Long Island for this summer. The title of the position is Drama Specialist, and I am so excited. This is the beginning and I have much to learn, we never stop that, hopefully. 

And when I think of how I got here I realize that I have been heading here all along. The years in the theatre, the decade or more of working with kids, and loving both. I consider my acceptance to the program at CCNY and this first position, both, as the culmination of all of my past experiences preparing me to meet these challenges with honesty, integrity, and joy. I don’t know exactly where I’ll end up ten years from now, but I know I’m going in the right direction. This will be my life’s work, passing on a passion for theatre and life. I am so very grateful, I couldn’t have dreamed this up, but it is truly a dream come true.

Educational Theater Program is the right path for NYCDOE Teachers

 

CCNY’s Educational Theater Program is the right path for NYCDOE Teachers (even if they don’t plan on teaching theater)

By Kelly Evans

 

Like so many others in this program, I love theater! Unlike most, I wasn’t a part of the theater department at my high school, and I didn’t study it )in college. I can count on one hand how many shows I saw from my childhood up until I was 18. I fell in love with theater because I loved stories, and it turns out theater is the best of all venues for storytelling. 

I love people, culture, and languages, so in my undergrad I majored in English and Anthropology. After I graduated, I decided to work and live abroad. I was hired to teach Middle School English at a public school in Daejeon, South Korea. Part of teaching in South Korea includes compulsory Summer and Winter camps, and the middle school students that I taught wanted one thing, an English theater camp! I had no idea how to design such a thing, and so I created a storytellers camp instead which would focus on writing as well as performing. My students loved it, but I loved it more! I fell in love with teaching ESL, and after two years, and another 6 months in India teaching Tibbettan refugees, I returned to NYC to get my teaching certification. 

Over the next four years teaching ESL students at a public high school in the Bronx, I often found myself integrating storytelling through monologue writing and performance and then through play reading and acting into the curriculum. I found it immensely helpful to my students’ acquisition of the English Language, and often the students that were the most wary of speaking up in core classes would transform into the lead roles in our ESL class. Over time it positively affected their participation in their other class, they would read more and felt more confident responding to teacher questions. I became a firm believer in the power of theater to transform my students. 

 

I loved incorporating monologues and dramas into my classes, but I didn’t really know how to teach it as a theater practitioner. I wanted to offer my students more by getting additional training. I started at the educational theater program as a non-matriculated student, I wanted to make sure it was the right program for me before committing to 2-3 years. I was 100% in by the second class. If my story has resonated with you, or if you’re a NYC DOE teacher that is considering joining CCNY’s Educational Theater Program, here are my 5 takeaways from this program to convince you that getting a Masters is the right path for you (even if you don’t plan on teaching theater). 

 

#5 The Education: When you are receiving your teacher training, you go through DASA training, you learn about IDEA and servicing students with disabilities, and training in trauma informed pedagogy. In many teachers programs, they are items on a checklist that you must complete. In the Ed Theater program, there are opportunities for creating theater that connect disparate actors across conflicts, building empathy, empowering students, creating a sense of belonging. We created through them, acted through them, and found ways of changing the narrative. I realized how little my program, and others across the US, do to provide tools for teachers to work through trauma, bullying, harassment, and following inclusive practices for people with disabilities. 

#4- The People: Working in the NYC DOE, I understand how you can get a little jaded, most teachers that I interact with are. Enter the ensemble at CCNY Ed Theater. From the faculty to the students, these are the most welcoming, encouraging, passionate, compassionate people. By the end of your first class, you will feel a part of the ensemble. And from what I can tell, you never really leave the ensemble, even after you graduate. My classes this semester are filled with returning CCNY graduate speakers who established their own theaters or became teachers, among other things. Something that is often referenced is that everyone has their own unique path that they travel when they choose Educational theater, there is no roadmap, and so the program is is centered on sharing our stories, and forging our own path. 

