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

Upon reflection, I recently discovered that the challenges I faced at the beginning of my career as a classroom teacher ultimately prepared me to become the Teaching Artist I am today. It was during my first teaching post as a drama specialist at a high school in the North of England.  I had just earned my post-graduate certificate in education and I was eager to embark on my new, shiny profession – you see I was going to change young people’s lives… I know you have read this somewhere before.  

Growing up in the local area, I knew that this particular school had a certain reputation and I quickly learned that my predecessor had not been able to establish a solid drama curriculum during her tenure.  Sadly, the subject had fallen into the category otherwise known to the students as the “fool around” class. During my observation month, a period where new teachers were expected to observe and become familiar with the day to day running of the school, it was made clear to me by many students and even some teachers that the subject of drama was not taken seriously in that school.

In the United Kingdom it is compulsory for all students in grades five through ten to have one period of drama per week. For some students this was a joy, for others reading plays and performing endless scene and characters studies was a bitter pill to swallow. And to top it off, here I was a young, enthusiastic new teacher who wanted to take away their “easy A” class and replace it with a subject that required them to participate, engage and “get on their feet.”

My first step was to ask the school janitor to board up the windows of the classroom I had been allocated. I needed to create a studio environment, one where no outsiders could peer in. I was also fully aware that my room was the direct route to where the older students would hang out to smoke cigarettes during their break. (The administration seemed to turn a blind eye as it often kept the older, more challenging students in school). I wanted to create a space where my students had ownership over their work and know that what happened inside our space had value and meant something.

My second step was to remove all the chairs. This may seem dramatic but I knew that once they sat down, getting these kids to their feet was like pushing a dead weight up a steep hill – I needed to breathe energy and life into this room! And finally, the most important step was to rewrite the curriculum and introduce a series of units that were based around the pedagogy of Process Drama.

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