Open Forum

I am directing The Laramie Project this fall.  This is a bold play for my largely conservative community.  I received approval from my Superintendant and Board of Directors in the spring, and have been transparent with my entire admin team the entire process thus far.

I'm looking to strengthen the production and students' experiences through community engagement opportunities.  I'm also hoping to set up enough lines of defense to protect myself and the students involved for when the complaints start coming in.

Some of the avenues and partnerships I'm already pursuing...
-In dialogue with counseling and psychological staff, will invite them into rehearsals and to facilitate post show discussions about themes and identity expressions in the play.
-Creating a Berlin Wall inspired mural where the student ensemble and audience members can write/draw reactions to the play.
-Collaborating with social studies and English departments to find curricular ties 
-Cast and crew creating a research collage, to be put on display in a public location in the school
-Tying into the school's anti-bullying initiative
-In talks with Rainbow Alliance to raise awareness
-Partnership with local university who is producing the play at the same time

I'm wondering what you have done with this play?  How have you stimulated dialogue and understanding amongst the students and within the community?  What questions have you found really getting to the heart of the matter?  Any questions to avoid?

I'm going for transparency, dialogue, and community with this play.  I appreciate your thoughts.

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Abra Chusid
Theatre Director
Lake Villa, IL
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I directed Laramie Project this past Spring and because the of the positive response we are planning on re-mounting the production this October. I was concerned with the content of the play in our community however, I was pleased to see that it was welcomed by the administration and students. I contacted The Tectonic Theater Company in NYC and they offer a variety of services from Skyping with the class to full workshops about the process of creating the theater piece from the series of interviews to the subject matter. We are an IB school and wanted to have the students in the production to have the opportunity to work with a devised theater company. I found that as we began to work on the character development the students became deeply involved with researching the news reports and some were able to email and correspond with the "real" people in the play. They were also given supplemental information to read and respond to during the process. We also worked with Augusta Boal's Theater of Oppression and did a variety of excercizes to understand the feeling of being oppressed because of a belief, how you look or what you feel. It was important that this was not just a piece for the audience but to have purpose for the actor in in the show. For the school community, we met with the campus Bridges club which emphasizes tolerance. We invited the Senior Humanities (IB English/Social Studies) classes for an in school performance. ------------------------------------------- Kathy Cannarozzi-Harris Chairperson Of Visual And Performing Arts Laguna Hills CA -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 08-17-2014 19:23 From: Abra Chusid Subject: The Laramie Project Community Engagement I am directing The Laramie Project this fall. This is a bold play for my largely conservative community. I received approval from my Superintendant and Board of Directors in the spring, and have been transparent with my entire admin team the entire process thus far. I'm looking to strengthen the production and students' experiences through community engagement opportunities. I'm also hoping to set up enough lines of defense to protect myself and the students involved for when the complaints start coming in. Some of the avenues and partnerships I'm already pursuing... -In dialogue with counseling and psychological staff, will invite them into rehearsals and to facilitate post show discussions about themes and identity expressions in the play. -Creating a Berlin Wall inspired mural where the student ensemble and audience members can write/draw reactions to the play. -Collaborating with social studies and English departments to find curricular ties -Cast and crew creating a research collage, to be put on display in a public location in the school -Tying into the school's anti-bullying initiative -In talks with Rainbow Alliance to raise awareness -Partnership with local university who is producing the play at the same time I'm wondering what you have done with this play? How have you stimulated dialogue and understanding amongst the students and within the community? What questions have you found really getting to the heart of the matter? Any questions to avoid? I'm going for transparency, dialogue, and community with this play. I appreciate your thoughts. ------------------------------------------- Abra Chusid Theatre Director Lake Villa, IL -------------------------------------------

We created a (short!) prologue in which the actors talked about their thoughts and feelings about being involved with the production. Developing the prologue also gave the cast an opportunity to discuss any concerns they might have in trying to get their friends and family to come to the show. (We tend to do a lot of comedies.) In performance, the prologue also acknowledged the extra layer of character representation present when anyone besides the original Techtonic Theater Project participants perform the show.

We were lucky to get Romaine Patterson to give an assembly right around the time of the show (I think it was afterwards). She was fantastic, and it was wonderful for the cast to get to meet her.

We had an amazing experience doing the show. On the whole, our community is pretty progressive, but I had many drama alums who were really impressed and surprised by the choice.

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Cora Turlish
Metuchen NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-17-2014 19:23
From: Abra Chusid
Subject: The Laramie Project Community Engagement

I am directing The Laramie Project this fall.  This is a bold play for my largely conservative community.  I received approval from my Superintendant and Board of Directors in the spring, and have been transparent with my entire admin team the entire process thus far.

I'm looking to strengthen the production and students' experiences through community engagement opportunities.  I'm also hoping to set up enough lines of defense to protect myself and the students involved for when the complaints start coming in.

Some of the avenues and partnerships I'm already pursuing...
-In dialogue with counseling and psychological staff, will invite them into rehearsals and to facilitate post show discussions about themes and identity expressions in the play.
-Creating a Berlin Wall inspired mural where the student ensemble and audience members can write/draw reactions to the play.
-Collaborating with social studies and English departments to find curricular ties 
-Cast and crew creating a research collage, to be put on display in a public location in the school
-Tying into the school's anti-bullying initiative
-In talks with Rainbow Alliance to raise awareness
-Partnership with local university who is producing the play at the same time

I'm wondering what you have done with this play?  How have you stimulated dialogue and understanding amongst the students and within the community?  What questions have you found really getting to the heart of the matter?  Any questions to avoid?

I'm going for transparency, dialogue, and community with this play.  I appreciate your thoughts.

-------------------------------------------
Abra Chusid
Theatre Director
Lake Villa, IL
-------------------------------------------