Have you ever struggled to broach uncomfortable topics with your colleagues--topics around which there may be conflict? Are you searching for a new training tool? Can you imagine a group of reluctant ESOL learners resisting speaking English in front of others because of low self-esteem? Are you struggling with how to overcome barriers and introduce difficult topics in your classroom? Many times, a new method of presentation such as Social Action Theater can help.
Patricia Mew began the Western Massachusetts Social Action Theater Group in 1994 after a four-hour training with the Northern New England Adult Education Social Action Theater Group. She began with only five members. Today, in its seventh year and after performing for over 7000 people regionally, statewide and nationally, the group has fifteen members and an annual budget of close to $10,000. They have recently incorporated and are in the process of attaining non-profit status.
Pat is the Curriculum Coordinator for Western Mass SABES at Holyoke Community College. She began her career in Adult Education at the Hampshire County House of Correction in Northampton. There she taught inmates in ABE, GED and Creative Writing classes. Tapping into the creativity of her students has always been a high priority for Pat. While at Hampshire CHOC, she published her students' writing in three volumes with the help of arts lottery grants. While working with SABES, she has sought opportunities to combine adult learning with creativity and art. In a recent interview with Pat, Katy Hartnett learned about the possibilities that theater can offer as an educational tool.
KH: What is social action theater?
PM: Social action theater is a tool to address social and educational issues using theater. It's a way to encourage people, whether they are teachers, administrative staff, learners, community group members or parents, to think critically about the social problem being presented. It's also a way to create an interactive presentation about a theme or issue or to deepen the work being done around that issue. The theater group presents the scenario and interrupts it at a moment of conflict in order to get audience participation. This process encourages participants to examine the issue from a variety of perspectives. It puts the issue in the lap of the audience and is much more immediate in terms of getting people involved in the discussion.
KH: What are some of the issues you address?
PM: We address a variety of issues with this process. Some of the most often requested ones include domestic abuse, date rape, and gender issues such as sexual harassment and the like. When programs call us, we usually present issues that apply to the classroom or program, such as learning disabilities, attendance issues or discrimination. We have also done work with technology issues, housing discrimination, job related issues, transition to college and program staff issues. Our current mission seems to be to find ways to integrate this work into the ABE classroom, to connect it to classroom practice.
KH: So, what kind of impact have you had on ABE /ESOL students?
PM: For ESOL learners, we've had significant impact. We had the opportunity to work with a few different classroom groups, teaching them social action theater techniques. Last year, we helped a program incorporate theater into their curriculum frameworks project. Their theme was "What's Next? Navigating Our Futures: A Transitional Curriculum for ESOL Learners." Theater became a large part of their classroom activities. Another program was interested in including theater in their health grant. In the latter case, theater really helped learners gain more confidence in speaking English in health-related contexts. Theater provides students a way to use role-playing in order to practice English speaking skills for their roles in real life.
KH: If we wanted to start a theater group in Boston, what would we have to do?
PM: First, you would need a group of enthusiastic participants. This anchor group of between five and eight people would need to learn the techniques, begin creating their own scenes and rehearse together several times. It's not necessary to have people with great acting skill. The enthusiasm is much more important. Besides, anyone can do this type of acting. You only need to be committed to the process. Having one person be in charge would work best. That person serves as a point person for the group, calling rehearsals, providing a guiding force and taking responsibility for the group.
KH: What kind of commitment would be involved?
PM: It would be good to meet occasionally to decide what issues you want to address and to develop and practice scenarios you create. When we first started, we had a number of organizational meetings at which we decided our purpose and who our audience should be. We started mostly with ABE classrooms. As time has gone by, we have enlarged that circle of potential audience members to include many other community groups. Keeping improvisational skills honed is a good idea. Meeting monthly, or more often if time permits, is a good idea as well.
KH: Is there anything else you want to add?
PM: Theater and theater techniques have great potential in the classroom as learning tools. I believe theater and art in general are underutilized as entry points into learning. Combining theater work with classroom practice is where I would like to go with this. I think there are many logical connections to Curriculum Frameworks and to developing theme-related teaching using theater. Not theater alone, but theater in conjunction with other forms of self-expression such as writing and movement, storytelling and scene development. It's incredibly powerful.
If you are interested in helping to start a social action theater group in Boston, please contact Katy Hartnett at the A.L.R.I. Call 617-782-8956, x16 or email her at <katy@alri.org>.