tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734156024642693802024-03-19T00:27:44.330-07:00 Creative InstigatorKate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-60216551193737058722015-04-30T11:37:00.000-07:002015-07-14T11:40:36.365-07:00Debunking Creativity Myths: Creative Schools as the New Normal<div style="-webkit-hyphens: manual !important; color: #363636; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;">
<i>I originally wrote this post for City School of the Arts Journal, a blog for the <a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/#intro">proposed arts-based charter middle school</a> I'm currently working to co-found.</i></div>
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The City School of the Arts team recently had an opportunity to hear Sir Ken Robinson speak at innovative lower Manhattan school <a href="http://www.blueschool.org/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Blue School</a> to celebrate the launch of his new book, <a href="http://sirkenrobinson.com/creative-schools-the-grassroots-revolution-thats-transforming-education/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">"Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education."</a></div>
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There's a reason why Robinson's 2006 TED talk "How Schools Kill Creativity" has become the most-watched <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">talk</a> in the history of TED, with over 30 million online views and an estimated 300 million total individual viewers worldwide: Robinson points to an urgent crisis facing creativity in our global education system, and his words have struck a powerful chord with people of all ages, professions and backgrounds the world over... including us!</div>
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The City School of the Arts co-founding team has been following Robinson's work since well before his talk went viral, and the school model we've designed is our best shot at embodying his vision of what school should be: a thriving, vibrant ecosystem that develops students' love of learning, allows their natural gifts to flourish, and prepares them to face the challenges of the 21st century through work that is relevant, engaging and creative.</div>
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In his new book, Robinson debunks four common myths about creativity. Taken together, the flip-sides of these four myths paint a powerful picture of exactly the kind of school the City School of the Arts team is envisioning. </div>
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<a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/city-arts-journal/2015/4/30/debunking-creativity-myths-creative-schools-as-the-new-normal">Keep Reading at City School of the Arts Journal</a></div>
Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-63978220273138492622015-02-19T11:35:00.000-08:002015-07-14T11:41:08.857-07:00Reimagining the "Why" of Schooling<div style="-webkit-hyphens: manual !important; color: #363636; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;">
<i>I originally wrote this post for City School of the Arts Journal, a proposed <a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/#intro">arts-based charter middle school</a> I am currently working to co-found.</i></div>
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I recently had the opportunity to represent City School of the Arts at a conference on employment, workplace culture and innovation at St. George's House, Windsor Castle in the UK. It was a thrill to be able to present what I've learned from my students about creative leadership over the last decade to a gathering of Britain's leading innovators and change-makers in fields ranging from medicine and engineering to philanthropy and finance.</div>
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I'm a proud teacher, so talking about my students never fails to make me feel inspired. But this time the experience was particularly poignant. The setting for our gathering, <a href="http://www.stgeorgeshouse.org/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">St. George's House</a>, is just steps away from a huge gothic chapel--a massive stone testament to centuries of hierarchical rigidity during which, if your great-grandfather was a serf, you grew up to be a serf. In that context, the opportunity to reflect on the experiences of students from low income neighborhoods who have harnessed creative leadership as a pathway to college and career--radically improving their socio-economic mobility in the space of a single generation--was especially moving.</div>
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<a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/city-arts-journal/2015/2/19/reimagining-the-why-of-schooling">Keep reading at City School of the Arts Journal</a>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-22610435291622640592015-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:002015-07-14T11:41:30.361-07:00Creative Rigor; Rigorous Creativity<div style="-webkit-hyphens: manual !important;">
<i><span style="color: #363636; font-family: proxima-nova;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px;">I originally wrote this post for City School of the Arts Journal, a blog for the <a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/#intro">proposed arts-based charter middle school</a> I am currently working to co-found. </span></span></i></div>
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When Dr. Damien Fernandez was named Head of School at Ethical Culture Fieldston School three years ago, he told <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/nyregion/new-head-at-fieldston-school-is-an-unconventional-choice.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">The New York Times</a> he wanted to strengthen their science and math programs “in a way that enhances creativity and problem solving.” Dr. Fernandez was not responding to a vague premonition of Common Core, nor was he pitting Fieldston’s rich progressive history against Dewey's description of "Traditional Pedagogy:” memorization of facts and formulas, teacher-established rules and regulations, drill, practice, and recitations. He was saying what we all know: kids are by nature curious and creative, so their beliefs and interests must be honored. “I don’t buy this whole notion of two cultures, of an artistic and scientific culture, and the two shall never meet,” he said. “I believe the creative spirit is critical for posing questions, for the leeway to explore, and I think that the creative spirit is necessary for today’s world, for the creative economies of the 21st century." </div>
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This is a sentiment that City School of the Arts whole-heartedly embraces. Just last month, Thomas Sosa, one of our former students who is now a junior at RIT, commented, "What I learned doing musical theater in high school feeds directly into my college classes in programming. The idea of creating something out of nothing and developing the precise language that allows you to share that idea with others--that's creativity in a nutshell. What I'm finding is that programming is not just about mindlessly crunching code... It's an aesthetic process. What you're really doing is making art." As if this comment needed punctuation, Thomas then passed around his business card. It read: "Thomas Sosa - Student, Engineer, Dancer."</div>
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<a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/city-arts-journal/2015/1/15/creative-rigor-rigorous-creativity">Keep reading at City School of the Arts Journal</a>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-91893589440906637492014-12-11T11:22:00.000-08:002015-07-14T11:41:50.774-07:00Envisioning School in the Era of Ferguson<div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-4952aa5b414f44de442a" style="-webkit-transition: box-shadow 0.1s ease-in-out; clear: none; color: #363636; font-family: proxima-nova; font-size: 15px; height: auto; line-height: 24px; outline: transparent solid 1px; padding: 0px 17px 17px; position: relative; transition: box-shadow 0.1s ease-in-out;">
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<i>I originally wrote this piece for City School of the Arts Journal, a blog for the <a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/#intro">proposed arts-based charter middle school</a> I am currently working to co-found. It was published on December 11th, 2014.</i></div>
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"To be honest, today feels like a hard day for dreaming." Renee puts her marker down and lets her painted cardboard leaf sit untouched on the table in front of her.</div>
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We're at Baruch Houses Community Center on the far East side of Manhattan--two <a href="http://www.nycityarts.org/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">City School of the Arts</a> co-founders, a few of our former students, one of our board members, the president of Baruch's Tenant Association, about ten or fifteen parents and grandparents and a handful of middle schoolers. We're a diverse group. There's a bunch of white folks and a bunch of black folks, there's an American-born son of Chinese immigrants, a group of senior citizens from South and Central America, two teenaged girls from Guyana and a handful of wide-eyed African American middle schoolers. </div>
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The plan for tonight is straightforward. We're going to start with a creative activity: designing leaves for the <a href="http://www.nycityarts.org/family-tree/" style="color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">City School of the Arts Family Tree</a> with words and images that reflect people's dreams for our proposed school. Then we're going to talk about our mission and vision, and answer some questions. That's it. Simple.</div>
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The problem is that tonight no one can focus.</div>
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It's the day after the announcement of the no-indictment verdict in Ferguson. A few blocks away in Union Square protestors are already starting to gather. And there's a palpable energy of grief and outrage pulsing through the room.</div>
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<a href="http://www.cityschoolofthearts.org/city-arts-journal/2014/12/10/conversations-not-otherwise-possible">Keep reading at City School of the Arts Journal</a></div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-4996950970428136302014-04-04T08:59:00.001-07:002014-04-04T10:49:28.434-07:00The Theater Freaks of Claremont and 172nd Fight Back<div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.2em;">
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It’s two hours to curtain on opening night of “The King and I” and I am standing in a blinding patch of orange sunlight on the corner of 172nd street and Claremont Avenue in the South Bronx, surrounded by a panicking swarm of sweaty adolescents and pleading with our school’s understandably furious building manager to let us back in, even though the alarm is still going off, so we can keep rehearsing while we wait for the fire department to come.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px;">One of my fellow teachers has just accidentally backed into the deluge shut-off valve—preposterously located in the cramped backstage area of our tiny performance space—and triggered the alarm, forcing us all to evacuate. Many of the kids, including Barry, are in various stages of undress.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">As the building manager explains to me with a sharp edge of irritation in his voice that it’s illegal for us to return to the building before the fire department comes, and I listen helplessly as baseless rumors begin to ripple through the crowd of kids—</span><i style="font-size: 16px;">There’s a real fire! It’s arson! The sprinkler system is ruining the sets! The King has slipped and broken his ankle!</i><span style="color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">—I feel an insistent tug on my elbow and turn around to find Barry staring up mournfully at me. He is clutching his sequined velvet vest closed to cover his otherwise bare torso as best he can, the too-tight waistband of his school uniform pants accentuating the little bulge of baby fat around his middle. “Ms. Q, I’m sorry,” he says in a whisper, tugging at the vest and shaking his head miserably, “but I’m just not wearing this. It’s just… I’m not comfortable in it.”</span></div>
