MAR
25

The Power of Living Theatre

By Lorraine Thompson 

Lorraine Thompson currently is the head of the Drama Department at Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia.  Her bachelor’s degree in Education is from Auburn University of Montgomery, and her Masters in Fine Arts in Theatre is from the University of Georgia.  She enjoys spending her summer months working as an actress.   

As theatre educators, we understand the multiple benefits of the theatre.  Not only does it expose our students to a rich world of literary work, but also it provides them with opportunities for great personal growth.  Audiences also grow and benefit from the stage.  They are entertained, touched and, at times, changed by what they see.  There is power in theatre — the power to give voice to the speechless and wings to the grounded — that is available to any who desire to wield it.

I witnessed this power first hand when my student, Anne, returned from a service trip to Haiti.  She spoke about the profound impact the experiences of that trip had on her.  While the trip was rewarding, Anne wanted to do more for the Haitian people.  So, while others were enjoying a nice, comfortable Christmas break with family and friends, she made her second trip to Haiti.  This trip only fueled the flame.  She wanted to do more.

As her drama teacher, I wanted to help her.  Knowing the power of theatre, I thought the perfect solution could be a project that would take advantage of her wide range of artistic strengths (Anne was a painter and photographer as well as an actor) and would aid her in educating others about the plight of people in Haiti.  I approached her with the idea of mounting a one-woman performance piece using her experiences, her journal entries, her visual art and her desire to serve.  She loved the idea (and we were even able to get her independent study credit for this)!

While the details of this project with Anne are very unique, I share them here as an example.  Ultimately, I hope to stimulate your own ideas regarding projects that take advantage of the power of theatre to effect a change of behavior or attitude in both the cast and the audience.

Project Basics
The goals of Anne’s project were:

• To write and stage a 15-30 minute performance piece about Haiti that would educate others about their need for assistance.
• To create a set consisting of panels hung with enlarged pieces of Anne’s own art and photography featuring images from Haiti.

Initially this seemed quite a daunting task, and I met once a week with Anne to help her.  First, she had to decide what the main point or focus of the piece would be.  What did she want to accomplish with this work?  How would she use it?  She was challenged to narrow all of her thoughts, emotions, stories and experiences into a concise, thoughtful and effective piece.  By creating an outline, the challenge became manageable.

I then suggested Anne choose three broad themes or topics from her trips to serve as a starting place.  We worked by brainstorming ideas, making jot lists and writing out possible outlines of what each act would focus on.  In the end, she chose to focus on her work at the elementary school, her work at the clinic and her time in the community.  She titled her piece One Person, showcasing the theme that One Person can make a difference.

We wanted each act to also be able to be performed as part of a whole or as an independent unit.  So Anne’s next task was to decide what information she wanted the audience to learn from each section and what experiences she could share to support the section’s goal.  We now had what we thought was a good starting outline for the show.  It was now time for her to begin writing.

The Writing
Anne soon discovered that writing for performance is very different from writing an essay.  She needed to write as she talked, so sentence structure, sentence length and rhythm of speech were all things she had to take into consideration.  Recording herself and then editing the transcript proved a successful method in overcoming this challenge.  Once she completed the writing of one act, Anne started memorizing it, and we began blocking the section.  We repeated the same process for the other acts as well.

The Set, Props and Costumes
We had a goal to keep the set, props and costumes simple and easy to pack since the show would be performed in a variety of spaces.  The set consisted of three standing 4’x8’ panels of Anne’s art work, with the first act performed in front of the stage left panel, the second in front of the center panel and the final act in front of the stage right panel.

Taking the Stage
Anne debuted the first act of One Person to resounding success in a community high school performance showcase.  This performance was followed by a staging of the piece in its entirety for our campus community.  Subsequent variations of One Person were performed for various local civic and educational groups.  Each performance produced the desired response of awareness and the raising of funds.

Theatre has power.  The power in Anne’s One Person was twofold:  in its creation itself and in its life onstage.  One Person not only helped Anne to grow as an artist and as an activist, but ultimately it raised awareness and funds to aid the Haitian people.  Anne’s project is a perfect example of the theatre using its voice to give us wings, in return for which we help others fly.