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The day I met with Brian he needed coffee. He was tired, and the burden of knowing what he'd be doing the next three weeks was exhausting.
Monday, 4/16: lead small-group activities with 80 high school students at local high school as warm-up to all-day experience on April 18.
Wednesday, 4/18: conduct all-day educational theater workshop for 80 students and their teachers whom you are hosting at the College campus.
4/19 - 4/22: direct four performances of Proof and lead one post show discussion session.
By 5/2: deliver St. Mary's Project (SMP) presentation on the outcomes of this theatrical experience. Submit final written packet, a self-contained educational theater workshop for secondary-level teachers to use when teaching Proof on their own.
How did an English major end up so exhausted? When he realized that his plan to be a high school English teacher left him feeling creatively constrained.
"I'd always had an interest in theater, and would have used it in my English classroom," said Brian. But his student teaching experience left him feeling like there'd be too little time for creativity with so much emphasis on testing to standards. Disenchanted, Brian dropped out of the teacher certification program and decided, as a junior, to declare a second major: a self-designed one in educational theater. His SMP developed into a body of work to illustrate by example the exciting results that could come out of blending English with educational theater. His SMP mentor, English professor Beth Charlebois, had this to say about Brian's enormous project: "There were times in this project that I was fearful for him, that he had bitten off more than he could chew, but through his tenacity, vision, and sheer will, he's pulled it off."
Brian says one surprising outcome of his massive undertaking is that his SMP has created community. "My SMP has been a great experience that truly attests to the liberal arts," he admits. For various stages of the production of Proof, he sought the advice of math department faculty and math students to aid in the interpretation of the script. He got production help from the English and theater faculty and logistics support from the Office of Events. "Everyone I asked was willing to help," he says.
Brian's now a teaching artist at the Round House Theatre near Washington, D.C. After that he'll pursue graduate study in educational theater. "Some of the students I worked with at Ryken had never seen a professional theater production before," says Brian. "I want to have an impact on students like them in rural areas all over the country, through educational theater." Says Charlebois, "He will make a difference, no doubt."
By Lee Capristo, Director of Publications and Web
