The Sound of Education

Originally posted by Bruce Miller on The Barksdale Buzz 5/25/10

Chase Kniffen (director and choreographer of The Sound of Music [TSOM]), Brian Barker (set designer, TSOM), Janine Serresseque (Barksdale's liaison with Richmond Public Schools [RPS]), and I had the wonderful opportunity of conducting an after-school Educator Training Workshop last week with a dozen or so teachers from RPS. The workshop was organized and facilitated by Susan Damron, theatre resource teacher in the RPS Arts & Humanities Center.

For the last eleven years, Theatre IV and RPS have partnered as Central Virginia's only affiliate of the Kennedy Center's prestigious Performing Arts Centers and Schools program. Through this national arts-in-education initiative, we present workshops that train teachers how to use the arts to enhance instruction across the curriculum at all grade levels. Teachers receive continuing education credits for their participation.

About half of the workshops involve master educators from the Kennedy Center's roster of the nation's best arts-in-education specialists. These days, about half of the workshops are developed here in Richmond by Susan Damron and various artists and educators from Theatre IV.

Earlier this year, we created a workshop entitled Beyond the Wiz. In response to teacher requests, the goal was to enable educators with no expertise in theatre--with the exception of George Wythe, RPS middle and high schools have no drama teachers--to learn where and how to look for plays that feature African American casts and themes but have little name recognition among the general public.

We assembled a panel comprised of Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates from VCU (director, The Grapes of Wrath), April Jones - guest theatre artist at the University of Richmond, Derome Scott Smith - Artistic Director, African American Repertory Theatre (director, Black Nativity), and me. Together we discussed the history of African American theatre in the United States, and explored a large number of plays that have had successful revivals with African American casts even if they were not originally written from an African American perspective.

Each participating teacher left with a new appreciation for the wealth of material out there, an expanded knowledge of where to search for new titles, and an understanding of how to obtain reading copies of less well known scripts.

The subject of last week's workshop was Creating the Team Needed to Produce a Musical. Using The Sound of Music as our case study, I spoke about assembling the lead artists, Chase talked about how the director works with the stage manager and designers to move the process forward, Janine (who works overhire in our costume department) spoke about the various steps followed to create the costumes for a show, and Brian dazzled the crowd with his models and computer work, ably revealing how a designer in 2010 can use technology to more effectively communicate with the rest of the production team.

Throughout the entire workshop, we provided tips on how to create a musical on a budget--a subject near and dear to the educators' hearts and pocketbooks.

This afternoon, I will be accompanying the teachers on a tour of the Holocaust Museum. Again we will use TSOM as our case study, and discuss how to use theatre to enhance instruction across the curriculum by showing how TSOM is being used throughout Greater Richmond's school systems to teach the history of WWII.

This Friday evening, the teachers who have been participating in this workshop series will all come to see The Sound of Music, and take a behind-the-scenes tour after the show.

For decades, education has been at the heart of our work at Theatre IV and Barksdale. As early winners of the Excellence in Arts Instruction Award from the Virginia Dept of Education and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, we're proud to be a valued partner with public and private school systems throughout the Commonwealth.

Hope to see you (and the students in your life) at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Intern Insights: Lamitra Barnes

The following was written by Theatre IV/Barksdale intern extraordinaire, Lamitra Barnes:

As I entered my senior year of high school, I realized that I needed to find an internship at a local theatre because I will be attending college as a potential theatre major in the fall of 2010. I currently attend Open High school, an academic based school on southside Richmond, where volunteer opportunities are highly encouraged. I began interning at Theatre IV and Barksdale in the fall of 2009 every Wednesday afternoon, where Ms. Janine Sears took me under her wing to make sure that I had a chance to work with most of the staff.

I had a chance to see shows during my internship such as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Grapes of Wrath. Before seeing them, I had seen a few Virginia Commonwealth University plays, but not any professional plays such as those. They were great plays to watch because they were contrasting of one another and gave me two different aspects of how a show in a theatre is presented.

I also had the privilege to watch a rehearsal for the touring production I Have a Dream. When I sat there taking notes and watching the actors rehearse, I pictured myself in their shoes one day. I learned many things from the actors by watching them take direction from John Moon.

Barksdale and Theatre IV gave me the chance to not just work with actors but to also work with those who are behind the scenes. Before I got here, I didn’t have a single interest in technical theatre but my mind has changed completely.

I worked with the Director of Costumes Sue Griffin, and her associates Sarah Grady and Lynn West, who are all amazing people. They took time out of their busy schedules to show me how to help create some of the costumes for upcoming shows.

Costume designers were not the only designers that I had the chance to shadow. I also had the opportunity to work with Master Electrician Matt Landwehr. He stood at my side and helped me understand the lighting chart that was far more complicated than it appeared.

Finally, I saw how the sets are created for shows by working with Master Scenic Artist Adam Dorland and Props Master Becky Arney. They provided good instructions on exactly what they wanted done and they encouraged me that I could do it even if I didn’t have former experience in painting backdrops or props.

They all have one thing in common and that is their outgoing humorous personalities!

The technical work was interesting but I also had the chance to work at Theatre IV’s marketing and the administrative offices. I worked with Director of Marketing Sara Marsden. She was delighted for me to help her because there are tons of tasks that the marketing department has to complete such as sending brochures to the households of thousands of people and keeping files of all of the actors. I was thrilled to help her plow through the enormous amount of work.

In the administrative office, I worked and had conversations with all of the smiling faces such as Tracy Coogle, Lucas Hall, and Janine Sears. I sorted checks, filed papers, entered dates on Microsoft Excel and made copies for the administrative staff.

Even though my internship is about to reach its conclusion as I will be graduating from high school and entering college, it has been a pleasure to receive this everlasting experience. I don’t know many high school students that have been able to receive an internship in their field, but I was one of the lucky ones and I wouldn’t have traded this for world. I learned a lot from everyone that works here by observing, listening, and conversation. I was able to practice my networking skills at Barksdale and Theatre IV because everyone here is very intelligent and always happy to answer questions. I would like to give special thanks to Mrs. Susan Damron and Ms. Janine Sears who made all of this possible. Thank you Barksdale and Theatre IV!