Theater Education for Kids and Teens – A Matter of Life and Death?

Our children today are increasingly isolated and vulnerable. From middle school to high school, they are isolated by virtual realities:

• the avatars of gaming
• the lure of social media.

That technology, unfortunately, increases their vulnerability. It is their avatars that gain power. The word social is illusory.

• Computer screens disguise the bullies.
• Language often sinks to the lowest common denominator .
• Civility flies out the window.

In his 2011 address at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, reprinted in The Guardian, Howard Shalwitz examined “7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better.” Reason 5 was

. . .both the making of theatre and attending of theatre contribute to education and literacy. Watching the characters talk back and forth in the theatre is tricky; it requires sharp attention, quick mental shifts, and nimble language skills. It teaches us about human motivation and psychology. In historical plays we get lessons in leadership and government. In contemporary plays, we learn about people and cultures in different parts or our own country or in other countries.

Studies have shown that students who participate in theater do better in school (1). Making plays together also draws kids out of their shells and helps them learn to socialize in a productive and healthy way.”

That activity also allows them to understand symbolism as a means of understanding. Plays often use props and masks for both the actors and the audience to hide behind, allowing issues to take center stage. Gillette Elvgren’s I Am the Brother of Dragons, for example, is a staple at SaltWorks Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA. Characters hide and emerge from masks as they shed their public personas in an attempt to deal with teen drug use.

Our K – 6 students, our middle-schoolers and our high school students are masters of evasiveness when it comes to issues that trouble them. When I was 8, I was sent home from school by the nurse. (In those days, we walked.) I had a sore throat and a fever. To this day, I don’t know why I hid behind the living room door, ashamed and afraid that somehow, some way, something was wrong and I was to blame.