As we had to help our students to write and develop a performance this page demonstrates our process.

Image Work

We created characters from images, as in this scene. Jesus molded into a character by LaRie that came to be known as "Elliot James" he was a pot smoking character that eventually graduated from school.

Acting Out Scenes

Here Quenna and I are attempting to follow and sequence a story, of various common experiences of students in being kicked out of school.

Video

Acting Out Creative Ideas- Students Directing "Press Conference"

Here Jesus is directing a scene of a press conference with the President. We tried working this into the final script but Jesus wasn't as involved in the final script development and so we didn't use it.

Video

Story Comes Out

After sharing stores and acting out those stories, we sat and reflected on what the common themes were in people's experiences that were shared and we asked, "Can anyone relate to this experience? Does this happen in the community?" Once themes were established we folded them into an initial idea LaRie had presented us with about a single mother who was struggling with a young daughter. We sat with students at a table, not on our feet, one day and developed the story outline. Once the story outline was completed the following session Quenna directed the students in the scene while I recorded what they said. The dialogue in the play came completely from them. Here is a recording of scene 3 where the younger brother Mac who has just been kicked out of school for fighting encounters his older brother, on the street. (Recording of Kenny and Jonathan E.) 

Problematizing the Story

During rehearsals as we talked about what we wanted the audience to see from the story we asked our students again what the issues were that this family is experiencing, they came up with this list:

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