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“Barry, honey,” I say, struggling to keep my tone even, “It looks fine. We just don’t have time to deal with it now, OK?”</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW1jz_n1voXOUbY12hyphenhyphenfTnZSj75qHJpKvk70UGu8QHOtXYvOLN_bX3k72Upu4HIkqiSTJZpZ4bfmU7OSkjLzwInWzme6qYtF_8ciN8GDX5DYaj68BCjmXE9JZkGEvfK7LrZH3ivmYpgLA/s1600/Actors+get+ready+backstage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW1jz_n1voXOUbY12hyphenhyphenfTnZSj75qHJpKvk70UGu8QHOtXYvOLN_bX3k72Upu4HIkqiSTJZpZ4bfmU7OSkjLzwInWzme6qYtF_8ciN8GDX5DYaj68BCjmXE9JZkGEvfK7LrZH3ivmYpgLA/s1600/Actors+get+ready+backstage.png" height="218" width="320" /></a>Even before the alarm got triggered, we were already emphatically behind schedule. Props, <span style="line-height: 1.4em; text-align: center;">costumes, paint cans, tools and backpacks are still littering the floor and benches of the gymnatorium. The cast still needs to eat dinner, get fully in costume, get into make-up, get mic’ed, and—Oh, God!—</span><i style="line-height: 1.4em;">stage </i><i style="line-height: 1.4em; text-align: center;">the curtain call</i><span style="line-height: 1.4em; text-align: center;">, which somehow we’ve been pushing to the end of our to-do list everyday and then forgetting about. The crew kids still have to set up the chairs for the audience, tape down the band’s cables and wires, and deal with several of the stage lights which have been flickering ominously all afternoon. All of this has to happen before we can let in the public, an overzealous few of whom are already starting to arrive, gawking in bewilderment at the scene greeting them on the corner.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 1.4em;">Four months of rehearsals and planning come down to what happens in the next two hours. Adrenaline pounds through me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Mercifully now, the fire trucks arrive with their sirens screaming. Firemen pour out of them in full gear and blow past us at a run.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">“India! Darien!” I call out, throat raspy. I lunge forward and grab them by the wrists, physically pulling them together into an open space on the sidewalk. “Here. Practice your waltz and run that dialogue from right before the beating scene. It was a hot mess last night.” I look up to where India is standing with Darien on the sidewalk in waltz position and see that, except for a pair of skintight jeans, she is dressed only in a tightly boned corset, the high-necked blouse that usually covers it apparently abandoned in her frantic rush from the dressing room. Darien, always the gentleman, is politely averting his eyes. “Put this on, rock star,” I say, pulling a paint-covered T-shirt out of my backpack and tossing it to her. “Samantha, Jada and Ashley. Get Essence and Nikisha and go through that ‘Western People Funny’ choreography, the part they missed when they were on that field trip. Tay and Barry! Come here and run the letter scene with me.”</span><br />
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Tay puts her arm around Barry and begins to go through the dialogue with him. He won’t make eye contact with her and murmurs his lines inaudibly.</div>
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I glace at Barry’s bare midriff and wince as it hits me how exposed this charismatic but still fundamentally insecure 7th grader must feel right now, ripped unceremoniously from the cocoon of the glowing stage and the tenuous safety of the world we’ve created there.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">“Barry, look,” I say. “I know it’s a stretch, but I need you to trust me, OK? I get that it feels really awkward out here, but once you’re up on stage again in the lights, and you’re playing the character, it’s going to look great. You’re going to be amazing. I promise. Trust me.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">At this moment, a pack of lanky kids from the school on the next block rolls past, their skinny jeans pulled down so low their entire boxer-clad butt cheeks are exposed, forcing them to swagger, legs apart, thighs leading, so their pants don’t ride down to their knees. Laughter crackles out of them, they are hitting each other hard on the shoulders and pointing at us. “Nice vest, faggot!” one of them calls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Barry’s chest caves. He just collapses, slumped and mortified. His nostrils twitch and flare, his eyes glaze. This is the same kid who’s been missing rehearsals and serving detentions all semester for getting into physical fights, and now he’s standing here next to me, half naked in a velvet sequined vest, completely shut down and defeated. I suddenly regret every lecture I’ve ever given him about the importance of learning to solve problems without violence. Yes, underneath their aggression these kids are just kids, they’re the children of mothers, their lives are as precious as my own child’s life, but—forgive me—at this moment all I want to do is to beat their asses for talking shit to Barry. Correction: All I want is for Barry to beat their asses.</span><br />
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Before I can do anything—and, really, what could I have done? What could I have said to Barry? How could I have stepped to those kids?—a hand shoots out and grabs Barry’s shoulder, ushering him into a thick knot of half-costumed actors.<br />
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<a href="http://ideasmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/unnamed6.png" style="border: none; clear: right; color: #00c0e5; float: right; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Chris and Barry" class="size-medium wp-image-3537" src="http://ideasmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/unnamed6-448x300.png" height="214" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(50, 50, 50, 0.298039) 1px 1px 3px 1px; -webkit-transition: all 0.18s ease-out; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 5px; max-width: 100%; transition: all 0.18s ease-out; vertical-align: middle;" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: normal;">It’s Chris, the senior who plays the role of the king.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Chris is wearing the beaded red pants for Act II, the ones the lady from the costume shop was so excited to rent to us because Cuba Gooding Jr. had worn them in a recent “King and I” revival on Broadway. Even in the height of the tension on the street I still have the presence of mind to be annoyed at Chris for this small but telling infraction. He’s in costume, not because he wants to be ready for Act I; he’s in the </span><i style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">wrong</i><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"> costume—the special, expensive, irreplaceable costume—because it’s one more way for him to push the limits, to show me that he’s got the power in this relationship. He knows that with me stressed and distracted he’ll be able to get away with it, and he’s right.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Equally annoying is the fact that he is shirtless and, even more galling to me: barefoot. But he’s also swooped in and saved Barry when I wouldn’t have been able to. Classic Chris.</span><br />
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I allow him a fleeting look of gratitude for his intervention, then gesture at his feet and the dirty, glass-strewn sidewalk, and let my face fall into a deadpan stare. “Seriously, Chris?”</div>
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He digs in his backpack, produces his tattered script—the one he has infuriatingly been forgetting to bring to rehearsal the last four months—drops it onto the sidewalk and not without a certain ceremony, steps onto it. Then he grins at me and addresses the assembled crowd, raising his arms regally and glaring hard at the skinny-jean kids who have abandoned Barry and moved on to cat-calling the still bare-shouldered, corseted India.</div>
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Chris closes his eyes and draws in a long, full breath. Then he begins.</div>
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“Oh, Buddha,” he intones loudly in the deep baritone call-and-response chant of the Act I Finale. “Give us the aid and the strength of your wisdom.”</div>
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All down the sidewalk, the heads of the scattered kids snap in his direction and, in a Pavlovian reaction that seems to startle them as much as it startles me, they chant back in unison, some of them laughing out loud at the incongruousness of playing out this temple scene in the middle of the street.</div>
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“Oh Buddha,” they call out. “Give us the aid of your strength and your wisdom.”</div>
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Chris improvises a haunting open-throated melody over the chanting. Then he continues. “And help us to prove to the visiting English that we are an extraordinary and remarkable people.”</div>
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The kids chant back. “And help us to prove to the visiting English that we are an extraordinary and remarkable people.”<br />
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<a href="http://ideasmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/unnamed7.png" style="border: none; clear: left; color: #00c0e5; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Chris takes a bow" class="size-medium wp-image-3539" src="http://ideasmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/unnamed7-200x300.png" height="320" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(50, 50, 50, 0.298039) 1px 1px 3px 1px; -webkit-transition: all 0.18s ease-out; border: 0px; box-shadow: none; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 5px; max-width: 100%; transition: all 0.18s ease-out; vertical-align: middle;" width="213" /></a><span style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; line-height: normal;">The skinny-jean kids make a big deal about showing us and each other that they think this is the gayest, wackest, weakest, freakiest, most retarded thing they’ve ever seen. But they’ve clearly lost momentum. Because now they’re outnumbered. And our kids may be freaks, but they’re taking themselves seriously, 100% committed to their weirdness. They continue with the scene, getting louder and louder, more aggressively jubilant, as the firemen shuttle in and out of the building and the skinny-jean kids start to back away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">Barry looks up at Chris. Chris spreads the fingers of one hand wide, sets his open palm down on the top of Barry’s head and gives it a reassuring squeeze. Then he looks over at me and smiles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">One of the firemen stomps around the edge of the crowd and puts a gloved hand on the back of my shoulder. “You’re good to go, honey,” he says, swinging himself up into the cab of the truck and slamming the door behind him. He leans out the window on a huge beefy forearm and shakes his head with a kind of bemused amazement at the crowd of half-dressed, waltzing, chanting teenagers. “Good luck,” he says, with a raspy little chuckle. “Or—wait—what is it you theater kids say?”</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 1.4em;">“Break a leg!” the kids call out loudly.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 1.4em;">“Yeah, right. That’s it,” he says with a nod. “That’s it. Break a leg.”</span></div>
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<i>All photos by Alejandro Duran at <a href="http://www.thedigitalproject.com/" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.18s ease-out; color: #00c0e5; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.18s ease-out;" target="_blank">The Digital Project</a>.</i></div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-84147345729251594612014-04-03T04:10:00.000-07:002014-04-04T04:10:58.273-07:00Why Broadway's First Black "Phantom" is a Really Big Deal<div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.2em;">
When the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/21/norm-lewis-broadway-s-first-black-phantom-on-racism-heroes-and-dream-roles.html" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.18s ease-out; color: #00c0e5; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.18s ease-out;" target="_blank">announcement</a> was made recently that Tony Nominee Norm Lewis was slated to make history as the first African American to play the lead role in <i>Phantom of the Opera</i> on Broadway, I found out because my theater-nerd students were ecstatically posting about it on Facebook.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">The reason so many of my students are fans of Lewis’ work is that it was his performance as Javert in the 25th Anniversary Concert of </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Les Misérables</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> that convinced them to take a chance on a show they’d never heard of and audition for our production of </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Les Mis</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">at Bronx Prep. I’m not prone to waiting at Broadway stage doors (or taking selfies with stars for that matter), but when I told a couple of my students I was seeing Lewis in </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Porgy and Bess</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> on Broadway back in the summer of 2012, they demanded that I stay after the show and deliver a message on their behalf. “Tell him that if he hadn’t been such an awesome Javert,” they said, “we probably never would have tried out for </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Les Mis</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">, and we would have missed out on one of the best shows our school has ever put on.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">When we first considered doing </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Les Misérables</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> at Bronx Prep, our musical director Geoffrey Kiorpes and my co-director Denisse Polanco and I didn’t actually think it would fly.</span><br />
