This Week: THEATRE SURVIVOR

This week at the DMPH is a bit different. Rather than interning for a class taught by a teacher, this week is planned and taught by two of the five education interns, I and another intern were given the task. It's been really interesting, engaging, and challenging. It was initially challenging because we didn't get to design our own concept for the class. Someone else wrote a description for the then unplanned class that is posted on the playhouse website, which serves as a preview for parents looking for which class they want to put their kids in. The other intern and I are challenged to design a class based around that short description. This year the theme for the class is Theatre Survivor. There is no performance at the end of the week, and we have 22 7-9th graders. Tomorrow is the last day of the class, and it's gone very well. We split the kids into two teams (blue and red), with I and the other intern serving as the leader of a team. This week they have been give theatrical, mental, and physical challenges both within their team and against the other team. We've been teaching them about collaboration in life, theatre, and within a survival setting. Each day has had a survival theme, Tuesday for instance was Navigating the Ocean, and half the day was spent outside playing theatre games that were adapted to include water, which the kids loved (everyone was soaked). We're also doing scene and improv work, teaching them the foundation of dramatic structure. Today I taught the kids basic improv, but started them off with a game of Sticks of Death, a game I learned in acting class. I thought it might be too advanced for them, but not only did they do it well, they loved it, and continued to request it throughout the day. The game really seemed to help them grasp the idea of accepting information from your partner, and reacting in an honest way, which helped them with their improv. I've learned a great deal about what goes in to planning a class, and what it's like to be the one in charge all day, but the kids have made it great.