Developing Teamwork through Theatre
What: Theatre residency for students in grades 5 through 8
Where: Anderson School in Chicago’s East Ukrainian Village neighborhood
During this theatre residency Urban Gateways Teaching Artist Jen Green, in collaboration with Urban Gateways staff member Adil Mansoor, engaged her students in theatre games, script writing, improvisation, and exercises to explore body composition. All of these elements not only taught her students how to act, but challenged them to incorporate content on the spot, collaborate with their group, and learn how to physically tell a story. At the end of the residency, the classes performed for one another in a culminating event, showcasing their talent and their creative journey.
“Middle school is a tough time for kids,” said Jen Green of her students at Anderson. “They’re generally not nice to each other and feel a lot of pressure to be the same. But I see my students taking the collaboration that happens in our art-making and translating that into how they relate socially outside the classroom.”
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Did you know…70% of UG students increased their ability to work as a team with people different than themselves.
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Interested in an Urban Gateways artist residency? Visit www.urbangateways.org/programs.