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<a href="http://ideasmyth.com/braving-storms-kate-quarfordt-on-why-you-should-care-about-broadways-first-black-phantom/">Continue reading on the Ideablog at Ideasmyth.com</a>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-25980562824120244072014-04-02T04:08:00.000-07:002014-04-04T04:08:45.821-07:00Tonight, In the Role of the Man-Eating Plant (or, How a Venus Flytrap Saved My Marriage)<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Abel, serif; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 1px 0px;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em;">“Well, I sure do agree you’re in a pickle, there,” says the maddeningly chipper phone receptionist. “But our rental agreement clearly states that the puppet needs to be operated by a performer of above-average height and superior athleticism.”</span></h1>
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“Right,” I say, struggling not to throw my cell phone across the gym. “But, this kid’s over 6 feet tall and built like a linebacker.”</div>
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“Mm-hmm,” says the phone lady soothingly. “Well, let’s troubleshoot. Tell me: How is the young man’s thigh strength?”</div>
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We’re eight days from opening night of our school’s annual spring musical. This year we’re doing “Little Shop of Horrors.”</div>
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<span style="color: #333399; font-size: xx-small;"><em> The cast of “Little Shop” around the piano with Dr. Kiorpes</em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Compared to other shows I’ve directed, we’re actually in pretty decent shape. Lines are learned, songs are choreographed, costumes are sewn and organized. Parents have worked around the clock transforming the crappy bare stage in the corner of our gym into a professional-looking set. And our lead puppeteer, a talented senior named Keegon—who, let’s be honest, may not be an Olympian but is far and away the tallest and stockiest kid in the cast—has spent the last three months not only memorizing every line, lyric and facial tic of Audrey II, the show’s infamous killer flytrap, but has also learned how to synch his body movements to the plant’s vocals, which are performed by another actor offstage.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Now all Keegon needs is an actual puppet. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://ideasmyth.com/braving-storms-kate-quarfordt-tonight-in-the-role-of-the-man-eating-plant-2/">Continue reading on the Ideablog at Ideasmyth.com</a></span>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-63933878090279352662014-04-01T04:05:00.000-07:002014-04-04T04:05:58.231-07:00Writing Down the Fear<div style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.2em;">
For the past five years I’ve been talking about writing a book about my experiences teaching theater in the South Bronx. Again and again over the years, life circumstances have intervened and pulled my focus off the project. With a home full of three young children and a teaching career I can’t seem to fully hit pause on, there is always a reason not to write.</div>
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Still, the dream of the book has not died. And so, slowly and painstakingly over the last six months—sometimes in fifteen-minute chunks as I nurse a baby, or in a waking dream state after getting up with a sick kid, or on my now only once-weekly commute up to school on the D train—I’ve started writing it.</div>
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Mostly, the experience has been exciting and alleviating. What a relief, at long last, to be getting out of my own way and flexing a new set of creative muscles. What a joy to bear witness on the page to the lessons I’ve learned in the presence of my extraordinary students.</div>
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But there’s been a shadow side, too.</div>
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<a href="http://ideasmyth.com/braving-storms-kate-quarfordt-on-writing-down-the-fear/">Continue reading on the Ideablog at Ideasmyth.com</a>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-39832077991369752562014-03-31T09:49:00.004-07:002014-03-31T09:49:38.287-07:00Kicking Ass at Being Vulnerable<h1 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Abel, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 1px 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><em><span style="color: navy;"> Kate teaching theater, Bronx Prep, 2003</span></em></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">“What does being brave mean to you?” I ask my high school theater students.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">It’s fall of 2003, my third week of teaching. We’ve been working on monologues.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">Things have not been going well. The first two weeks I couldn’t even get a volunteer to stand up and read a single line of text out loud. Improvisation exercises have helped loosen the kids up a little, but now that they’ve got scripts in their hands again, their acting is mechanical and wooden. Kids who swagger through the hallways dripping charisma stiffen up and go dead once they get up in front of each other in class.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">I’ve been offering steady encouragement, but the kids aren’t fooled. “Miss, don’t sugarcoat it,” a girl named Nina says. “We pretty much suck at this.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">So today, I’m taking a different approach. I’m asking about bravery.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://ideasmyth.com/loving-your-work-kate-quarfordt-on-kicking-ass-at-being-vulnerable/">Click here to keep reading on IDEASMYTH's Ideablog</a></span>Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-68225673614614761322014-03-21T09:50:00.005-07:002014-03-21T09:50:56.955-07:00DREAMGIRLS at Bronx Prep!<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Rehearsals for Bronx Prep's production of Dreamgirls are in full swing, and the cast looks and sounds FABULOUS. I'm so grateful to have the chance to stay involved with the program this year as a mentor to our new director Julie Feltman. She is stepping up beautifully and the kids are shining under her leadership. So proud of everyone. Show runs May 21st-23rd! I can't wait.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br />
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-83929766584297619102014-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:002014-03-21T09:45:21.991-07:00A New Generation of Creative Leadership in the Bronx<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">
Our January production of <b>Honk, Jr.</b> marked the first time in a decade that I wasn't personally running the ship for a Bronx Prep show. My fellow creative instigator Julie Feltman, who has worked with us for many years coaching vocals, designing sets and teaching kids to use power tools, has come on as Academy's main adult leader this year as I spend some extra time with my growing brood on the homefront. I've had the privilege of mentoring Julie as she provides mentoring to our talented team of high school kids, who are in turn mentoring our middle school performers!</div>
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Special thanks Rosie, Lou and the staff of <a href="http://www.thepoint.org/">The Point</a>, and to the audience members--including lots of returning alumni--who packed the theater at The Point and cheered on our performers. Rock on, BP Fam!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">On the way to dress rehearsal at The Point</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">A surprise visit from last year's directing mentor Ashley, home from college!</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6SLuLcL2dffZ2tfVwrnaWBr4YVyE9dA15KPShBW02flPmeAzRuc2lZiAOW7-x3bWMt6U_F4R0tU03GTRlXR4M83o0hO3sq84xo69e3Ohr1t6QtATuNxGQ0bgqdEWELBUEcPydfR9TcI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.43.29+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6SLuLcL2dffZ2tfVwrnaWBr4YVyE9dA15KPShBW02flPmeAzRuc2lZiAOW7-x3bWMt6U_F4R0tU03GTRlXR4M83o0hO3sq84xo69e3Ohr1t6QtATuNxGQ0bgqdEWELBUEcPydfR9TcI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.43.29+AM.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Budding romance</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgavXiX4_TS9dN9t9D9Q4V0VPsI7zczmt2dGVQfGsZyQirl5FWdGgHKTA_m3S7eU3_nwgn9t95Nqm9q7uaVYvUW7l6aYFxJZPU40m97d34EUijC-12nXMVCCvyoF_r33b4SphMdghgjC0g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.34+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgavXiX4_TS9dN9t9D9Q4V0VPsI7zczmt2dGVQfGsZyQirl5FWdGgHKTA_m3S7eU3_nwgn9t95Nqm9q7uaVYvUW7l6aYFxJZPU40m97d34EUijC-12nXMVCCvyoF_r33b4SphMdghgjC0g/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.34+AM.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">The Cat shows the barnyard who's boss</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-HGsoRJ7bqoh2wTUsVU0evzNq0QQ3eVSMsxNojEj4l2QPjgwz15HZd74Wyqkgn02NOhgDhLBtyOdWpX9h2XLPLYxPLf2djrCPFGtwIJpovEPMPDeQ4mds98FUCrms0DZMKBsdBwUFrAo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.55+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-HGsoRJ7bqoh2wTUsVU0evzNq0QQ3eVSMsxNojEj4l2QPjgwz15HZd74Wyqkgn02NOhgDhLBtyOdWpX9h2XLPLYxPLf2djrCPFGtwIJpovEPMPDeQ4mds98FUCrms0DZMKBsdBwUFrAo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.55+AM.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">"Look at Him!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbEjhJBzQUxX0SiJAaZ0c3mwQeMuESg_CQekih_oaJ8IthEtQp75RHHhqkOy9TVHOscGliaUtUkz6wIo_LHfgHgSHWdJheq7dRtt4bjDg2YMB2vmou4FCnJ8BkdehuiEtkhVqctleudQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.51.19+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbEjhJBzQUxX0SiJAaZ0c3mwQeMuESg_CQekih_oaJ8IthEtQp75RHHhqkOy9TVHOscGliaUtUkz6wIo_LHfgHgSHWdJheq7dRtt4bjDg2YMB2vmou4FCnJ8BkdehuiEtkhVqctleudQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.51.19+AM.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">The girls strut their stuff!</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioF6tOoeaFq6HfC57nwmr4g4tvMphE7_zsE_6t0-SzJFuiCBjsGI1dTwXITSY9JW5FJztdgHukv9POx8BzIrZ3UKmMaP2KF5TciENK1Qt0pD6HcmfiDqYG7rFykDRfgu_FgK1hYF8VJbI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.19+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioF6tOoeaFq6HfC57nwmr4g4tvMphE7_zsE_6t0-SzJFuiCBjsGI1dTwXITSY9JW5FJztdgHukv9POx8BzIrZ3UKmMaP2KF5TciENK1Qt0pD6HcmfiDqYG7rFykDRfgu_FgK1hYF8VJbI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-05+at+11.50.19+AM.png" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Shining in the spotlight</td></tr>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-16856398760619985242013-12-21T04:37:00.000-08:002014-04-04T07:51:35.155-07:00Annual BX-BK Holiday Cookie Party, December 2013<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;">This year marks the 7th anniversary of our annual BX-BK fake-bake-sale holiday cookie party throw-down. You can read all about the roots of the tradition <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/the-heart-of-teaching-and_b_398230.html">HERE.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg9Rl3bvemjHPwIG0R18eTMwsSPKNdL-VsrA3mywvrdiQGoBw-FQ6U5cgho6F5XBRgN1Wb8I1gH_aOs4Cqm1RVL1fOxLFNwnqVCly_ueqzLQ4mJC5X5y_vx1iQw_6H69OxlsDfQ7BhWU/s1600/Q+and+Ingrid.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSg9Rl3bvemjHPwIG0R18eTMwsSPKNdL-VsrA3mywvrdiQGoBw-FQ6U5cgho6F5XBRgN1Wb8I1gH_aOs4Cqm1RVL1fOxLFNwnqVCly_ueqzLQ4mJC5X5y_vx1iQw_6H69OxlsDfQ7BhWU/s1600/Q+and+Ingrid.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ingrid came early this year and helped Q, Denisse and Letishia get started on cookies</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrX2HS_2sl0l-1cnS4GbCNXGUPSIGhx2gLfIw5E6GiCXh3H6CIuX7XEeH3lKiqBjVIfVvSQeIBNTKN7PPpwpzBew8OsI_3EOMgiRryucFHqCfDVtUbdK5MZ6CEXrk1bcxt8NpjAoN1lrE/s1600/at+the+table.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrX2HS_2sl0l-1cnS4GbCNXGUPSIGhx2gLfIw5E6GiCXh3H6CIuX7XEeH3lKiqBjVIfVvSQeIBNTKN7PPpwpzBew8OsI_3EOMgiRryucFHqCfDVtUbdK5MZ6CEXrk1bcxt8NpjAoN1lrE/s1600/at+the+table.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siri and Lyle bond with the ladies at the table</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7ymmDyQToNPrUQSFWFlStNJ1iwISw6SnlVvVh-sRcz-WCf1zg9UgSO42LpTbQSVNC-GCWm03g801QKkGPGVomqWzJvrM1Xx-7CnrDVJ3F1Tvq-1sVtDyZEnOK08yasipYWVnm2NzkM4/s1600/bintou.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI7ymmDyQToNPrUQSFWFlStNJ1iwISw6SnlVvVh-sRcz-WCf1zg9UgSO42LpTbQSVNC-GCWm03g801QKkGPGVomqWzJvrM1Xx-7CnrDVJ3F1Tvq-1sVtDyZEnOK08yasipYWVnm2NzkM4/s1600/bintou.