I think the Support Your High School Theatre section by drama teacher, Ron Clark, still resonates over thirty years later:
"Your high school theater offers your students one of the most humanizing experiences education can present--the inherently unique opportunity to look through the eyes of somebody else.
Let a student actor submerge in honest characterization and that student's horizon will from that moment include something of another life and viewpoint.
Such an experience is not an educational 'frill.' It's not mere an extra curricular activity that is pleasant but without utility. On the contrary, high school theatre gets to the very essence of what education is about..."
This is the foundation of my education as a creative person, and ultimately, as the writer I have become. It all started here. I was extremely lucky to find myself as a student in a public school during a time when this kind of teaching was not only allowed, but encouraged. Without it, I doubt that I would be the writer, or the person, I am today.
2 comments:
Neat post. I never really think of theater as inspiration for writers...but you're right on. Likewise, I learned a lot from my time in high school plays. We actually did do HOW THE WEST WAS FUN and I spent the first act with a bar girl on my lap. Good memories.
We did GHOST DANCE (about Sitting Bull), and a slew of other cool plays. I learned a lot about character development in those plays. I dedicated the 4th Josiah book to my drama teacher...
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