Pisces Moon successfully collaborated with Cabrillo College and Delta Charter High School through the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project, producing the play Dead Man Walking, which was performed at the Cabrillo College Theater from February 8 - 24, 2008. The production, which received high critical and audience acclaim, featured student and veteran stage actors, including some
from Delta School, Pisces Moon Educational Theatre classes and the
Pisces Moon Young Company.
The collaboration, initiated in January, 2007 by Pisces Moon Artistic Director Susan Myer Silton, was also helmed by Skip Epperson, Chair of Cabrillo College Theatre Arts and Mary Gaukel, principal of Delta High School.
Cabrillo's division of Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA)
partnered with Pisces Moon, co-producing the show and collaborating
around classes and events. A course in backstage production, which was created specifically for Dead Man Walking,
was held at Cabrillo in January, 2008 to
successfully mount the production. An evocative display in the
theater lobby during the performance showcased artwork and poems by Delta students. Barrios
Unidos mounted the work of prison artists as well
as photos of children who have been given life
sentences in American prisons without parole.
Delta Charter High School
offered thematic
units as part of the school's year-long curricula in Drama, Social
Studies, Art,
Science, Math and Literature. Course work has included "Capital
Punishment, Growth and Redemption", "The Death Penalty in the United
States", "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword: Activism in Writing",
"Forensics", which examined the role of forensics in both conviction
and exoneration, and "Political Cartooning and Art". Pisces Moon's
Artistic Director provided an audition and script analysis class for
Delta students. Delta
students also took the Backstage Production course at Cabrillo,
building the set, creating signs, making and acquiring props, and
working on costumes, make-up and hair.
The project's educational influence reached out beyond the schools,
affecting the entire community.
Mary
Gaukel lead the community outreach aspect of the project, talking
about it to church coalitions and business groups. She coordinated the forum, Spiritual Perspectives on the Death Penalty, which was held at the first Congregational Church on February 13.
To maintain the environment for discourse, Pisces Moon and Delta School
hosted a break-out session entitled "Art and Social Discourse, A Case
Study: The Dead Man Walking School Theater Project" at Cabrillo's Second Annual Social Justice Forum on April 19, 2008, which featured actors Daria E. Troxell and Marc A. Nicholso, reviving their roles as Sister Helen Prejean and Matt Poncelet in
a scene from
the play. Pisces Moon also hosted a informational table at the Community Fair.
As part of the educational component of the project, an after-school
class in script analysis and audition technique was
taught by director Susan Myer Silton and offered to Pisces Moon students as well as young people who have
auditioned for or performed with the Pisces Moon Young Company.
Pisces Moon was invited to present a Full Day Master Class Intensive at the California Educational Theatre Association Conference, Bay Area Blast! - The Awakening of Diverse Voices. The seminar, entitled "The Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project: Socially Relevant Theatre Across the Curricula," was presented in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 to dozens of theatre educators from Northern California secondary schools and colleges. Susan Myer Silton coordinated the presentation, which started with an introduction by Maureen Fenlon, OP, the National Coordinator of the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project (DMWSTP), who spoke about the role of art and artists in social change, and gave an overview of DMWSTP.
Other segments of the all-day seminar included presentations by various Northern California high schools by faculty members and students who had been involved in their own productions and events related to DMWSTP. They spoke about their work and how it influenced them and their communities.
Susan Myer Silton talked in the final segment about the Delta/Cabrillo/Pisces Moon collaboration, and wrapped up the presentation by taking questions from the attendees and leading related discussions.
For more details about the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project educational collaboration and outreach, please click here.
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