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bintou holds it down in the kitchen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzpSbVGLIwVSbeF2Qbtb5Q7bUG9hqIuK-Rz9rz69HM91GwAXB-P1Ckz2aVEZrt_7Yaa7jWu1K4tieaItKNwGyn9EC3yekt2jqBFdxbw46T2atuBidyCdyaVtPZKk_WlI7WN4MVoXVYnI/s1600/crowded+table.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzpSbVGLIwVSbeF2Qbtb5Q7bUG9hqIuK-Rz9rz69HM91GwAXB-P1Ckz2aVEZrt_7Yaa7jWu1K4tieaItKNwGyn9EC3yekt2jqBFdxbw46T2atuBidyCdyaVtPZKk_WlI7WN4MVoXVYnI/s1600/crowded+table.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. K poses with a crowded table</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nPnDNHgA1rB35CKBdwwGOMq4Sr7gkBRcfVizvDy94i5Fx7Pr6UbeBdMDot4fTTA3AWbdrfsOKsufFs_0jumokeW5DeI0bOsZfgdIsH2vzkliUiZAU0NNOAm4gAli0osjSHYTKLlZ6vY/s1600/Denisse+and+Siri.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nPnDNHgA1rB35CKBdwwGOMq4Sr7gkBRcfVizvDy94i5Fx7Pr6UbeBdMDot4fTTA3AWbdrfsOKsufFs_0jumokeW5DeI0bOsZfgdIsH2vzkliUiZAU0NNOAm4gAli0osjSHYTKLlZ6vY/s1600/Denisse+and+Siri.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siri and Denisse</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kcoyl9nsRKXblCqpZrokizx0CQMj9EYBUNd4q0EE7sPLbxIss7DTZgPmg5JHfh2LvyIaJKSE9hUdgmygArxFTQDfZT15ELbBOvMYq3o0A2xY7bFtYzRL9w4F5keddVh2aX8aEwq1cvY/s1600/gathering.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kcoyl9nsRKXblCqpZrokizx0CQMj9EYBUNd4q0EE7sPLbxIss7DTZgPmg5JHfh2LvyIaJKSE9hUdgmygArxFTQDfZT15ELbBOvMYq3o0A2xY7bFtYzRL9w4F5keddVh2aX8aEwq1cvY/s1600/gathering.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing "Celebrity"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWzVj6TlBskj_cgYTNs30cmpIaWBpJxPL1r4hh_s7Bwa0h5xSY8C1gv1k1X5vWJHOUoSzVRu0Rn6lklTITOx-R4-WS2_wzf0G5ful-BB3R53_4OR_44VmNoQPScm7fbi2lhO3eCoKI3M/s1600/celebrity.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWzVj6TlBskj_cgYTNs30cmpIaWBpJxPL1r4hh_s7Bwa0h5xSY8C1gv1k1X5vWJHOUoSzVRu0Rn6lklTITOx-R4-WS2_wzf0G5ful-BB3R53_4OR_44VmNoQPScm7fbi2lhO3eCoKI3M/s1600/celebrity.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting competitive</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP667NTpS6wDw304mqhDcmdqbXhLEuFvtr1uWJ0Og2lyepd6kDBvYyCC7KIp_x_pQoHAT8GLoG9A7_N07WjWM77wwOHxVefbJhO7mcU_NAyJV_riale-bhjKJ-ymAST6Jp2GABNmDJIaU/s1600/Girls+in+the+Kitchen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP667NTpS6wDw304mqhDcmdqbXhLEuFvtr1uWJ0Og2lyepd6kDBvYyCC7KIp_x_pQoHAT8GLoG9A7_N07WjWM77wwOHxVefbJhO7mcU_NAyJV_riale-bhjKJ-ymAST6Jp2GABNmDJIaU/s1600/Girls+in+the+Kitchen.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie and the ladies</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuMWpvKzeNB6ss7iavEfCOoxnwbItf90nfXsQRu-KdJPwsx-V2wfy7fkQWipWsaFPcjVjrDWyCcC988TY5hauAYlCSBLB6pn0J2jVNc81Job3g2I5X8oISOPdb8faUPIMDqd5im_wIrg/s1600/BX+BK+Cookie+Party.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuMWpvKzeNB6ss7iavEfCOoxnwbItf90nfXsQRu-KdJPwsx-V2wfy7fkQWipWsaFPcjVjrDWyCcC988TY5hauAYlCSBLB6pn0J2jVNc81Job3g2I5X8oISOPdb8faUPIMDqd5im_wIrg/s1600/BX+BK+Cookie+Party.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole crew</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanq680aMPIxB6ix7sYXnd3-qaTy5pzEN__8Uy2edsXSZMEstTgiXzpD1xRx8r2JrgLNt_auUsO632B9zOYVcquGoNX_AzLGsxkuawLbMEF9lJutt3ifiVqzgBiio0GxP_OO1fLuZIgN4/s1600/Jada+and+the+light.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanq680aMPIxB6ix7sYXnd3-qaTy5pzEN__8Uy2edsXSZMEstTgiXzpD1xRx8r2JrgLNt_auUsO632B9zOYVcquGoNX_AzLGsxkuawLbMEF9lJutt3ifiVqzgBiio0GxP_OO1fLuZIgN4/s1600/Jada+and+the+light.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chanukah is officially over but tradition dictates we sing the blessing anyway...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5JKZJxTXM42Rp-dNsVaMRtjSerelSjzSnOA3AsSnZgP-H_sO7Q6OUQrPXzeSge4Cuwox6SUcvyd5W4vj-d_HVtwwKmXjFFdTubEh29N3lSYl24ckCzhEc7-axH7jLR9sbXW3nJZfdXY/s1600/Gathering+'round+the+menorah.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5JKZJxTXM42Rp-dNsVaMRtjSerelSjzSnOA3AsSnZgP-H_sO7Q6OUQrPXzeSge4Cuwox6SUcvyd5W4vj-d_HVtwwKmXjFFdTubEh29N3lSYl24ckCzhEc7-axH7jLR9sbXW3nJZfdXY/s1600/Gathering+'round+the+menorah.png" height="318" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We also light all the other holiday candles in the house and sing "Light in the Soul"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FO7PhPvmK91OsJKkVwa4zWKm9OtsjlkaBvdApr2yxol3r6wPVE9oVUgOWr1PZTkEzQaqXPYDoTNVu3xoW5XzFHxAv2trgfMoffRyYbiAY5O2VaCjqspvMpnpV776DYZEdsCLD8FZWzE/s1600/Lyle+and+Siri+and+the+menorah.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FO7PhPvmK91OsJKkVwa4zWKm9OtsjlkaBvdApr2yxol3r6wPVE9oVUgOWr1PZTkEzQaqXPYDoTNVu3xoW5XzFHxAv2trgfMoffRyYbiAY5O2VaCjqspvMpnpV776DYZEdsCLD8FZWzE/s1600/Lyle+and+Siri+and+the+menorah.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the kids head home, Siri and Lyle watch the candles burn down</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A peaceful moment in the quiet kitchen before bedtime</td></tr>
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A Lantern Floats in Brooklyn: A Mandela Tribute My Kids Will Never Forget</h1>
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Just a few hours before I heard the news of Mandela's passing, I was struggling to write about a contentious, emotionally-charged charter school co-location hearing that took place recently in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Fort Greene. I'm not especially prone to frustrated outbursts, but the writing was going badly, and at a certain point I got so overwhelmed by the swarm of voices duking it out in my head over charter school policy, local politics, teacher assessment, social justice, gentrification and school reform, that the next thing I knew I was slamming my laptop shut, shoving myself back from my desk and yelling -- out loud to no one, like a crazy person -- "I'm not doing this! This is IMPOSSIBLE!"</div>
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Not a great note to end a writing session on, but it had gotten late and it was time to quit anyway. I needed to snap back into mom-mode and get home to make dinner, wrestle my three small kids into their pajamas, and get the bedtime launch sequence started. I gathered up my stuff and checked my phone, and only then did I see that Mandela had passed away.</div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-42731587019461018372013-10-23T09:56:00.000-07:002014-03-21T09:56:15.186-07:00Keepers of the Story: Young Theater Artists Thrive at Irondale<br />
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Keepers of the Story: Young Theater Artists Thrive at Irondale</h1>
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<span class="arial_11 color_696969" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(105, 105, 105) !important; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Posted: 10/23/2013 9:14 am</span><a class="absolute print-link" data-beacon="{"p":{"lnid":"print"}}" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/keepers-of-the-story-youn_b_4148332.html?view=print&comm_ref=false" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/v/authors_follow_icons.png); background-position: -80px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #058b7b; display: block; height: 17px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration: none; top: 0px; width: 20px;"></a></div>
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"Being a brilliant storyteller is different from just being a <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">raconteur,</em>" says Jim Niesen, co-founder and director of Brooklyn-based <a href="http://irondale.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Irondale Ensemble Project</a>, looking up from the photocopied text in his lap at the actors gathered around the script-strewn table. On his left, several adult Irondale actors nod in agreement, while on his right, four teenage members of the ensemble's Young Company squirm a little and dodge his gaze. Jim grins at them. "Maybe 'raconteur' is a new word for you all," he offers. Andre, a slender high school student with short-cropped hair and a dazzling smile, bugs his eyes out and whispers, "Busted!" There is playful laughter from the group. Jim swivels in his chair, ignoring the more experienced actors now and directing himself with laser-beam focus straight at the teens. "A raconteur is someone who can tell a good anecdote, hit you with a one-liner. A wise-cracker, right?" Andre and the other kids nod. "But a storyteller is different. A brilliant storyteller in some cultures is revered as a shaman. The keeper of the history of the tribe, you know?"</div>
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<a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-10-23-Terryandthecast.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="2013-10-23-Terryandthecast.jpg" height="203" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-10-23-Terryandthecast-thumb.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a>It's two weeks from opening night of <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Dead End</em>, the first-ever production in Irondale's 30-year history that puts teenage actors from the group's Young Company in prominent roles alongside their professional adult counterparts. I'm sitting at the table with Jim and the cast, feeling privileged to be watching kids on the cusp of becoming professionals being taught by example how to take responsibility for the stories they tell.</div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-24852050544483254642013-09-01T15:34:00.000-07:002014-04-03T15:36:14.610-07:00The Cycles of Work<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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September 1st, 2013.</div>
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Today marks the first Back-to-School month since I was five years old--three if you count pre-school--that I haven't been preparing to step into a classroom, as either a student or a teacher.</div>
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With ten years behind me at Bronx Prep and now with three small children at home, I find myself at a creative crossroads of sorts. To be honest, this is the kind of moment that might have paralyzed me in the past.</div>
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Luckily, a decade into this teaching journey, I have tools up my sleeve that come in handy in moments like these. One of my favorites is the image on the right, a wheel representing the seasonal cycle that I use with my students to bring a sense of rhythm and momentum to our project-based work.</div>
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What's great about this cycle is that it can scale up or down (and contain infinite numbers of nested mini-cycles), so it can describe a project of any duration--from the arc of a single class period to a month-long unit, to a full year of work... or even the span of a long career. No matter the length of the project, the principles are the same:</div>
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<span class="mimi-bullet" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">▪</span> Starting with the spring phase, we get inspired and <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">plant the seeds</span>, building excitement about the questions and ideas we're grappling with, and connecting to why we care about them.<br style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><span class="mimi-bullet" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">▪</span> The summer phase brings a period of focused practice and work, symbolized by <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">tending the crops</span>. During this time we roll our sleeves up and get down and dirty; we embrace struggle, we wrestle and hustle and grind.<br style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><span class="mimi-bullet" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">▪</span> The autumn energy is a time to <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">celebrate the harvest</span>, when the fruits of our labors are presented, either for a small group within a classroom or onstage for the whole world to see.<br style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;" /><span class="mimi-bullet" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">▪</span> And finally, the winter brings an invitation to <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">rest the soil</span>, to reflect on what has been created and to replenish the creative forces in preparation for the next project. </div>
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Over the years I've found that working with this wheel can bring coherence to creative processes that can otherwise feel jumbled or unwieldy. It can also serve as a great diagnostic tool, helping us get unstuck by showing us where we're out of balance, which phases we may have overindulged and which we need to pay more attention to.</div>
