Last year I got hired to be the drama adviser for Valley High School in Orderville, UT and one of my (many) goals for the drama program is to keep the interest in drama up for the next years to come. Today was the final day of the first annual "Stages" workshop open to kids ages 4-17. This summer, August 6th, 7th, and 8th, I successfully executed a 3 day drama workshop for any child interested in learning the different 'stages' of stage acting and performance. In three short days the kids went from having little-to no background knowledge of stage acting to performing a short skit, with partners, and 3 song and dance routines. This performance was open for the community to come watch. The kids were taught about staging, stage make up, props/sets, voice projection and exaggerated use of body and face. For 3 days from 10am - 2pm the kids would show up and practice their skits and songs, with a 30 minute lunch break in the middle of the day. They started with "A brand New Day" from "The Wiz" which was followed by the skits performed by the younger kids. In the middle of the skits the performers presented "Step in Time" from Mary Popping (which they had just learned the day before!) We finished up the skits performed by the other kids and finished the production with "So Long, Farewell" from Sound of Music,
I am currently studying Physical Education at Southern Utah University and feel that the performing arts is a very valid way to become aware of your body and the ability to manipulate it as you need. There is big skill involved in “acting big” and using your whole body to convey a message. It teaches bodily control, spatial awareness (knowing where your body is in space) and, believe it or not, stamina. Stages not only helped the kids with the mental aspects of the 'whats' of acting, but supplied a lot of lesson on the 'hows' and whys' of acting as well.
The experimental education, or EDGE, program at Southern Utah University is what put me up to putting on such an event. A workshop like this was always something I have wanted to do since high school, and this gave me the perfect reason to set one up. This EDGE program at SUU allows students to chose one of the 5 engagement centers to focus a project, of their own choice to be completed. I chose Leadership. The idea is to allow the students the chance to fully delve into the program of their choice and get a hands-on experience in a field close to their studies at the university while also building their personal resumes. Directing a production requires a wide variety of leadership skills that go hand in hand with the teaching profession. I now have established something that will allow me to learn leadership skills while also fulfilling my goal of keeping interest in the drama program, and building my resume as a desired employee.
"That was the best part of my summer" said Luke, age 9, who did not want to be involved in this workshop in the first place. Petersen got a lot of feedback from both the kids and the parents about how much fun the kids had at 'Stages' and they can't wait to do it again next year. I think they had so much fun they didn't even realize how much they had actually learned!"
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