First Day Back

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later- I went in to work today. I did a little pre-show, post-show magic at APT. It was for a show I had never facilitated before today, and I was a little nervous. I was also nervous because it had been over a month since I'd worked around high schoolers, and every time I take a break from the little buggers I begin to be very insecure about my ability to work with them. I start to think they'll hate me and laugh at me and my workshops will be a complete failure. Plus, this show is an adaptation of slave narratives that has a slight reputation for being too curricularly relevant- more of a teacher-pleaser than a student-pleaser.

I'm happy to say, therefore, that it went great. The kids were a little skeptical when they came into APT because, as they accurately described it, the black box is a little "ghetto" and small, but when they left they were telling me and the actors how it was so much more real than a movie, and that they were going to be very skeptical of technology in the future. Whoo Hoo!! Converting the masses to minimalism!!!! With very minimal facilitation from me, they went off amongst themselves into a great discussion about the importance of oral history (!!!) and relying on individuals voices to understand stories of oppression, rather than just what the history books say (!!!) and how important it is to place controversial words like "n*gger" (I can't even spell it without blushing) in an historical context (!!!). The most moving speech of the day came from a young man who passionately asserted that young people today are too spoiled and have too many distractions and need to become more serious about making changes in their world rather than taking their privilege for granted. Yes, folks, that's the magic of the theatre.

Workshops like this get me excited about teaching, but they also give me a slightly unrealistic euphoria that I'm sure will be squashed after a couple more shows. We'll see. Is it too much to think that one 45 minute play can change a person's views about oppression and injustice? High school. Whew. They are simultaneously at the most passionate and the most apathetic phase in their lives, and I guess all we can do is nudge them towards the passionate side and hope that it can hold out against the persuasive powers of apathy.

I want to talk more about the persuasive powers of apathy, but I'll do that at another time.