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One interesting discovery I've made, both in working with young artists as well as in my own creative practice, is that the last phase--the winter--is often the most difficult to commit to. This may seem counterintuitive, since resting is the stage that seems to require the least amount of effort. But I think it's hard for many of us--especially in a culture that values the feel-good juiciness of inspiration, the yeoman grit of hard work, and the varnished shine of a finished product--to give ourselves a chance to just chill for a minute. It's hard for a lot of us to rest. To reflect. To replenish.</div>
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But I think--no, I <em style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">know</em>--that it's necessary, and it's worth it.</div>
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So as the days get longer... and as baby number three forces me to stay a bit closer to home... I'm welcoming the opportunity to rest the soil for a little while. To reflect on--and write about--the work my students and I have created together. And to replenish my inner life in preparation for the next big thing... whatever that may be. Maybe I'll launch headlong back into the fray at Bronx Prep next year. Maybe I'll help smooth a transition to new leadership there and follow the unfolding of a new project.</div>
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Either way, <span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I know I'm not alone in this need to pause occasionally</span>. So for now, here's a gentle call to all of my fellow creative instigators out there: In the midst of your bustling lives, your vibrant creations, your heart-busted-open support of your students, colleagues, clients, family members and friends... Is there a moment of pause with your name on it?</div>
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Hoping you find it... and that when you do, you fill it with a long, slow, sweet breath.</div>
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P.S. Big thanks to my former student Chris Moncrief, whose experiences working with the season wheel at <a href="http://farmandwilderness.org/" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear, opacity; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #29c3e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear, opacity; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">Farm and Wilderness Camp</a> have had a transformative effect on his teaching and leadership skills, and by extension, on mine.</div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-9084706020067653532013-08-12T09:59:00.000-07:002014-03-21T10:00:27.889-07:00High-Stakes 2.0: Letting Kids Run the Show<br />
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High-Stakes 2.0: Letting Kids Run the Show</h1>
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<span class="arial_11 color_696969" style="border: 0px; color: rgb(105, 105, 105) !important; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Posted: 08/12/2013 8:56 am</span><a class="absolute print-link" data-beacon="{"p":{"lnid":"print"}}" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/highstakes-20-letting-kid_b_3735953.html?view=print&comm_ref=false" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: url(http://s.huffpost.com/images/v/authors_follow_icons.png); background-position: -80px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; color: #ed0978; display: block; height: 17px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration: none; top: 0px; width: 20px;"></a></div>
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"Oh my god, you're the playwright? It's soooo amazing to meet you!"</div>
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Brian -- my former theater student and star of the production of <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Les Miserábles</em> I co-directed with students last year in the South Bronx -- fights through the crowd in the lobby of Atlantic Stage 2 in Manhattan. He's still sweating from his opening night performance of<em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Circuits</em>, one of two student-written one-acts currently in production by <a href="http://www.nationalstudenttheatre.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">National Theater for Student Artists</a>.</div>
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As Brian lunges forward to hug the young playwright of <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Circuits</em>, she shouts, "You were fantastic!" and they launch into a volley of overlapping compliments. The lobby around them is a jumble of whooping, high-fives and gravity-defying hugs. Audience members vie to congratulate exuberant swarms of student directors, designers, stage managers and actors -- the oldest recent college grads, the youngest fresh out of eighth grade. From across the lobby, I catch NTSA founder and executive director Victoria Chatfield's eye and wink. Judging by the jubilant reaction of this opening night crowd, her high-stakes gamble is paying off big-time.</div>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/highstakes-20-letting-kid_b_3735953.html">Continue Reading on Huffington Post</a></div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-63745350844406317192013-08-10T01:16:00.001-07:002014-03-21T10:05:17.005-07:00VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of "In the Heights" with Lin-Manuel Miranda<br />
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<span class="userContent">Huge gratitude to Lin-Manuel Miranda for paying it forward in the BX and props to my boys <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=520955934&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/alejandro.duran.908?directed_target_id=0" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Alejandro</a>, Anthony and Fabian at The Digital Project for helping us tell the story.</span></div>
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<strong><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=156195014444203" href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=545893625474338&id=156195014444203" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Lin-Manuel Miranda</a></strong></div>
<span class="caption" data-ft="{"tn":"L"}"><a href="http://t.co/pfQqIRi9YS" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://t.co/pfQqIRi9YS</a></span><br />
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Still carrying these kids in my heart: <a href="http://t.co/pfQqIRi9YS" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://t.co/pfQqIRi9YS</a>. Thanks for this, @katequarfordt. What a gift!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/70904963"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSefC1TzzanU-c_EOU5xauaVYykhStdbNBnCv_qgl7GAwt3y1WHbXaplGx7kk2yA9WfkYznoT3ZvuC2U2554TvWfcu3SFT3ciClWVJSZyQYTjM5Jzr6v79KgVdvgOeFxtQvUFza9MSbBQ/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-21+at+1.02.06+PM.png" height="360" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/70904963">Click to Play Video of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Amazing Visit to Bronx Prep</a></td></tr>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-58943374510530075112013-08-01T01:33:00.000-07:002013-08-10T01:36:45.673-07:00Nerding it Up with "In the Heights" Writer and Star Lin-Manuel Miranda<br />
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Back before we even kicked off auditions for "In the Heights" at Bronx Prep, I wrote <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/broadway-in-el-barrio-and_b_2852650.html" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear, opacity; background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #29c3e6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank">this article</a> about taking students to see the original Broadway cast in a reunion concert, and how excited we were to be putting on a show that spoke so directly to students' lives. An hour or two after the post went live, I got a message from the show's Tony-award-winning creator, writer and star--the kids' (and my) idol: Lin-Manuel Miranda. He thanked me for the article, which he said gave him a "thoroughly Mr. Holland's Opus-esque ugly cry," and offered to come visit us in the Bronx. (Of course I read his message in the middle of rehearsal and got teary-eyed in front of 50 students. Thanks, Lin.)<br />
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In his message he shared that when he directed "West Side Story" as a high school senior, a well-connected parent was able to arrange for Stephen Sondheim to come talk with his theater group. That conversation, he said, changed the course of his life and inspired him to want to pay it forward with my students.<br />
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How did we feel about this? To steal a phrase from his Facebook post: Grateful Grateful Grateful Grateful Grateful Grateful. GREAT. FULL.<br />
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Lin-Manuel's visit to Bronx Prep was hilarious, thought-provoking, energizing, raw and inspiring... Definitely a day that made us all super proud to embrace our inner theater geeks.<br />
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Check out the pictures below and watch a little video snippet<a href="http://t.co/pfQqIRi9YS"> HERE.</a><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lin-Manuel holds forth about the creative process... and staying true to your inner nerd</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Lin and Tosh freestyle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-vFEm92RlSc1gPgtDEWu-YeMWjJFlXTb9E3MZMSJmKYS0WoyS0SX4QDyEQ1j6p5Ec3ySW9RpBfrt7CuXWlzrWoBSLX02oM-oMZs_J2U0yb0Im0Xlf3ogOwkTOgIwfj5W2OuoTwDp8JM/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-vFEm92RlSc1gPgtDEWu-YeMWjJFlXTb9E3MZMSJmKYS0WoyS0SX4QDyEQ1j6p5Ec3ySW9RpBfrt7CuXWlzrWoBSLX02oM-oMZs_J2U0yb0Im0Xlf3ogOwkTOgIwfj5W2OuoTwDp8JM/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0931.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">What rhymes with "Piragua"?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZumNg1k0u34t2MJkXt9OiCpylrI9Ehmlqttr8LEQMQKChlSoFrgPQZVEaD-BZUr-9-KJbLHRKeZxQvI-WVZAzr_gnLKfmHXjfFcmY9mNiNXUXW6tiFCpvcDyYyUaHG9R4S4x-F-aL18/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZumNg1k0u34t2MJkXt9OiCpylrI9Ehmlqttr8LEQMQKChlSoFrgPQZVEaD-BZUr-9-KJbLHRKeZxQvI-WVZAzr_gnLKfmHXjfFcmY9mNiNXUXW6tiFCpvcDyYyUaHG9R4S4x-F-aL18/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1037.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Big Pun lyrics blow Lin's mind</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnOFm5hN2ANHpBODhe88MyXnBPm0YG2DNdaDzJWuUwrjIlIb9Bc46FQIwXV-_8-siCkH7n3LeKtfwmBd9xUYTe0gNNOU7hsA-VNSyH5JSk7HXX-gJvOba3kgDkOKyjm0hxfvvoAF5Fpw/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0779.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWnOFm5hN2ANHpBODhe88MyXnBPm0YG2DNdaDzJWuUwrjIlIb9Bc46FQIwXV-_8-siCkH7n3LeKtfwmBd9xUYTe0gNNOU7hsA-VNSyH5JSk7HXX-gJvOba3kgDkOKyjm0hxfvvoAF5Fpw/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0779.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Q & A</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWP7o8KHlPbxLwRfS0oTwmZ6yHqwVn188ERJ4FuqLHlTfajnblEyUGDuHvQ46ZgEFgNDwwIXjx_IcTQ_ERRGusKSDmrOcs0SRj0rygFwutCdWxR7HrWFRsDwmgYICh_XPBAFjjxHW9TA/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWP7o8KHlPbxLwRfS0oTwmZ6yHqwVn188ERJ4FuqLHlTfajnblEyUGDuHvQ46ZgEFgNDwwIXjx_IcTQ_ERRGusKSDmrOcs0SRj0rygFwutCdWxR7HrWFRsDwmgYICh_XPBAFjjxHW9TA/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-0855.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Hanging on every word</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtINq7B-21LMoc-EtyCY0Xs7N5WU8Q3HsnSpROSkHmT1V7f74h-ETyvpJF6jAFSrdnUN9VTCD4a3qE5GslWIqnv4Dcothk090jEHEcnLOg82F8XobOfqGPZy4AIMfZmDzFNpxcLb2C2w/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirtINq7B-21LMoc-EtyCY0Xs7N5WU8Q3HsnSpROSkHmT1V7f74h-ETyvpJF6jAFSrdnUN9VTCD4a3qE5GslWIqnv4Dcothk090jEHEcnLOg82F8XobOfqGPZy4AIMfZmDzFNpxcLb2C2w/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1122.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">The cast performs Club Scene</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-13ZaYiAOzsz31rqsGfW2bUhQqyWbAdJ5UOnOKZgCKOFage8dbtHuw2UgrzhYYtwajxnG8JbIK36lrcAaTcvIhexpeNxWhrN2D4MewDbtUrDNax5NDmBYS6wzZZIi-kLvgLka3KX15Os/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-13ZaYiAOzsz31rqsGfW2bUhQqyWbAdJ5UOnOKZgCKOFage8dbtHuw2UgrzhYYtwajxnG8JbIK36lrcAaTcvIhexpeNxWhrN2D4MewDbtUrDNax5NDmBYS6wzZZIi-kLvgLka3KX15Os/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1134.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Cracking up...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3CvPBjwsf7AZaS4Wqta0VIQHDRCuLggQM7WFQJzV7HxqCInikt0DDb0fU6BVfT8Y3ZaDB3rywg-hWLMcyW7lvqiiRbh7gYONCqricfPQ0XmjRLYT2p1e2j-Ot1hhRquMcv0FVVa_EHSI/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3CvPBjwsf7AZaS4Wqta0VIQHDRCuLggQM7WFQJzV7HxqCInikt0DDb0fU6BVfT8Y3ZaDB3rywg-hWLMcyW7lvqiiRbh7gYONCqricfPQ0XmjRLYT2p1e2j-Ot1hhRquMcv0FVVa_EHSI/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1157.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">"Look at the fireworks..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOFFztBKjHst5uF7ckJeHUxeqp3aY378geD4FpKhgPYrHHL4l5ecosC7VdjHDUYDzFuSRW0WiFgleItMsTicTVSFel_umb9A-Tl8pTNAk3EqyO4zlABTkiArpcbmqYTy1mgsSw35TBqnU/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1166.