WEEK FOUR
SELECTED ACTIVITIES
Villain Monologue
In this activity, students chose their “favorite” or the most infamous villain from stories they love. They then had to create a backstory for the villain, understanding what influences in their lives made them the way they are. After, students wrote a monologue from the perspective of the villain. Some students took the activity even further, acting out their monologues in full dramatics. This activity was part of a broader arc of activities on “complicated characters” where we took typically antagonistic, problematic, or enemy characters and try to understand their complexities. According to our students, Cruella DeVil. was attacked by a dog as a child and the President in The Hunger Games grew up in a hostile and violent orphanage. Students painted poignant images that made us sympathize with these complicated characters, like a drug-addict villain watching his family have a warm and happy holiday dinner without him. Everyone felt tugs at their heartstrings, and we wanted to wrap the villains in our arms and apologize to them for the cruelties they faced. We talked about the ways people make decisions which turns them into villains, but how a complicated history might make them this way. It was productive both as an activity for developing skills of writing and for fostering empathy.
Exquisite Corpse
This activity blended visual arts with collaboration and improvisation to encourage letting a story reveal itself. In the activity, students draw an image and fold the paper over, obscuring their contribution but leaving a single line visible. Everyone passed their drawing in a circle and the next student added to the picture using the available line, not knowing what the person before them drew. This pattern of drawing and folding continued until everyone has their original drawing back. At this point, students unfolded the whole drawing, laughed at its randomness, and proceeded to improvise a story based on the whole drawing. Instead of forcing a narrative onto the drawing, students let the group decide where the story went and organized the story arc after in a comedic fashion, putting the “play” into playwriting.
Haveit
The Kosovar feminist art collective Haveit joined us for a public discussion on their work, educating us on how to promote dialogue and activism through creative expression. Haveit has garnered a large following in Kosovo and across Europe through installations and public performances on topics including domestic violence, gender roles, and LGBTQ visibility. As such, their presence at the workshop was humbling and inspiring for the participants and facilitators alike. Haveit emphasized the importance of creating art to encourage conversation around topics that may be taboo to some. It is only when we have these conversations that real change can occur. However, they warned of the “bubble” gallery exhibitions can create, since people who come to galleries to see a performance are likely already informed on an issue. By staging public performances on the streets of Pristina, Haveit’s message can reach people who might not be aware of issues but are now forced to confront them. During our discussion, one student shared that a poem he wrote was inspired by one of their works and another had written a scene using their protest slogan as a point of central focus. Their lessons taught our students the viability of pursuing creative expression professionally.
Workshopping/Feedback Session
Following pitches given in week 3, students created their first drafts of their plays. These drafts far exceeded their initial ideas and each incorporated many merits. Together, they spanned topics: the destruction of the planet by humans, innovative avenues through which parents can communicate with teenage children, domestic violence protests, and the multitudinous griefs of heartache. It was easy to see the connection of previous workshop sessions in helping students generate these ideas, from Haveit’s visit and discussion of protest in art, to the Wish Tree activity featured in a scene, to an introductory setting activity from week 1 which became the feature of one student’s final work. This demonstrated the meaning of the past workshops and the longevity of inspiration and idea-generation this summer program has initiated. In the feedback session, plays were read and the group contributed both rightfully earned praise and constructive criticism. Our students demonstrated a robust knowledge of storytelling techniques, many incorporating elements of poetry, monologues, and fiction into their scripts.
TAKEAWAYS
Impressive Storytelling
Our students have surpassed our expectations in their scripts, which expertly tell emotionally-laden stories. Seeing their final products become a reality was inspiring, impressive, and deeply meaningful to us as facilitators.
Group Bonding
The relationships among participants and facilitators alike grew stronger by the day. With inside jokes, camaraderie about music, and a shared summer of stories to retell, our students became supporters and true friends. Watching our collective excitement when a member enters the room and witnessing the gradual growth in closeness is a beautiful testament to the power of the theatre to bring people together — and not simply the audience. Working together on this project has created so many new relationships, each with a deep understanding of and respect for one another.
Art and Activism
Workshop participants have shown their dedication to furthering social justice issues through theatre. By putting issues they care about into their scripts, the participants have embraced the stage as a valid and impactful venue for political and social dialogue. They have not shied away from difficult topics, but rather, have embraced them.