Setting the Stage, Setting Intentions

Like most of you, I have zero experience in how to adjust to life in a pandemic. Not in my wheelhouse, that one.

However, like most of you, I do have loads of experience in facing down impossible odds to effectively create art. No budget, ever-looming program cuts, lack of volunteers, limited resources, materials that push me to my limits, tight schedules, and the need to get through it all with as much grace and integrity as we can muster while creating opportunities for growth, self-expression, and joy for everyone involved?

Yeah, theatre teachers and artists know how to do that.

Because this is such unknown territory, I find myself having to go back to what I do know. I know my kids, at least what they have been brave and kind enough to share of themselves. I know lesson planning and curriculum development and all those skills they drill into us when we get our credentials. And after 15 years of directing youth theatre, I like to believe that I know how to create and facilitate a production from start to finish. I've directed at least 25 of them thus far, and while I learn something new every time (and frequently realize how little I actually know), I've established my own rhythm and guideposts of what makes sense to me in that process. Doubtless you have your own, and I want to hear about your processes in the comments! We're here to learn from each other. But in the absence of any roadmaps, I'm going to to go with what I know, and treat this like the beginning of a production.

Again, I do not have the be-all, end-all of answers. But I've got a laptop and plenty of time, so here we are.

My three key words: adaptable, nourishing connection.
Also, a peek at my out-of-hand washi tape collection.

I'm a big believer that how you begin something is how it will end. I always start a production with two or three key words to ground me, so that when I feel off-course, I have a compass to guide me. They might be jotted down in the margin of a notebook, or tacked on a mood board, but they are there, helping me align myself when I get lost. Now, I know that teachers already deal with buzzwords all the time - "rigor" and "authentic learning" and "grit" come to mind - and social media is already introducing keywords into the conversation around online teaching, words like "grace" and "flexibility." I agree that we will need an abundance of these things in the days to come, but when it comes down to it, what are the values I'll use to guide my own online instruction for drama?

I've thought about this long and hard, and the answers are now affixed to the white board above my desk. I live and die by the list; I have to write things down, or they won't happen. With full acknowledgment that things may change in the coming days, here's what I've got so far:

1. Adaptable: Flexibility is important, yes, but for the long haul, I want my lessons and my digital classroom to be adaptable. Adaptability lets things survive and thrive in new environments. It accounts for the fact that we are living in a new world where the stakes change every hour, and that carefully-planned unit or activity could be completely moot from the time we start writing it to the moment we click "upload." I could get sick; my students (God forbid) could get sick. My students will also be working with a wide range of technological resources, from high speed internet and personal laptops to no WiFi or cell phone data from the confines of their home. Everything I plan needs to be adaptable so it can be deployed over a wide range of learning environments.
2. Nourishing: I took a walk yesterday afternoon (I live in the middle of nowhere, so social distancing is pretty easy to maintain). It had been rainy and cold lately, but the sun was finally breaking through and it was comfortable to be outside. The minute the sun hit my face, I felt like something dormant began to grow again. Yes, the movement helped, but that moment of feeling the sun on my skin felt like I was be fed deep within. It reminded me that even in the midst of pandemics and hardships, there will be still be sunlight and blue sky, and that all things will pass.
   The word "nourish" has multiple meanings at its root, nutrire. On the one hand, it means "to feed," but it also means "to harbor" and "to cherish." When I think of my classroom environment, all of those meanings apply. I want to feed my students, both literally (they know my office works double duty as a snack bar) and figuratively (I want to feed their imagination and creative instinct). I want it to be a harbor, a safe haven where they can escape for 85 minutes every other day to a place without judgement or fear. And I want them to know that they are cherished, that they are loved exactly as they are, from the minute they walk in the door, no strings attached or conditions offered. This helps clarify my plans for me; whatever I assign online in the coming weeks, I want it to nourish my students in every possible way.
   
   
3. Connection: Theatre is that incredible opportunity to gather and ask who we are and why we are here. The deeper you dig into a text, script, image, etc., the more connections you find to the past, the present, and the future. The more you collaborate on a project, the deeper your connections grow with your peers. To me, connection is the most valuable aspect of theatre arts education, and in today's world, finding new ways to facilitate both intellectual and and emotional connection will be more important than ever. Whatever I assign, I want it to help students connect theatre arts to the world around them, or to help them maintain and strengthen their connections to each other, and to who they are as artists. 

 So there it is - adaptable, nourishing, connection. These three keywords are my compass for the weeks to come. As long as I can build assignments that meet at least two out of three of these keywords, the rest will come as it needs to. I've taped sticky notes with each word to my office whiteboard to remind me of what's really important to me as an instructor and a human being, and with two weeks ahead to plan, I hope that compass will help me keep my true north and build a worthwhile experience for my kids.

What are your three keywords, drama teachers? How do you approach the start of a new production, and are there strategies that you use for that process that you can apply to this new venture of remote instruction? I would love to hear from you in the comments.