The theater workshop interweaves curriculum strands of health with those of drama and acting, using true-to-life stories to learn about substance abuse patterns and prevention. The actors are teaching artists who follow a curriculum that respects the culture of the school/organization.
The Players work closely with you to plan comprehensive and sequential lessons that provide students and teachers with in-depth learning. The goal is to plan a project that will have a lasting effect on the students and their peers.
Adam writes about how the work affected the students at BAHEC:
" I felt like before the work, students were only looking at the problems as a sad fact of life. Putting in a dramatic context made them explore a beginning. middle, and a possible end. They explored multiple points of view. They discovered layers of nuance of the health problems. It showed me they were thinking about health topics in terms of a community problem instead of a personal problem."
This workshop was a good use of applied theater in service to public health.
"our goal is to promote healthy attitudes."
Brian (actor and teaching artist) describes the workshops' intent:
"We provide an alternative to beer commercials, rap videos, and a general consensus around school and in (this) community that alcohol and drugs are the ticket to feeling cool, to being accepted, and to escaping the more depressing realities of poverty and racism...
...the key to our success is that we are not out to lecture or moralize, but simply to present our own experience. Another key is that we have fun. Students jump into the exercises and scenes enthusiastically, happy to break away from classroom work and move around, get silly, get dramatic. We approach with an open mind: students create the characters and the sky's the limit as to what they come up with."
Brian and Chris taught an 8 week residency in a Boston public school in 2006.
Chris and Brian, teaching artists
classroom teachers said
"The health aspect of this workshop was extremely valuable--it can stop students from using drugs and alcohol."
"The students loved taking the parts and solving the problems."
"Make this workshop longer!"
one way a residency can be funded Massachusetts Cultural Council has launched a new school grant program: "STARS Residency" school grants. Schools are the applicants, and grants are $500-$5,000 to pay for artists to come to your school to work with your students. Improbable Players is a Creative Teaching Partner.
and there are more Players will work with you to write this grant or any other. We will email you our grant template to help you get started. Write to us at: players@improbableplayers.org.
what's it like to try on another persona?
Here, a Northshore Recovery High School drama student tries out a new character during a recent mask workshop.
a theater workshop residency with young people who are in recovery
December 2007: Over the course of the '07-'08 school year, the Improbable Players taught a series of drama workshops at the Northshore Recovery High School with a dual purpose: to teaching acting and play-making and to learn how students' insights and experiences could be transformed into scenes that would be helpful to other students and other schools.
In the opening drama workshop, Improbable teachers Brian and Chris posed a question: "If you were performing for an audience that included a younger version of yourself -- the 5th or 6th grader you once were, just before you started using alcohol and drugs -- what message would you want to get across to them?"
The students had lots of ideas of how stories could help reach audiences of young people. "I wouldn't sugar-coat things," one student said. "I want to show how bad it got - jails, institutions, overdoses. Don't lie to them. Show them the truth."
Students were motivated to imagine dramatic scenes not from their own lives, but from things that happen sometimes to people who get into trouble when they drink or use drugs. Good scenes were developed, including one that took place in a maximum security juvenile correction institution, another about eating ice cream at a detox, as well as an overdose scene from a character who battled a heroin addiction. They worked on scenes about how people can change and get into recovery. The shared stories and experiences brought about insights and intense discussions.
middle school students said
"The characters that had the most impact on me were the drunk ones, because I could see them throw their lives away by the bottle."
"I liked the person refusing the drugs, 'cause that's what I am: a drug refuser."
"My ideas changed. Yes, because I didn't know how hard it was to quit drugs until the Players came."
Here is my monologue: "I used to get drunk all the time. I went to parties and clubs. But one of my sons said, 'Daddy, why do you hate me?' That took a toll on me. So I went to rehab. Now I'm 30 days without alcohol."