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOFFztBKjHst5uF7ckJeHUxeqp3aY378geD4FpKhgPYrHHL4l5ecosC7VdjHDUYDzFuSRW0WiFgleItMsTicTVSFel_umb9A-Tl8pTNAk3EqyO4zlABTkiArpcbmqYTy1mgsSw35TBqnU/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1166.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Blackout</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimF2vRJ9oCJwYBQmaKtHMjiVZmlAQC8kvNvPJcCjSOUJhl7B-zjL7SoIsZpR8eCK09NmncehF5efCbF8eN9uNn1nnMV1lvhLFwg6g3yzp6DdgTRYj3eGqW_kZeqnkx_XActMTojtrPE9c/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimF2vRJ9oCJwYBQmaKtHMjiVZmlAQC8kvNvPJcCjSOUJhl7B-zjL7SoIsZpR8eCK09NmncehF5efCbF8eN9uNn1nnMV1lvhLFwg6g3yzp6DdgTRYj3eGqW_kZeqnkx_XActMTojtrPE9c/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1174.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Applause</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5f2MKiDUBWTynpP1avpvHCrnynDcY_CgGd3ITlrnFQvTWQHs22FdsxX7uGjge7aUNo8ggMgS2nVaS3MmlIi_XaoFfl3wC864W1fr2-PHF1Ni7xlnhyz09r721weJbVsA6Rb_3JhtnWwU/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5f2MKiDUBWTynpP1avpvHCrnynDcY_CgGd3ITlrnFQvTWQHs22FdsxX7uGjge7aUNo8ggMgS2nVaS3MmlIi_XaoFfl3wC864W1fr2-PHF1Ni7xlnhyz09r721weJbVsA6Rb_3JhtnWwU/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1171.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">"Woot!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwp_KPvldNWrdF4vXhP_14f1Qx2gwjlYdN7hgj6aT6j2CoUR02lxnYzxpfcecsU0M2cZ9goiC5x5bAgg5MxFa6RvhtUE2-YOtzZcuDAOor5So9tptU18449NbqMb6YV9RzwjqFRjhXw0/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwp_KPvldNWrdF4vXhP_14f1Qx2gwjlYdN7hgj6aT6j2CoUR02lxnYzxpfcecsU0M2cZ9goiC5x5bAgg5MxFa6RvhtUE2-YOtzZcuDAOor5So9tptU18449NbqMb6YV9RzwjqFRjhXw0/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1181.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Heartfelt thank-you...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 1px 1px 5px; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj379KHZrQmkYZGGI0Nmk1dnSOHs9DJXleDv3gMiai6SMJ4Jq12VvhW5Ss2t3be7ZNdVMEGPqDQwiidvHz-ihwIMhJqT1CE1QlZdeD-xacVh2VXsN7oEO7q7zXT7905V7-LB-DfI5aCCNQ/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1195.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj379KHZrQmkYZGGI0Nmk1dnSOHs9DJXleDv3gMiai6SMJ4Jq12VvhW5Ss2t3be7ZNdVMEGPqDQwiidvHz-ihwIMhJqT1CE1QlZdeD-xacVh2VXsN7oEO7q7zXT7905V7-LB-DfI5aCCNQ/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1195.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">Hugs for the leading man</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizuMY3Lw8p0MOGOUjHfZ5xRVYeJ9BBRBbNwyhc28mN6kSWHZa8BiLR80ZWDqnSTgGKg7l2nsYYvkeVn3_BGzLDhaVqujg599SpT42U_iNisA9gY0woKwRLLJxXxe7lrMQvYg0bnYEHcsI/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizuMY3Lw8p0MOGOUjHfZ5xRVYeJ9BBRBbNwyhc28mN6kSWHZa8BiLR80ZWDqnSTgGKg7l2nsYYvkeVn3_BGzLDhaVqujg599SpT42U_iNisA9gY0woKwRLLJxXxe7lrMQvYg0bnYEHcsI/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1216.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">A small token of our appreciation...</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOCBhGrIH3iTs2NWlbJFvVT_wCEbW651pySN94fMdKfSK3jj33EmDc8YraaMu67A_79vOKnT42iRaN4JQplP8x_KzOS2-NKqmKa3gDGtkk5pdulzMC1OolB9iPCzu_jd-9S3p3_Zgo7o/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOCBhGrIH3iTs2NWlbJFvVT_wCEbW651pySN94fMdKfSK3jj33EmDc8YraaMu67A_79vOKnT42iRaN4JQplP8x_KzOS2-NKqmKa3gDGtkk5pdulzMC1OolB9iPCzu_jd-9S3p3_Zgo7o/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1212.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">A scrapbook of production photos and cast reflections</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhthBXMzzCSMIQML6g2ccoqgVLATNm12pZsfUxWxSPVCNPOdzv_z0zyT73ZmkUWd1fCxgwPyCdcTM94y63KG8-sWMjMWqw6hr6qO1XigyVet1_vpuyFxGxyhp9xZJjxV_YEqQ3YSIII0js/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhthBXMzzCSMIQML6g2ccoqgVLATNm12pZsfUxWxSPVCNPOdzv_z0zyT73ZmkUWd1fCxgwPyCdcTM94y63KG8-sWMjMWqw6hr6qO1XigyVet1_vpuyFxGxyhp9xZJjxV_YEqQ3YSIII0js/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda-1230.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">A few last words of wisdom</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCokF6gv5u025IPp-7PvNeSzlerIRXTrH9DnieoqtfNwDcUjKERsp57RBqxTVra5bnYx9yQqnWloi1kBtgQ6HTaxlybXfR8qZ4cnwA5vu-3GL9hNwnso-8qzHQpo5-hCSxVW2Rxx_24KA/s1600/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #1177cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCokF6gv5u025IPp-7PvNeSzlerIRXTrH9DnieoqtfNwDcUjKERsp57RBqxTVra5bnYx9yQqnWloi1kBtgQ6HTaxlybXfR8qZ4cnwA5vu-3GL9hNwnso-8qzHQpo5-hCSxVW2Rxx_24KA/s400/Lin+Manuel+Miranda+(retouched)-1252.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0976563) 0px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 11px;">A moment we'll never forget</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Photo credit: Alejandro Duran www.thedigitalproject.com</span><br />
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-26573251134089264292013-07-12T02:14:00.000-07:002013-08-10T02:17:15.208-07:00GUEST POST: Victoria Chatfield, National Theater for Student Artists<br />
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<i>Victoria Chatfield--founder and executive director of <a href="http://www.nationalstudenttheatre.org/">National Theater for Student Artists</a>--and I have been talking a blue streak about making art with kids since the day we met. After visiting a rehearsal with her phenomenal crew of student directors, actors, designers and stage managers recently, we had an especially inspiring chat. Afterwards she agreed to put pen to paper in order to capture what we'd discussed and expand on her thoughts about student leadership.</i></div>
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<i>I read what she sent and may or may not have gotten the slightest bit teary-eyed, we'll never be sure. In any case, I felt compelled to share her writing in its entirety. Here it is. (Also: Victoria Chatfield for president.)</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first started pitching the idea of a national student theater company, everyone said the same thing to me: "The students can act in the productions. But don't expect them to direct, design, or produce. If you do that, your shows won't be any good." Despite the fact that I've been employing students as directors, designers, and producers for over a decade now, I still understand this knee-jerk reaction. It can be terrifying to give up control. As a teacher, I spent my first year in the classroom talking at my students instead of listening to them. I used to rationalize this, telling myself that my students were far behind and needed "a little extra help." It wasn't until much later that I realized that I didn't want to give them room to lead because that would mean giving them room to fail. And what kind of a teacher lets her students fail?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Answer: a good one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know, I know. Saying that you want to let your students fail in this era of accountability is tantamount to begging your principal to fire you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I watch while teachers, principals, and entire organizations rationalize the same way that I did. "But they don't have any experience! The show won't be any good! They should practice in a classroom first!" They forget that most of these students have practiced in classrooms before -- sometimes for years. My directors are both graduating seniors from the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon University; my technical and design team comes from LaGuardia Arts; and my actors were almost all cherry-picked from their high school plays (all of them played the leading roles, of course). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But practice in a classroom can only take you so far. Eventually, you need to give students the chance to strike out on their own and put their work in front of the public. They need to be given a budget, a space, a staff, and -- most importantly -- they need to be given room to fail. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a lesson that our friends in the UK have long understood better than us. They don't spend absurd sums of money on their West End shows; you certainly won't find plays being produced for $3 million over there. (Average price of a West End play? $500,000.) And because they keep their costs lower, even in their most prestigious theaters, they feel free to take chances on newer artists -- new directors, new playwrights, new actors, etc. The National Youth Theatre (NYT) even gets to put shows up on the West End from time to time! The UK knows that art is all about risk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When did America, a country built on rebellion, become so terrified of risk?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I can understand everyone's response that recruiting and hiring students for leadership positions sounds too high-stakes. We're living in a theater community where prospective Broadway shows go through rounds and rounds of regional testing, which dilute them until they're palatable to a crowd made up mostly of tourists (many of whom come to Broadway for the "flash and trash"). We don't take a chance on new designers or new producers or (most of all) new directors. Directors go through hundreds of fellowships and internships and residencies and other poorly-paid, temporary assignments--and most of them never get the chance to have their work shown on Broadway, off-Broadway, or in major regional theaters. No, we reserve that honor for the same five directors who always get to work in those theaters because we know that they've been successful in the past so we have to assume that they'll be successful in the future; they're a good <i>investment</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why am I talking about Broadway productions when you wanted me to talk about student leadership? Because schools and NPOs are just like the Broadway producers. They want a good <i>investment </i>as well. They want an attractive, profitable school play that will please the parents and students and alumni. They let their high school theater teacher direct the show because they feel comfortable with him/her; they know that he/she will turn out a good product. They definitely don't want to take a chance on a student director -- especially one that might have a radical vision about what the school play should look like. They don't want to watch their school play fail. They want a "sure thing." No one likes upsetting the status quo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But because organizations are more concerned about their own successes than the education of the students that they supposedly "serve," students typically don't get the opportunity to step up and lead until graduate school. No other art form blocks the means of production in the way that theater does. (The one exception would be film, but they're another art form suffering from the curse of the "auteur.") </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alex Timbers started Les Freres Corbusier because coming out of Yale's MFA program, no theater would give him a chance. Therefore, he created his own theater -- and, within a few years, found himself directing on Broadway and across the globe. Talk about leadership: no one would give Alex Timbers the opportunity to lead his own show, so he decided to step up and lead his own company! The point is that if Alex Timbers hadn't stepped up and created Les Freres Corbusier, it's likely that the major theaters NEVER would have given him a chance -- and we would never have gotten <i>Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson </i>or <i>Peter and the Starcatcher </i>or <i>Here Lies Love</i>or (god forbid) <i>A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant</i>. A really brilliant new voice of the theater would have been silenced all because of our aversion to risk.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way that I'm talking right now, you might think that I'm totally doubt-free when it comes to having students step into leadership positions. Not at all. I've invested over $26,000 into my current project. That's the down payment on an extremely nice house in my hometown. And I've put all of that money behind directors that are fresh out of college. I've put all that money behind designers who have never worked in anything other than a high school auditorium before. And there are some moments when my directors or designers tell me about their plans and I have to literally bite my tongue to stop from saying something. "Chalk drawings? On the stage? REALLY?" "You want a set made entirely out of PLYWOOD BOXES?" But we need to allow our directors and designers the chance to try new ideas. (After all, a lesser producer might have said something to Donyale Werle like: "You want to make Broadway sets out of stuff you got out of DUMPSTERS?" Not realizing, of course, that her sets are spectacular Tony Award winning goldmines.