CTC at the American Alliance for Theatre Education (AATE) National Conference 2018
AATE’s National Conference starts next week on August 1st! Learn more about the not-to-be-missed CTC staff sessions below.
Impact of a Preschool Theatre Arts Program on School Readiness
Maria Asp, Program Director for Neighborhood Bridges, will be leading this workshop during Block 3. Participants will experiment with elements of an Early Bridges program, learning how storytelling is beneficial to both the language skills and overall development of early childhood students.
Teaching Artist Internship Program for High School Students
During Block 4, Director of Community Engagement Kiyoko Motoyama Sims will be leading a panel on the high school student internship program in conjunction with Neighborhood Bridges. These students will be given an opportunity to challenge their ideas of social change and personally develop their social emotional learning (SEL) skills. This panel will include interactive activities demonstrating how Neighborhood Bridges operates in classrooms.
Gender Inclusion: Planning, Policy, Practice and Programming
Ellie McKay, CTC’s Theatre Arts Training (TAT) Director, will be discussing CTC’s gender-inclusive policies and practices in youth theatre. This workshop, held during Block 7, will allow participants to ask questions, discuss challenges, and learn how to incorporate more gender inclusivity practices into their own work.
Kidcentricity: Putting Kids at the Center of the Design Process
Karli Jenkins, CTC’s School Engagement Coordinator, will be leading this Block 9 workshop on the Kidcentricity program. Creating relationships between theatrical designers and classrooms, Kidcentricity gives students opportunities to transition from theatre viewers to theatre makers. CTC designers work with local students, asking them to participate in the design process for one of CTC’s mainstage shows. Participants at the workshop for this STEAM-based program will experience hands-on design projects, video presentations, and group discussion about this practice.
Encountering and Embracing Politics and Justice in the Theatre Classroom
Block 9 also features TAT’s Education Manager, Laura Delventhal, who will host a panel on how to approach social issues when inclusivity is becoming an increasingly political act. This session will foster conversations on how to navigate difficult subjects with students, enable them to speak up and tell their own stories, and how to face possible resistance to inclusivity from the community.
Sensory Drama: Explorations for Storytelling and Inclusive Practice
Liza Alrutz, who is interning with CTC’s Plays for Young Audiences this summer, is presenting a workshop with Seesaw Theatre during Block 9. After experiencing immersive, multisensory creative drama exercises in the world of Suzan Zeder’s When She Had Wings, participants will be led in a discussion about the extensions of sensory drama for inclusive theatre and dramaturgy.
Rehearsal for the Revolution: Staying Relevant and Connected to Community
Early Childhood Education Manager Laura Mann Hill will be leading this Block 10 workshop looking at how community partners and other youth theatre performance groups can amplify more community voices for social justice. After an interactive theatre performance from partner organizations Making Waves, the Hamline Social Justice Theatre Troupe, and the Warehouse Project and Gallery, participants will join the conversation on how theatre groups large and small can leverage resources and work more collaboratively for social change.
CTC is also well represented in the all-conference events! Be on the lookout for Kevin Kling’s storytelling on Friday morning, fresh off his run of The Best Summer Ever! at CTC; the Young Playwrights for Change performance organized by current CTC interns; and a spoken word performance from Neighborhood Bridges TA, Malick Ceesay, at the conference’s Sunday afternoon closing.
More information about AATE and the national conference can be found here. Visit our website to learn more about our upcoming season and ticket information!
