Already Putting it in Practice - Theatre for Dialogue

I went to UT Austin for three days, but those three days were like a workshop in which I learned new teaching techniques and was re-inspired to build drama teaching practices into my projects. 

During the visit, we were able to see a production of "Get Sexy, Get Consent," which is a theatre for dialogue piece that is used to educate undergraduate students and promote consensual relationships.   It is interactive and is used to spark discussion and analysis of the scenes presented.  In the end, audience members participate in scenes and actually even change the outcome of what happens.  I was immediately in love with this project.  This is the type of theatre work that gives me goosebumps. 

This past weekend, Ramona and I led an environmental camp at an animal sanctuary in the area I live.  We were able to bus 30 kids from the community to go to this camp for free and teach them about the environment. 

We made pencil holders out of milk cartons

The coolest part is that Ramona and I figured out how to incorporate some of the theatre for dialogue techniques that I saw the cast of "Get Sexy" use to teach about how to appropriately interact with wildlife. 

We did a series of short scenes in which we had inappropriate interactions with the animals and asked the kids what stood out to them and what they saw happening. 

Then, after all of the workshops and the tour of the sanctuary we revisited these scenes... but this time, we had kids from the audience join the scenes with us and change the outcomes by using their voices. 

In this scene I'm about to throw a frog at a fan (something someone actually saw happen at a school), but the girls convince me to put it outside instead.  

It went so well!  It was the first time I had led or created anything like this and I could see that the kids learned on a deeper level than they had seemed to the last time we did this camp.  They practiced using their voices and understood that with their education came more power to make a difference. 

Also, my friend that I did this with is in the Peace Corps and is about to start grad school for social work.  Now she wants to incorporate theatre for dialogue into her work and is super excited about learning more about it. 

It makes me so excited that I am able to take this work to far away corners of the world and inspire others to do the same.   I've already learned so much from the program and I was only there for 3 days!  I can't imagine what I'm going to learn in 3 years!