By a unique in-school process students (including special needs students) will write original monologues about their first-hand accounts of exclusion, discrimination and bullying. Voice Theatre’s workshops will include improvisation, role play and mirroring as Voice Theatre’s Teaching Artists explore the comedy by Deborah Zoe Laufer – End Days. As a result of this process, the students are able to identify with the message of the play: individuality, uniqueness and creativity is to be respected and celebrated.
| All workshop lesson plans align with Common Core Curriculum
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS 2016
IN-SCHOOL WORKSHOPS (I-VII) MARCH 1–MAY 31, 2016 |
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Seven workshops precede the play. The last week will incorporate two workshops. Upon the completion of the seven workshops students will attend a live performance of the play, End Days at the Byrdcliffe Theater performed by Voice Theatre.
The workshops will be led by Voice Theatre’s Artistic Director, Shauna Kanter and 2 Teaching Artists.
THE SCHOOL WORKSHOPS
Session I
Students meet with the director of the play, Shauna Kanter to explore the themes of bullying: “the role of the other”, “the role of the perpetrator”, “the role of the “victim” and explore and utilize productive conflict resolution skills.Session II, III, IV
Prior to sessions II and III students read the play out-loud in class. Led by the Teaching Artists, students will utilize improvisation, role-playing, and mirroring to experience all facets of the themes of bullying and conflict resolution.Session V, IV, VII
Students write original monologues and scenes focusing on their own experiences of bullying, whether they have been the victim, the perpetrator or the witness, or they may write about any other form of social exclusion in their lives. Selected monologues are then read out-loud and performed by students in each class.Session VIII & IX (Field Trip — Byrdcliffe Theater) Performances: June 3–6, 2016
Students attend a professionally produced production of End Days by the Voice Theatre ensemble at the Byrdcliffe Theater, Woodstock, NY.Designated students perform / read their scenes or monologues in front of their peers at the student matinee of End Days. Selected student scenes and monologues will also be read by the professional actors from the Voice Theatre ensemble and cast of End Days.
Session X
In our Wrap-Up Session all students meet one last time to share how The End Days Project informed and touched their lives.’ Printed material produced by students is distributed and students and teachers fill out final questionnaires for the final reporting on the project.Outcomes / Results / Impacts
It is our goal that students will learn how to recognize the early signs of bullying, intolerance and discrimination and through the tools experienced in the workshops they will have the skills to identify, disengage and prevent bullying. Because much of the workshop content has been based on the student’s personal experiences it is our hope that this will have a meaningful impact in shaping their lives as they share this experience with their peers.
Schools that have participated in VT Educational Outreach:
New York City:
Seward Park High School, 10th grade
Washington Irving High School, 12th grade
Bayard Ruston High School for the Humanities, 10th grade
Chelsea High School, 10th grade
University Neighborhood High School, 9th grade
The T. Schreiber Studio, professionalUpstate New York:
Boces Special Educational High School, Port Ewen, NY, Boces Alternative High School, Port Ewen, NY, Boces Hudson Valley Pathways Academy, Kingston, NY, Onteora High School, Boiceville, NY and Kingston High School, Kingston, NYDetroit Inner City:
Western International High School, 11th grade
Cass Technical High School, 11th grade
Mumford High School, 11th grade
North Farmington High School, 11th grade
Renaissance High School, 11th gradeUnited Kingdom:
Hartcliffe High School, Bristol, England, 10th grade
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Bristol, England, college level
City & Westminster College, London, England, college level
Middlesex University, Cockfosters, London, England, college level
Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, Scotland, college level
Syracuse University, USA in London, England, college levelFrance:
Georges Lapierre High School, Bordeaux, 10th gradeGermany:
Helena Lange Schule, Hanover, 11th grade