I really loved reading about story-telling in community-based theater. I am, unabashedly, a book nerd, and I love reading stories, whether fictional or memoir / biographical in nature. I think there is something so innately human about story-telling, and I feel strongly about its untapped potential to build empathy and understanding across identities, races, classes, political parties, religious denominations, or any other affinity or identifying groups.
I am currently working on a two-semester independent study for my Hispanic Studies major that is centered around the role of multilingual and multicultural literature in promoting intercultural competency and empathy-building skills in both early elementary education settings (last semester’s focus) and medical education settings (this semester’s focus). Last semester, I went to a children’s Spanish/English bilingual play last semester at the Portland Children’s Theatre entitled “Nieve en la Jungle” which is based on a children's book that I utilized in my project. The story is primarily about immigration and language barriers, however, it is told through the lens of a polar bear moving to the jungle, which is a lot more palatable for young children and conducive for elementary classrooms to build on and discuss. Stories like Nieve en la Jungla open the door for classrooms conversations centered around identity, belonging, language, and even immigration policy, addressing bias from a young age. Although this play is fictional, the story is easy to follow and elicits pathos from the audience for the topic, as well as room for connection amongst audience members and actors. Furthermore, there is a large community-based emphasis to the children's theatre, with actors being Maine elementary students themselves, for whom these themes apply. With growing immigration into Portland, a sanctuary city in Maine, learning about immigration and language barriers through theater is so important for young students in Portland, and it really embodies the "for, of, and by" nature of community-based theater -- they even had the student actors learn Spanish phrases to make the play bilingual like the book. It is so awesome for me to see the overlap between my independent project and themes in this class -- this chapter in particularly was extremely eye-opening for me in that regard.
I am currently working on a two-semester independent study for my Hispanic Studies major that is centered around the role of multilingual and multicultural literature in promoting intercultural competency and empathy-building skills in both early elementary education settings (last semester’s focus) and medical education settings (this semester’s focus). Last semester, I went to a children’s Spanish/English bilingual play last semester at the Portland Children’s Theatre entitled “Nieve en la Jungle” which is based on a children's book that I utilized in my project. The story is primarily about immigration and language barriers, however, it is told through the lens of a polar bear moving to the jungle, which is a lot more palatable for young children and conducive for elementary classrooms to build on and discuss. Stories like Nieve en la Jungla open the door for classrooms conversations centered around identity, belonging, language, and even immigration policy, addressing bias from a young age. Although this play is fictional, the story is easy to follow and elicits pathos from the audience for the topic, as well as room for connection amongst audience members and actors. Furthermore, there is a large community-based emphasis to the children's theatre, with actors being Maine elementary students themselves, for whom these themes apply. With growing immigration into Portland, a sanctuary city in Maine, learning about immigration and language barriers through theater is so important for young students in Portland, and it really embodies the "for, of, and by" nature of community-based theater -- they even had the student actors learn Spanish phrases to make the play bilingual like the book. It is so awesome for me to see the overlap between my independent project and themes in this class -- this chapter in particularly was extremely eye-opening for me in that regard.
Story-telling through acting is arguably even more profound in it’s ability to build empathy, as actors have to take on the role of persons different from them, telling stories of others and feeling their emotions. I loved attending RISE at Bowdoin just before March break, and upon reflecting, it is the perfect example of community-based story-telling theatre. Of, by and for Bowdoin women, the production was an extraordinary example of the type of theatre we read about for class this week. These women combined straight-up telling stories with performance by adding costume, telling the stories of other women (not their own experience) and doing so aesthetically, powerfully, and with all the emotion that accompanies performance. Not fully a play like Raisin in the Sun, and not quite forum theatre, but certainly Performance Activism and community-based theatre in its own right.
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