#3- The Tools: You’ll be given tools that you can immediately turn key in your classes (and they’re flawless!). I was lucky enough to be teaching an advising class while I was taking Conflict Resolution through Theater. The program had come with a few suggestions, but the bulk of any curriculum needed to be created by the teacher. I already knew at the beginning of the class that I wanted to create a brave space where students could discuss difficult problems there were encountering. We were having amazing discussions, but I wasn’t sure how much anyone’s mindset was changing on topics including race, LGBTQ+, and others the students had identified. That semester, it felt like each Conflict Resolution class had been specifically designed to help me push my teaching practice. By the end of the semester I had incorporated every single activity taught in the Conflict Resolution, and through student reflections it was these theater activities that were continually referenced as being the most transformative.  

#2- The Activism: While you will learn about the history of different practitioners or theories, the theater that is devised throughout your time at CCNY is very of the moment in society. This year has been a year unlike any other, with the spread of COVID, the closing of schools and pretty much everything else that was considered normal, and also to the inumbered injustices that propelled the Black Lives Matter protests over this past summer. At CCNY we talk about our trauma and the trauma our students are facing, we design practice focused on mindfulness, we create curriculums with activism at the heart. Something I will never forget was an artistic share in a curriculum class that ended with singing puppets that brought everyone to tears; theater heals.

#1- The Artistry: Maybe you don’t feel like an artist right now, but you have it in you. It wasn’t until my second semester that I started to understand my own artistry. At the end of the first semester, I wrote my intentions, “I want to give my students ideas that they can focus all of their energies into. That’s within their realm of being, but also that introduces new spaces for them to occupy.” Within this community, I had reshaped, redefined who I was as an educator, and what I wanted to offer my students through theater, and by articulating my identity more fully I was able to authentically build relationships with my students that were beyond what was possible through my identity as teacher alone. 

 

From the Law to Theatre Education

 From the Law to Theatre Education

Monisha Bhayana

 

           From the time I was a little girl, I have been drawn to theatre.  I’ve always been shy so performing gave me the chance to step outside of myself and get out of my own head.  The arts were a constant part of my life.  I signed up for every class I could, spending hours after school rehearsing for the next show.  My childhood bedroom walls were adorned with Broadway posters and bookshelves quickly became filled with playbill binders.  My mom was recently going through old boxes of school work and she happened upon a poster I had put together in the fourth grade. Under the prompt “In the future, I see…”, I had unsurprisingly written in messy scrawl “myself acting”.  In short, I was the ultimate theatre kid.

 As I got older and headed off to college I began to feel the pressure of picking a “real” career.  As the grandchild of traditional South Asian grandparents, and being extremely over eager to please and impress everyone in my life, I fairly quickly settled on the very practical notion that I would become a lawyer.  I dutifully took the LSAT and eventually enrolled in law school at the University of Pennsylvania.  I worked hard and checked off all the expected boxes – securing a spot on the Law Review, graduating in the top 10% of my class and landing a job at a large law firm in NYC.  I spent five years as a corporate lawyer with a focus on executive compensation and employee benefits.  My days were spent working on billion-dollar transactions and negotiating employment agreements and compensation packages for C-suite executives.  On paper, I had accomplished everything that I had set out to achieve.

Yet, I was unfulfilled.  Work was very much just that – work.  When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, I left my Manhattan apartment and shuffled off to my parents’ house in Buffalo.  For the first time in a while I was given the space to reflect on where I was in life and the path that still stretched out ahead.  Life was too short to keep grinding away at a job that I wasn’t passionate about.  I began to think about that little girl I once was and the joy she felt in the theatre. 

 

Once I took that step back, I began to realize that the signs had been pointing to a career in theatre education all along.  I just hadn’t been ready to connect those dots yet.  I had spent every summer growing up writing original plays with my sister that we would perform for charity – teaching neighborhood kids younger than us the theatre skills that I had picked up in my classes.  In college I volunteered with Jumpstart, working at a preschool in Harlem to help kids gain literary and language skills.  The highlight of my law school experience was producing and acting in a production of Urinetown.  In 2019, I sought out and joined the board of directors of a youth theatre company.  The answer had been right in front of me.  I just needed to take the leap.

When I built up the courage to sign up for Drama in Education at City College of New York as a non-matriculating student last semester, I did so cautiously.  I was worried my non-traditional background would make it hard for me to fit in with others in the program who had lived and breathed theatre all their lives.  I was thrilled to discover those fears were entirely unfounded.  Both the professors and students at CCNY welcomed me with open minds and attitudes.  The ensemble we managed to form (even over Zoom!) is one I am immensely grateful for.  When it came time to apply to the educational theatre graduate school program at CCNY I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was the right decision for me.  I was surrounded by people who held the same belief that theatre in education is profoundly important.  I found my tribe.

