ALT/space

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Helen Keller

It was during my Master’s Degree at New York University that I learned of the new a career path called Teaching Artistry. And, after working with various arts organizations around the city, I was offered the position of Curriculum and Publications Manager at the New Victory Theater on 42^nd Street.  It was common knowledge at NYU that the New Vic had the “Rolls Royce” of education departments in the city and a position on their team was highly sought after. The organization as a whole worked cross departmentally in order to get the most of out their programs, including the education team itself.

For me, this new “collaborative” way of working was not only stimulating but liberating; in my previous jobs, in both the UK and the US, I had been a lone wolf. Either I was the only drama teacher in a school or a part-time employee who often felt like an independent satellite.   Either way, I had never felt like I was really part of the big picture or integral to the mission and goals of the organization.  But now this had all changed.

Right away I was introduced to the Teaching Artist Ensemble just as they were about to begin a week of professional training.  Small “Show Teams” had been created, each with the task of creating a pre- and post-performance workshop; these workshops would be taught in conjunction with a show being presented as part of the New Vic’s season. Led by Education Director Dr. Edie Demas, the education staff had recently implemented a collaborative planning strategy for creating workshop lesson plans.

Each step of the planning was based on the same process a company of theater artists would use when creating a new piece of work including research, development, rehearsal and refinement. Using this structure, each New Vic Show Team developed their lesson plans based on the information they had researched about the company and the show, as well as the art form it was exploring.

During planning, each Show Team was asked to think about the intended “spark” of their workshop.  We asked ourselves how, as visiting artists do we plan on capturing each student’s imagination in order for them to be fully immersed in the work? This challenge is amplified when you include the expectations of the classroom teacher as well as the need to represent the artist’s work as intended. And often, this is all in 45 minutes!

In other words — how do we “hook” the kids? In one particular planning session my show team and I were creating curriculum around Hunchback by Redmoon Theater based in Chicago, a play which incorporated mask and puppetry into their production. We decided that each teaching artist team should take in one professionally made mask into classroom. Our objective was to share “up close” the artistry, skill and magic that goes into crafting a theatrical mask and how they have the power to transform the performer on stage.

We built an entire activity around the “reveal” of the mask to the students, including one TA diverting their attention, while the second TA dons the mask and then goes into character. In one particular school we had such an enthusiastic classroom teacher, I asked him to wear the mask and when the students saw him, their own teacher, transformed in front of their eyes – they were instantly caught up in the theatricality of the moment. It was, as they say, an “aha” moment in my teaching practice.

When going into the classroom to deliver the actual workshops, the education staff paired up two artists from the ensemble that they felt would most complement each other’s artistic and pedagogical style in the classroom.  At first, I remember contemplating why I needed a teaching partner. Surely they believed that I could handle the kids and the work on my own? But, after venturing out for my first time as a New Vic Teaching Artist, it became absolutely clear that it has nothing to do with an individual’s abilities as a facilitator and everything to do with delivering a creative and imaginative experience, full of spark and artistry, to the group of young people.

Victoria Row-Traster, Teaching Artist, Royal National Theatre, London, is part of the Primary and Early Years Program developing and delivering arts curriculum that aims to introduce students to theatre through top-quality productions. Prior to this, Victoria worked for five seasons at The New Victory Theater, New York, as Curriculum and Publications Manager, leading the development and creation of the New Vic School Tool™ resource guides. Her teaching experience ranges from early years through to university level, and her focus as a teaching artist is mainly on assisting schools and teachers to bridge the gap between the academic aspects of a piece of theatre and art form it is exploring. Victoria received a Master’s Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University and a Post Graduate Certification in Education, Drama and English from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England.  

Also by Victoria Row-Traster in ALT/space:
Taking Away the Chairs
Teaching Artist to Actor Teacher: UK to US and Back Again

Stepping off the plane at Heathrow Airport, I have returned home. For now, forever… who knows? First, my family and I need to find a home base, but second - what I am going to do for work? This is the second time in my life I have relocated across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in a city unsure of whether my profession exists there.  This is because I am a Teaching Artist - I live, share and teach my art–will you give me a job?   

My first trip across that ocean was almost eight years ago. After graduating from The Central School of Speech and Drama, London, I returned to my Northern England roots and taught drama and theater at a high school in North East Lincolnshire. Although I was very happy at my school, my partner and I decided to relocate to his home town - New York. As you can imagine, my dreams of teaching at a theater school such as “Fame” were just within my reach – that is before I very quickly learned that (although they do exist) very few schools in New York City have the budget for any art subjects at all, let alone a full-time drama teacher on staff.

Coming from the UK, my experience up to that point had been that theater was embedded deeply within the National Curriculum, a framework that ensures all state schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland provide a common, consistent curriculum to all students. In the schools in which I trained and taught, the administrators had recognized Process Drama as a valuable teaching tool for addressing the social and emotional issues that high school students face. So you can imagine my dismay when the only positions I was offered in the U.S. were for two hours a week in an after-school program where I had the opportunity to produce “Bye, Bye Birdie” or “Grease” for the one millionth time… I was somewhat heart broken.

I had wanted to return to graduate school for some time and was thrilled to be accepted into a Master’s program at New York University. As I had already earned my teaching degree, I was interested applying my theater skills within a range of community, educational, and college contexts. I enrolled in the Educational Theater in Colleges and Communities program and developed new strategies for teaching and learning through drama, and explored creating theater for audiences of all ages. My dreams had come true.

I was learning my practice from visiting professors such as the late Dorothy Heathcoate and was also fortunate enough to travel to Brazil to work with the legendary Augusto Boal, both icons in my field. I was also discovering that my field was in fact changing and evolving tremendously. There was a relatively new profession gathering steam that I was about to discover.

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