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We do, however, give students support and guidance along the way. We've hired a mentor director who comes into rehearsal at least twice a week. If an idea simply isn't coming together, he'll let them know. However, they're the ones who decide if they're going to take his advice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all, they are the leaders of their productions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, you need to believe in the students that you're working with. You need to have those high expectations. (You know, the high expectations that the education sector loves to toss out as a buzzword nowadays -- before giving our students "guided notes" and "fill-in-the-blanks worksheets." They call them scaffolds; I call them lowering expectations. Your students can learn how to take notes if you teach them correctly.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned before, I've been working with student directors, designers, and producers for over a decade now. And it's interesting which students fall into those positions. I always assumed that a student would have to be brilliant in the classroom to be a solid director. After all, directors have to be able to analyze and even generate symbolism, identify character motivations, and interpret complex themes. But I've worked with some students who have been wholly unremarkable academically but have made compelling directors, designers, and performers. When they have to interpret writing for the stage, they're capable of doing a level of analysis that eludes them on standardized tests like the SAT or even in the essays that they complete for school. Perhaps it's because they know the final product that awaits them at the end; perhaps it's because they know that their work will be judged by an audience. <b>Perhaps it's simply because learning means more when there's a tangible product created at the end. </b>But these students who were otherwise B or C students turned out to be A-level directors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's be honest: my grades were solid. I was in National Honor Society and everything. But there were students with grades better than mine who got rejected from lesser colleges. My college accepted me BECAUSE of my work as a director. Withholding these leadership positions from students, especially students who might not be the most distinguished academically, does them a major disservice when it comes to differentiating themselves to a college application committee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of the day, here are the key takeaways:</span></div>
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<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to give students the chance to lead -- even if that means giving them the chance to fail.</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We shouldn't be afraid to let new artists have a voice -- both inside of professional theaters and inside of our schools.</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to be receptive to new ideas -- even if they're not what we would have chosen ourselves.</span></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to give all of our students the opportunity and support that they need to lead -- even the most unlikely ones. Chances are they'll surprise us in the end. Especially if we say that we have high expectations for every students -- and we actually MEAN it.</span></li>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-4190867999780542752013-07-01T08:37:00.000-07:002013-08-09T08:37:29.576-07:00"In the Heights" Performance Photos!<br />
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Relive the highlights of our production of this Tony Award-winning Latin/hip-hop extravaganza celebrating the search for identity in a changing neighborhood... and the many meanings of "home." </div>
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For a full album of "In the Heights" Performance Photos, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55824782@N06/sets/72157633837518192/" style="color: #1177cc; text-decoration: none;">CLICK HERE!</a></div>
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Photo credit: Alejandro Duran www.thedigitalproject.com</div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-79925261265467347672013-06-30T01:43:00.000-07:002013-08-10T01:45:48.622-07:00"Sol Rising" and Bronx Prep at Manhattan Children's Museum of the Arts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I recently celebrated the end of my tenth year at Bronx Prep by sharing the stage with one of my favorite artistic collaborators, Rebecca Bliss, her Afro Cuban performance group Sol Rising... AND my own students. We all came together for the Cuba Festival at Manhattan Children's Museum of the Arts and I got to experience the joy of performing alongside the students I've been working with over the past decade. We sang Afro Cuban call-and-response spirituals while Becky and her musicians and dancers fused traditional and contemporary forms of dance and movement. The kids wrapped up the show with a few snippets from "In the Heights," showcasing Becky's masterful choreography, much of which has its roots in the Afro Cuban tradition.</div>
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Loved sharing the stage with folks from so many overlapping worlds... professionals, students, friends, and colleagues representing such diverse talents and experiences. To see the beautiful pictures below up close and personal, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.570413613001391.1073741825.144118232297600&type=1">HERE.</a></div>
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<br />Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-83455977437959002372013-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:002013-08-09T08:39:17.642-07:00"In the Heights" Behind the Scenes<br />
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Hard work, long hours, focus, discipline and joy brought "In the Heights" to life in the South Bronx. <span style="line-height: 1.4; text-align: center;">For a complete album of Behind-the-Scenes images,</span><span style="line-height: 1.4; text-align: center;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55824782@N06/sets/72157633838064806/" style="color: #1177cc; line-height: 1.4; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;">CLICK HERE!</a></div>
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Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-33194358139156178962013-03-12T08:52:00.000-07:002013-08-09T08:53:24.799-07:00Broadway in El Barrio (and The Bronx): For a New Generation of Actors and Audience Members, In The Heights Hits Home<br />
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Flashback to early last month:</div>
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It's 8:30 PM on a cold February night in Washington Heights. The huge crowd outside of the United Palace Theatre is anxious about missing the opening number of tonight's one-night-only <a href="http://www.playbill.com/news/article/174948-Alabanza-Original-Broadway-Cast-of-In-the-Heights-Celebrates-Love-Family-and-Home-in-Washington-Heights/pg1" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink"><em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em> benefit performance</a>. When the show's writer/star Lin-Manuel Miranda <a href="https://twitter.com/Lin_Manuel/status/301384307333804033/photo/1" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">races around the block</a>, high-fiving fans and hollering, "We don't start until y'all get inside!" people whoop and cheer. But our students barely notice their idol blowing by. They're too wrapped up belting <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">a cappella</em>versions of the show's greatest hits. Auditions for our school's production of <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em>are still a week away, but the kids have already memorized the whole score.</div>
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In the history of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixCgpSfBT1E" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">our performing arts program</a>, I've never seen kids so amped up about a show before. But then, I can't say I'm surprised.</div>
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<img alt="2013-03-11-Aida.jpg" height="300" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-Aida.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="200" />For a decade, the kids in our program have been<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/the-heart-of-teaching-and_b_519616.html" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">stretching far outside their cultural comfort zones</a> to put on musicals that have little do to with their own life experiences. It doesn't matter that we've intentionally chosen a broad range of shows, including ones that prominently feature people of color, like <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Once On This Island</em> and <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Aida.</em> At the end of the day, the French Antilles and the shores of Nubia are still a far cry from the corner of 172nd St. and Third Avenue in the South Bronx. And each of those shows, like every other show we've done--with the lone exception of <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Wiz</em> whose composer/lyricist is African-American--was created by white people.</div>
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It's not like we weren't trying to find Broadway musicals that could have hit home more directly. They just weren't out there.</div>
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So when I first saw <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em> on Broadway five years ago and found a stage packed full of performers who looked exactly like the students I teach, telling stories that Lin-Manuel Miranda could have overheard in our school's hallways, I knew our students' response to the show was going to be epic.</div>
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I wasn't naïve enough to think that musical theater's whole cultural landscape would shift overnight as a result of one show. If nothing else, the almost all-white Broadway crowd around me back in 2008 was a clear indication of how much work remained to be done in terms of access.<img alt="2013-03-11-LesMiserables.jpg" height="200" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-LesMiserables.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /></div>
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But ever since <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em> has been on the scene, I've been less worried about young African American and Latino actors coming out of our program after playing lead roles in <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Les Misérables</em> only to find that their best hope in the professional world is getting cast as "Thug #3" or the lead character's "Sassy Best Friend."</div>
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We've had to wait the better part of five years for the amateur licensing rights to <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em> to become available, but the time has arrived. And now we're kicking off our creative process with a fieldtrip to see the original Broadway cast show us how it's done.</div>
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<img alt="2013-03-11-TheUntiedPalaceTheatre.JPG" height="200" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-TheUntiedPalaceTheatre.JPG" style="border: 0px; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="300" />As we finally make our way to our seats inside the United Palace Theatre, one of my students looks around at the capacity crowd, does her best <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Home Alone</em> shocked face and nudges me playfully. "Yo, Ms. Q," she says, "There's a lot of black and brown people in here!"</div>
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A combination of the show's widespread popularity and organizers' efforts to reach a broader audience with $30 tickets for Upper Manhattan residents means that the crowd is more diverse than any group of theater-goers I've ever seen. (And there's reason to hope that this demographic shift may be part of a wider trend, since the evening's proceeds benefit The Broadway League's <a href="http://www.broadwayleague.com/index.php?url_identifier=press-releases&news=the-broadway-league-launches-viva-broadway&type=news" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Viva Broadway</a> initiative, a new audience development partnership with the Hispanic community to help bridge the world of Broadway with Latino audiences around the country, as well as<a href="http://www.broadwayleague.com/index.php?url_identifier=family-first-nights-1" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Family First Nights</a>, a nationwide program specifically designed to encourage at risk families to attend theatre on a regular basis.)</div>
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The rest of the evening is a blur. The audience is cheering and singing along throughout most of the show. Actors pause before the big laugh lines so the audience can shout them out <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">en masse</em>. At the curtain call the whole place leaps up, dancing to the music and waving Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Mexican flags. We haven't come prepared for this<em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rocky Horror Picture Show</em> level of audience participation, but we join in happily.</div>
