Meeting A Saint

The day I first picked up the phone to call St. Claire from Success Prepatory Academy in Treme, I was shocked because he actually picked up the phone. Getting to people in New Orleans educational facilites can sometimes be a challange. After that phone call things came together quickly. Managintg Director, Marieke Gaboury and myself set up a meeting at Success Prepatory, where we had a chance to meet St. Claire face to face. As he sat behind his desk, in his office I could have sworn he was enveloped in a ray of light. OK, maybe it was due to the window in his office that he sits directly in front of, but be that as it may I still believe him to be a real, honest to goodness saint.

There was no need for a hard sell from us, he clearly understood the benefit of having YO NOLA partner with his school. There were no beauracratic hoops to jump through. Just questions of when and where and a desire to do.

Testing The Waters

I moved to New Orleans from New York in March of 2010, and then recently became the Director of education for Southern Rep. My goal was to take the experience I gained in Arts Education over the past ten years and share it with the folks in New Orleans. First, let me say that New Orleans us unlike any other place I have ever been. Being a native of New york, the center of arts & culture, one might think in comparison, New Orleans would be an easy egg to crack. Not! Like I said it's unlike any other place. The culture down here is thick (that's a good thing). The food is to die for (another good thing). The people are accessible, they move a bit slower, so they are pretty easy to catch up with and make friends, real friends. And for a small city, there is always so much going on, but I'm not sure how much that includes theatre... particularly when it comes to kids who's parents are understandably focused on juggling work and home responsibilities. So, I'm very proud to be a part of YO NOLA.

YO NOLA. Ahhhhhh NOLA! Earlier this fall we held our first test pilot workshop for Yo Nola. We had children between the ages of 5 - 12 who attended. To say they were excited would be an understatement. We started the 90 minute workshop with warm-ups, though some of them seemed ready to go when they walked in the door. The warm-ups were followed by a story telling exercise. The idea of the exercise is to have them use their imagination. First they recite a popular Fairytale. Each participant tells a portion of the story until they are prompted to stop, and then the next participant continues the telling of the story, until the story is finished. In the next round, each kid was asked to tell their own version of the story, inventing new plots and characters. In one version, Goldilocks was exposed for being a sort of sneaky burglar, and the bears really questioned her right to break and enter into their home. It was excellent.

In preparation for our Yo Nola classes, we've also been holding workshops for kids that coincide with the final performance of each production. Parents are able to drop off their kids, while they attend the play. It's been a great resource for the whole family - so we're going to continue it for the rest of the season, and into the future. In the workshops we have again focused on kids between the age of 7 & 12. We have incorporated storytelling, acting, and some directing skill building, utilizing improvisation, staging, and movement exercises.

We're so excited to get into the classroom with YO NOLA this coming January. New Orleans. There's no place like it.