LEGACY

2016-2018

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ROLE

 

Teaching Artist with Voice Theater, NY

 

LOCATION

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Kingston, Ny

 

MISSION

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The Legacy Project comprises 6 in-school

sequential interactive workshops and a field trip to the

play LEGACY followed by a post-performance workshop.

American students and undocumented, unaccompanied,

teen refugees from Central America connect with each other

by writing and performing their personal stories of racism,

bullying and refugee flight. Creating a safe place and a bond of trust, we utilize improvisation, theatre games, creative writing, visual art and research materials. In creative writing workshops, refugee students share and write monologues revealing why they had to leave their homes; and U.S. students share and write monologues focusing on their experiences of being the victim of or witness to racism, anti-Semitism and bullying. Visual arts are implemented to further illustrate the students’ stories. Comparing past and present we touch upon the economic, cultural, political and historical factors that affected German teen refugees from 1933-1939. In the 6th in-school workshop, refugees travel to the school and both groups improvise, read and act out their monologues bringing an experiential performance component that opens hearts and develops empathy, compassion and understanding for “the other”. US and refugee students participate together in a 7th workshop taking place in the theatre after they see a student matinee of the play LEGACY.

 

Voice Theatre ensemble members and students perform additional student monologues to the larger audience of students, teachers and social workers and share how the play’s themes and workshop explorations relate to their lives. LEGACY is a play that unravels as a young American girl unearths the true story of her father’s cowardice and courage. Based on events from playwright Shauna Kanter’s life, this suspenseful story of refugees during 1939 in Germany is enhanced by our student stories of racism and refugee flight. The students’ stories are inserted into LEGACY, creating a bridge between past and present, further empowering our student authors and the audiences of their peers. Because students have created and performed their own stories, The Legacy

Project creates a path for students to tear down their walls of assumption and misinformation, and build bridges of acceptance. It is a space for them to celebrate the strengths of their differing cultures, languages and histories and to be united in a shared humanity.

 

TIMEFRAME

 

Ongoing