Short Profile of Theater PD Day 

All The World (is still) A Stage…

We assemble at the last STAGE of our school year to reconnect, reflect, recharge and rejuvenate as theater artists and educator colleagues. We return to spaces intended for theater rehearsal and exploration, courtesy of our colleagues at the New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.  In addition to time spent in theatrical workshops, we gather in Borough Breakouts to continue supportive conversations with fellow theater peers. We also gather as artists to work on staging a musical theater number with colleagues who self identified their comfort level as you did. The truth is we are all lifelong students and I applaud your desire to continue to grow as artists and educators.

We reimagine and reframe theater instruction, reflecting on the worlds of stories to share with and facilitate from our students, and on the many stages of theater and life to support our students' personal creative voice and collective artistry. To help promote empathy, thoughtful exploration, community, joy, deep investigation–to be windows and mirrors for understanding.

As we culminate our 23-24 year of professional learning together, please take time to revisit the work we did in November and January as well: The World is a Stage: Theater PD  Site for Jan 2024. Here you can revisit workshops as well as observe and learn from those great sessions you were not able to attend. Each site has the PowerPoint I shared as well as your full theater teacher packet.  Paralleling our year of the world as a stage, sessions during our Citywide Theater Professional Learning engage participants to consider how to:

• Inspire meaning from all the world: examine the worlds of stories & experiences through theater from diverse cultures & from students POV through performance, design, adaptation, and collective meaning making.

• Explore the worlds of community:  how trust is built and sustained through intentional exercises as well as theatrical play, how community building is vital to theater making and transferable to deepen student engagement and learning in general.

• Share how the world of the classroom is a stage for reaching all learners and exploring how the language of theater making empowers teachers to clarify the impact of theater learning.

• Investigate the impact of stages: how does space impact the creative process & theater making. From Broadway to classrooms to street theater to virtual—how can environmental parameters support theater teaching and producing.  

• Foster developmental stages by highlighting well being and SEL through the world of theatrical play for specific grade band level students and their communities.

My deep appreciation to Laura Bucko, Daryl Embry and our Master Theater Facilitator team of artist educators who brilliantly collaborated to ensure our planned in-person sessions translated to the virtual stage.  See below bios!  I hope today inspires and provides food for thought as you take some time then recharge and plan for next year with your students.  But first, enjoy!

Peter

PETER AVERY
Director of Theater
NYC Public Schools Arts Office