Discounts for any Leeway artists!
Teach & Reach Your True Self: An experiential training workshop to re-ignite and re-power teachers and learners
July 24, 25, 26
Friday (6-10PM), Saturday & Sunday (10AM – 6PM)
(20 hrs of training)
Limited space available – contact us now to sign up!
Who is this for: Perfect for teachers of all disciplines, school counselors, youth educators, teaching artists, professors and anyone who utilizes teaching in their lives.
Community WORKS! is rooted in the techniques of renowned Brazilian theatre director, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize finalist Augusto Boal with whom Artistic Director & Community WORKS! facilitator, Lisa Jo Epstein (ACG ’09) trained extensively. Epstein has utilized Boal’s techniques, along with an array of interactive, process-based strategies for personal and group transformation, for two decades.
This workshop will immerse you in: the compelling interactive techniques of Augusto Boal and related experiential games and exercises. We will will lead you through lively theatre-based activities to enable you to tap into your imagination and gain fresh, playful yet powerful tools for exploring human interaction, the roles we play in our lives as teachers and learners, and how our choices impact us as well as others.
This workshop will offer: exciting hands-on, interactive exercises that transform how you think about yourself and your work. We will dive into the joys and challenges of teaching through the moving languages of images, storytelling and theatre. Along the way, you will build a new community of educational and personal support. In this training of trainers, you will learn new and profound approaches in learning, teaching, enhancing creativity and moving through the world. All skills are immediately applicable, from curriculum development and negotiating community pathways to productive, empowering ways of living in the world.
Workshop structure:
Friday, 6pm – 10pm
Light vegetarian dinner included (soup and salad).
Saturday & Sunday 10am-6pm
Includes continental breakfast and healthy snacks. Lunches should be brought.
The transformative power of the techniques and their ability to lead us to awareness and new possibilities for change can only be understood if participants accept to be their primary source material. Participants should be open to utilizing their own stories and life experiences.
Fees are on a sliding scale based on income or organizational budget.
Visit GasAndElectricArts.org for more info.
Sign up for a training today
All skills are immediately applicable and widely transferable to many areas where open, honest communication is vital: from personal change to community development, from youth work, education, activism and effective group collaboration to creative conflict resolution, cross-cultural dialogue, violence prevention, leadership training and more!
Location: The Adrienne – 2030 Sansom St, Philadelphia
Register:
- Review the workshop fees from the sliding scale chart on our web site.
- Contact us by phone or email to inquirer about a workshop.
- Full payment is due ten days prior to workshop date.
Contact Lisa Jo Epstein or David Brown
Phone: 215.407.0556
Email: lisajo@GasAndElectricArts.org
Mail: Gas & Electric Arts – 6703 Cresheim Road, Philadelphia, PA 19119
Online: GasAndElectricArts.org
LET US CREATE A WORKSHOP FOR YOU!
- We customize workshops and residencies for youth, teens or adults.
- Available in single/multiple day formats with or without culminating public performances.
- Contact Lisa Jo Epstein to learn how your organization or school can get involved.
Testimonials from recent workshops:
“Lisa Jo did an introductory workshop with graduate students of education at the University of Pennsylvania, and from start to finish, a group with minimum drama experience stepped into the magic of staging real life teacher/student relationships. Lisa Jo led us through a series of opening activities that encouraged us to take risks in relating to one another through gradual steps. The ah-ha moments for what both teachers and students might be feeling or experiencing at any given moment of conflict presented itself to us with relief and warmth, and barriers that are so often the result of institutionalized practices began to fade. The amazing part of the whole workshop was that I was only vaguely aware of Lisa Jo’s presence. The material was so transformative and enlightening, that I was only focused on what I was learning. Only after did I realize that Lisa Jo’s gentle presence had been guiding us fluidly through each stage of the process.”