 

        

I don’t regret the time that I spent in the law.  I made incredible friends that I wouldn’t trade for the world.  I learned that I am capable, resilient, and able to work harder than I had thought possible.  That foundation will serve me well as I transition to the world of educational theatre.  I attribute a lot of my success in the legal field to my theatre training growing up.  It was there that I became comfortable with public speaking and how to think both critically and creatively.  Perhaps the two spheres aren’t so different after all.  I’m so excited to rediscover my artistry and forge a new career.  Let the journey begin!

The Question Just May Be the Answer: From Teaching Artist to Grad School

 The Question Just May Be the Answer: From Teaching Artist to Grad School

Laura Bozzone

I started my journey as a Teaching Artist about 8 years ago. At that time, I had been mostly acting in regional theater and started feeling like my work as an actor was mostly me in a bubble. It was not connecting to and inspiring others the way I had hoped. It was mostly auditioning and waiting for calls from my agent to let me know if I had a job or not and wondering Is this all there is? How can I use what I love to inspire other people to use their voice and validate their emotions? What else can I do with my artistry?

After sharing these questions with my agent, she recommended I meet with a non-profit arts organization that was looking for teaching artists to work with their community of young people who stutter. I had only dabbled in teaching theater to children, but I went on the interview and got the job. After my first minute there, I was hooked. The next thing I knew, I was a teaching artist for 5 amazing organizations and part of a life changing community. Being a teaching artist was the answer I was searching for. It was this magical profession where I was using my talents and passion for acting as a way to connect with communities and individuals in deeper ways than I could as an actor. Each time I taught an arts integration residency, directed an after school play or devised theater with teens on the weekends, I felt a deep sense of purpose and was finally able to trust that I was innately a creative person.

The work itself was a perfect fit for me, but eventually the lifestyle started to wear on me. I counted up the amount of hours spent on a train, a bus, a car, walking, and I realized it was much more than the time I spent actually teaching. Except for 2 jobs, I was not getting paid to travel and I was having to put my daily schedule together like it was a game of tetris each week. I was coming home exhausted from juggling so many jobs and wondered...How can I use all I love about this work and do something similar in one place? How can I use my experience as a teaching artist to help new teaching artists? Are there other communities and settings (besides a school) where I can explore this work? The questions kept poking at me, but no answers and I am someone who likes answers. It is hard for me to sit in the unknown. But I could not avoid it... so I marinated in the questions.

I decided to try out arts administration and was hired as the Performing Arts Coordinator at a non-profit organization that provides free after school arts programs to underserved NYC public schools. Now, I am using my experience as a teaching artist to hire and train other teaching artists who are just starting out, as well as writing all of the performing arts curriculum. Overall I love this work and especially love getting to connect with, support and encourage a new teaching artist community. This change inspired me to want to learn a lot more about how I could add more tools to my teaching artist bag, as well as about various career paths in arts administration and teaching. After digging deeper, a new answer revealed itself to me: the Educational Theater program at CCNY. 

I’ve only been in the program for one month and I’ve already learned new games and tools which I have been excited to try out in my work. I’ve started finding new ways to be more intentional in how I connect to the teaching artists I meet, as well as scaffold lessons I write in a more thoughtful way. I have the beginnings of a teaching artist philosophy which I am excited to continue molding as I grow and learn more in the program. The biggest takeaway so far though is that I am asking more questions than ever about what I really want to do and why. Everytime I log off a class, I add a new question. Currently I wonder: Am I in the right stream or should I get certified? Do I want to go back to being a full time teaching artist? Can I be an arts administrator and still teach? How will I make a living, get health insurance and still do this work? What is my why? What is my specific niche in this work? How can I use my skills and talents to best serve others? Questions without answers sometimes make me feel like I am behind, but I am starting to realize that asking questions of myself is what has led to the most growth and change in my life so far...it is what led me to this amazing program. The answers will come in time and right now I am excited to remain open and see where this path of questions leads me next.