For the first two years after I returned to Cleveland, I unofficially apprenticed myself to some of Cleveland’s best theatre teachers, then began to teach in community programs, schools, and summer theatre programs, among them Summer at Laurel, Willoughby School of Fine Arts, Cleveland Music School Settlement, and Broadway School of Music.

When Cleveland Opera launched a new outreach program in 1991, I was tapped top be their first Music Mentor for "Words! Music! Opera!" I worked with Lorain County teachers to show their first and second graders how to create and produce their own operas. I had the privilege of “midwifing” over 30 15-minute world premieres, each complete in every respect!

I also led teacher workshops for Head Start teachers, John Carroll’s Teacher Apprentice Program at University School, and several Cleveland Opera workshops for elementary teachers.

"WHY TEACH CREATIVE DRAMATICS?"

by Lissy Gulick, October, 2006

DEFINITION

 Creative Dramatics is the use of improvisation, pantomime, and problem-solving games to create ‘on-the-hoof’ theatrical experiences that originate with the students themselves. The work differs from ‘putting on a play’ in that its aim is not a finished product, but group involvement in a cooperative process during which the individual increasingly “accesses” his/her own creativity, and gains the confidence to express it.

 This work was originally developed for children, but today, theatre-based problem-solving games are helping adults of all ages and professions to access their creativity and think “outside the box.”

BENEFITS

There are two immediate benefits of this kind of process-work:

1.    It generates an atmosphere of playfulness and equality, where everyone’s ideas and contributions are valued no matter how “far out;” where there are no wrong answers, only choices and even better choices; and where the group leader is not a judge of “right/wrong,” but a coach and fellow-player in a game. This approach encourages even the most timid child (or adult) to offer up his own ideas without fear of disapproval.

2.    It draws on and “sharpens” certain acting “tools” which also serve us in “real life:” vocal and physical control ; imagination and observation; empathy and cooperation; and focus (concentration)--or as the kids prefer, “not letting your mind go out for a hamburger.”

 However, to my mind, the greatest benefit of Creative Dramatics is its long-term effect on the growing child: it fosters respect for self and others, a willingness to contribute to the good of the whole, and a belief that “I can make a difference.” Especially since 9/11, our children miss out on being children because we have to arm them so early against AIDS, drugs, and a host of other ills. Even that rarity, an “undivorced” family living in the same house for more than three years, has to hold its center against tremendous social stresses, where maintaining even a simple life gets harder every day, the “neighborhood” has been replaced by the “gated community,” and sound has become not a means to communication, but a kind of pollution that children try to block out!

 But when we involve kids in a process where their every contribution is valuable, where every voice is heard, we are providing them with the very best kind of “health insurance”: belief in themselves. Thus empowered, they stand a better chance of making an impact on their world, instead of being swamped by it.