December 22, 2016

Creative drama: learning and loving

St. Pius V School students are enthralled by a story told by Brian Kozak ’17, right, during their creative drama master class. (See photo gallery at bottom of page.)

Story by REBECCA KEISTER

Photos by KEVIN TRIMMER

As the 27 fifth-graders from the nearby St. Pius V School arrive at Providence College’s Bowab Studio Theatre for the last of their three Children’s Theatre and Creative Drama master classes overseen by Mary G. Farrell, professor of theatre arts, there is an excitement in the air that cannot be taught.

That delight equally consumes Farrell’s students, who are gearing up for a student-teaching component that she calls “as exciting and nerve-wracking as a performance.”

The nine theatre and education students in her course created each class throughout the fall semester based on what the fifth-graders were studying. The workshops and much of the course content focus on creative drama, one aspect of which is known as “drama in education,” explained Farrell. This approach centers on the learning experience for children and is not performance oriented, she noted.

In drama in education, the intent is to create an experience for the children “by working through an issue or challenge and making important uses and  discoveries about themselves and others along the way. And yet, the development of traditional theater skills, such as listening, speaking, and cooperation, are in fact cultivated.”

This week’s lesson is tied to geography. Farrell’s students have crafted an acting exercise tied to the fall of Pompeii in which St. Pius students use masks to transform themselves into the role of storyteller in order to recount a young person’s struggle to be heard without being seen. The three PC students leading the master class inform the young guests that masks can be used to create a “whole new world inside your head and transport you into another person,” according to one.

Remaining engaged and eager throughout the lesson, the St. Pius students also are led in a meditative exercise that encourages mindfulness as a tool to prepare for performance. The class ends with the schoolchildren reflecting on what they had learned about ways to communicate and help their classmates without using words.

To aid their own learning, the class leaders receive feedback from Farrell and their classmates on their lesson planning and execution after the master class.

Farrell, who is the director of the Acting Program in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Film, has been teaching Children’s Theatre and Creative Drama for more than 30 years. She has directed more than 25 productions at the College.

Creative Drama Master Class

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