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The emotional high of the evening sets the scene perfectly for auditions for <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights</em>at our school. This year's turnout is enormous and includes an unprecedented number of first-time participants.</div>
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<img alt="2013-03-11-Chris.png" height="213" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-Chris.png" style="border: 0px; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><br style="border: 0px; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />At the callback, one 12th grade newbie named Chris says,</div>
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There's no way I would've considered trying out if we hadn't been doing this particular show... Let's just say musical theater was never really my thing. But being Dominican, these characters and the stories they're telling through the music and the dance all really hit home for me.</blockquote>
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<img alt="2013-03-11-NinaandBenny.JPG" height="200" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-NinaandBenny.JPG" style="border: 0px; float: right; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="200" /><br style="border: 0px; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Once auditions are behind us and rehearsals begin, the students show up with a level of professionalism and initiative unlike anything we've ever seen. Gone are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/countdown-to-guys-and-dolls_b_869642.html" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">the days of pulling teeth</a>, begging actors to get focused and learn their lines. These kids are off-book at the first read-through, leaping up to perform each song fully memorized with provisional blocking and improvised choreography already in place.</div>
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When our leading man discovers that Lin-Manuel Miranda himself has <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151535382401457&set=o.156195014444203&type=1&theater" style="border: 0px; color: #058b7b; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">"liked" a rehearsal photo</a> of him posted on Facebook, his comment is the following:</div>
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<img alt="2013-03-11-Usnavi.JPG" height="200" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2013-03-11-Usnavi.JPG" style="border: 0px; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 10px; padding: 0px;" width="200" />"Omg omg omg, my heart's gonna blow up!!!"</div>
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And while I like to think I'm immune to celebrity worship, here's what I comment back to him:</div>
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"Yeah. I feel you, dude. Me, too."</div>
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<i>This article also appeared on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/broadway-in-el-barrio-and_b_2852650.html">Huffington Post.</a> As always, the views expressed here are my own and not those of my school's administration, and the kids featured here agreed to let me tell their stories.</i></div>
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<i>Performance photo credits: Alejandro Duran; all others: Kate Quarfordt</i></div>
Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-56249050799411165072013-02-16T08:33:00.000-08:002013-08-09T08:35:38.766-07:00Celebrating A Decade of Creative Student Leadership in the South Bronx<br />
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Ten years ago I was in a trailer behind the church on Webster Avenue in the South Bronx where my school used to rent classroom space, staring at the bored, glazed over faces of the kids in the first theater class I had ever taught. Those straight A's I was pulling in my graduate program at Teachers College didn't matter worth a damn in that make-shift theater classroom. Standing there in front of those kids, I felt like I had no idea how to teach anything to anyone, let alone an art form based on trust and vulnerability A.) to African American and Latino teenagers whose experiences were worlds away from my upper-middle class suburban roots, B.) at a school that trained teachers to embody a top-down, boot-camp style of classroom management (and routinely fired the ones who couldn't pass muster), and C.) in a neighborhood where street codes punished kids for risking emotional openness with taunts and even violence.</div>
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About halfway through that first year, at a moment when I was seriously considering quitting teaching and never looking back, a 9th grader named <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/the-heart-of-teaching-and_b_436030.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Denisse Polanco</a> made the audacious suggestion that we put on a musical. I tried to explain to her that I had never directed a full-length show before and that I was way too overwhelmed with my other teaching responsibilities to take on such an ambitious project. But Denisse wasn't having any of it. Never mind that she herself had zero musical theater experience; she arched an eyebrow at me, smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'll help you."</div>
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<br style="border: 0px; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />We've come a long way from those days in the church parking lot. A decade later -- (full of<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/the-heart-of-teaching-and_b_615211.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">humbling moments</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/countdown-to-guys-and-dolls_b_869642.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">behind-the-scenes nightmares</a> and <a href="http://www.bronxprepacademy.blogspot.com/2013/01/this-is-what-student-leadership-looks.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">hard-won triumphs of student leadership</a>) -- my colleagues, students and I are thrilled to officially unveil a 10-minute<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ixCgpSfBT1E" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">documentary </a>that chronicles the evolution of the Bronx Prep Performing Arts Academy -- a program which Denisse and many of her fellow Bronx Prep graduates have returned to help nurture and lead. Over the years, the Academy has grown into a multi-generational family of performing artists, designers and directors, many of whom are now pursuing college degrees and careers in the performing arts and mentoring the young actors, directors and designers following in their footsteps.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ixCgpSfBT1E" style="border-width: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="560"></iframe></center>
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It feels especially exciting to be marking this milestone on the same week that we're conducting auditions for our 10th musical, a show that pays homage to the classic musical theater forms our students have been steeped in over the past decade while also paving the way for an increasingly inclusive, multicultural generation of Broadway artists and audiences: the Tony-award winning musical <a href="http://www.intheheightsontour.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink"><em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In The Heights.</em></a></div>
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Stay tuned as our kids set aside their <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/the-heart-of-teaching-and_b_519616.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">corsets</a>, fling off their <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/guys-and-dolls-in-the-sou_b_884792.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">fedoras</a> and lay down their<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/million-hoodie-march-vict_b_1429865.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">French revolutionary flags</a>--so they can celebrate their own cultural traditions and family histories in a show that finally feels like home.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Special thanks to Academy co-founder Andrew Simon, Academy co-directors Lou Cardenas and Sarah Rosenberg, the whole Bronx Prep artistic staff, the huge crew of creative professionals who have supported us throughout the years, the alumni who continue to nurture and inspire our students, and especially to Bronx Prep Artistic Director and my creative partner in crime, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/BronxPrepPiano/feed" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Dr. Geoffrey Kiorpes.</a></em></div>
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Video credit and special thanks: Alejandro Duran and <a href="http://www.thedigitalproject.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed0978; cursor: pointer; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">The Digital Project.</a></div>
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Photo credit: Kate Quarfordt</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This article was also published on <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-quarfordt/celebrating-a-decade-of-c_b_2688599.html">Huffington Post. </a>As always, the views in this post are my own and not those of my school's administration; the students featured in this post agreed to let me share their stories. </em></div>
Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-373415602464269380.post-19351088967566275212012-12-20T09:57:00.003-08:002012-12-20T09:57:34.587-08:00Students Direct One Act Festival at Our New Home!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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We leapt into the 2012-2013 school year with an ambitious
project: A One Act Play Festival performed by middle school kids and directed,
designed and produced entirely by high school students. The festival kicked off
our partnership with Open Hydrant, the amazing new resident theater
company at beloved Bronx cultural hub, <a href="http://www.thepoint.org/">The Point.</a> Founded by my
colleagues Rosie and Lou (of <a href="http://shakespearehigh.org/">Shakesepeare High</a> fame), Open Hydrant
counts Bronx Prep theater alumni among its company members and has welcomed our
current students into an exciting collaboration, inaugurated by the One Act
Festival.</div>
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With student leadership development as our main goal for the
One Acts, we took our cues from author/marketing and creativity guru <a href="http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/">Seth Godin</a>, who laments that we spend almost no time in school (or in life) teaching people how to grapple with questions for which there are no answers, noting that it's much easier to teach kids to follow directions than to teach them how to critique them--or even better--to create them. </div>
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As our nation’s schools struggle to emerge from the stifling,
test-driven climate of No Child Left Behind, we’re using arts education to
re-envision school as a place where learning to follow directions is merely a
means to the larger and more meaningful goal of learning to create new and better ones. The One Act Festival was an opportunity for our student leaders to practice taking responsibility for a creative project from beginning to end, not by simply following directions, but by creating a big-picture vision from scratch, then breaking it down to its component steps and guiding others to collaboratively bring it to life. Students received adult mentoring and support, but ultimately shouldered the creative and logistical burdens of the project on their own.</div>
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You can read their reflections about the process on their <a href="http://bronxprepacademy.blogspot.com/search/label/One%20Act%20Festival">blog.</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_lIDTNYK0_l3IF0t666tzaMTsmJzylyVcDrhDY85XI_fyQB9mZYMLn2YKiLQUEc32SHDslXe-nZsvS1oo3X9xEkIVnet5gbHobWjE3epeGJIar1kuk7cAWICHyWLss2o72AO6ArK480/s1600/IMG_5222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD_lIDTNYK0_l3IF0t666tzaMTsmJzylyVcDrhDY85XI_fyQB9mZYMLn2YKiLQUEc32SHDslXe-nZsvS1oo3X9xEkIVnet5gbHobWjE3epeGJIar1kuk7cAWICHyWLss2o72AO6ArK480/s400/IMG_5222.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cast of "Superheroes" rehearse for the One Act Festival</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast and Student Directors of the One Acts Celebrate Their First Rehearsal at "The Point"</td></tr>
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<!--EndFragment-->Kate Quarfordthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16880066199632001419noreply@blogger.com0