–Sarah Hobson, PhD candidate, Language and Literacy in Education,
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education“I am so thankful that you shared your knowledge. I appreciated your strategies that provided us an opportunity to trust one another. I appreciate your gentle way of focusing us and providing explanations of your techniques. Your transparency encouraged an environment of trust. I have first hand experience with, and understand the nuances of a group from the perspective of a trainer as well as that of a participant. This group allowed me to feel it was okay to open up in short period of time in a way that I haven’t experienced before. I credit an element of that interaction to your leadership. Thank you.”
–Tracey Hill, Art Educator
“Raw and real theater was created from the energy and experiences within the room. I experienced the reality of a spect-actor, and for me it really made theater much more accessible, which is my personal mission with my craft. Beneficial elements besides the whole weekend? I would say as an actor finding new ways to explore conflict internally and externally. For instance the Cop in Head did not make much sense to me when I read it, but I saw it unfolding it made perfect sense. It’s a technique that can be used as a director, as and actor, and teacher giving the group a chance to experience someone’s problem through a magnifying glass. As a teacher I found so many new ways of engaging youth who have no interest in theater. Many of the techniques and games can be seen as that, games, but the end they form together to create theater. I’m still fascinated by that. Reminding them that connecting is essential and important in remembering our own humanity. “
–Anjoli Santiago, Actor, Teaching Artist
“Lisa Jo’s facilitation was a masterful balance of establishing comfort and encouraging individuals to push their personal boundaries, a balance I’ve yet to come across in any of my prior work with Boal. Experiencing Boal in her care I was able to draw connections to his work and my own with teens that I’ve never seen before. As a teaching artist working in public schools, I find that drama is a choice often forced on the students. So, these exercises excite because they were created for non-actors whose realities are often uncomfortable – Boal’s work instinctually comes with a balance of known versus unknown that makes the activities both ‘safe’ but intriguing at the same time. In particular, I have used the Great Game of Power not only to discuss images of power and oppression, but also as a way to discuss focus and levels in the theatre, as a way to create quick but evocative settings as a base for lighting design, and of course as a way to create a myriad of settings for the first layer of improvisational exercises.”
- Mindy Beers (Resident Teaching Artist and Programming Associate,
Philadelphia Theatre Company)“Lisa Jo encouraged students to improvise scenes based on their lived experiences focusing upon issues of power and voice. Like the students, I was essentially a spect-actor in the workshops. I often marveled at Lisa Jo’s ability to bring creative forces out of our students–students who were not initially receptive to the idea of participating in a drama workshop. Using games as a framework for building a theatrical atmosphere, Dr. Epstein then helped the students create complex, improvised scenes about their own real-world experiences. These scenes were often quite powerful, relating to the students’ sense of injustice in dealing with authority figures such as teachers and parents. Lisa Jo was able to persuade several reserved students into inhabiting their characters and fully owning their roles, and she helped those with a natural dramatic flair to concentrate on the tasks before them. I was persistently impressed with Dr. Epstein’s dedication to her craft, but even more so, with her dedication to the students themselves. She spent a great deal of time getting to know each of them, and she worked hard to bring out the best in each of them. She displayed sensitivity to their daily struggles and supported them as they navigated through their world. Her natural sense of humor, and her flexibility in adapting to a constantly-changing environment at a high school, were always a comfort.”
–Josh Taton, Teacher, Philadelphia School District
“I found this workshop extremely valuable. It gave me an opportunity to address a stressful situation, let me know that others face similar circumstances and the sharing of information with my peers. When I left I felt heard, rejuvenated and understood. My disposition changed in knowing others were like me and I was pretty much on the right track.
-Terrell Taylor, Social worker
“I gained a feeling of connection with other people who are interested in creating change. Tools I can use in the conflict resolution situations I come across in my own life. Inspiration to continue striving towards my goals. A greater understanding of Theatre of the Oppressed. Questions and answers I’m still not sure how to put them into words. Friends. It was an amazing and eye opening and thought provoking experience. I learned so much from Lisa Jo and everyone else. I wish there had been more time so that we could have done even more.”
–Mia Adjei, recent college graduate, Teaching Assistant
