Programming Spotlight: Nuttin' But A Word

 On Wednesday, February 7, Passages Academy’s school library at Belmont hosted a delightfully energizing pre-theater workshop co-led by the talented Ugo Anyanwu and Hassiem Muhammad through the New Victory Theater.  

Ugo and Hassiem are working actors who also serve as teaching artists.  They taught our Belmont students’  Blum group about choreographer Rennie Harris’s take on hip hop.  Then they engaged us all in learning four dance moves and a theater game or two.  

Reluctant at first, the students were highly responsive to the duo.  By the workshop’s end Blum’s participating staff members, my enthusiastic colleague, Ms. Thomas,  and the students were animated with movement and laughter.  We are ready to see Nuttin’ But A Word tomorrow at the historic theater. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: New Victory Residency + ELA collaboration

This month students at Belmont participated in a New Victory residency program that brought two extraordinary teaching artists from the theatre into our school library for a week.  The gifted teaching artists were Marisol Rosa-Shapiro and Ugo Anyanwu who led the series of workshops at Belmont  which were bookended by two trips to the New Victory theater where we saw productions of both Romeo and Juliet  and The Three Musketeers.  

Our two wonderful teaching artists played theater games with us,  taught us to give compliments and Shakespearean insults,  facilitated the drafting of an original soliloquy, and had us read and recite pieces from the classic texts connected to  the two plays we saw at the New Victory. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Pre-theater and Post-Theater Visits from the New Victory Theater

Stepping during a pre-theater visit on 11/6/17.

A gallery walk during a post-theater visit on 11/13/17.

On November 8th we teachers and our administrators took all of our students at Passages Academy--Belmont to the New Victory Theater to see Step Afrika’s The Migration: Reflections On Jacob Lawrence.  The performance blended step, jazz, and African choreography with jazz, African, and gospel music to bring panels from Jacob Lawrence’s essential Migration Series to life for a young audience.  When I asked students what they thought of the show one student, D., responded by telling me the next time I take her to a dance performance, it needs to be longer.  Presumably so that she may enjoy it all the more.

We weren’t able to take pictures inside the theater, but here are a couple of moments we captured of the New Victory’s excellent pre-theater and post-theater workshops provided by teaching artists Chad Beckim and Janet Onyenucheya.  Pre-theater workshops  included step dancing exercises which helped students identify what they would see and appreciate the depth of performers skill and preparation.  Post-theater workshops invited students to engage with Lawrence’s artwork and recreate poses from selected panels, and think about how it feels to experience the poses of the figures from the paintings.  Click here for more photos and more about the interdisciplinary collaboration--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: X: Or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation at the New Victory Theater

All four photos X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation, by Marcus Gardley, directed by Ian Belknap
The Acting Company

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson

On Friday, March 24th, a small group of teachers at Belmont accompanied our placement students to Manhattan's New Victory Theater to see Marcus Gardley's X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation.  Teaching artists Chad Beckim and Janet Oneyenuchea returned to Belmont on Monday to debrief with our students, some of whom spoke at length in response to the discussion questions the teaching artists posed.  It was wonderful to see them draw out the synthesis that had taken place in many attendees' minds since the start of the unit back in February as they reflected on their learning experiences.

We are grateful to everyone at the New Victory Theater for their steadfast support of our students' learning and unwavering encouragement to New York City's detained youth, and to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens (LIT) for the funding to purchase such a large block of tickets so that all placement students and their chaperones could share this special theater-going experience together.  Thank you!--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Julius Caesar at the New Victory Theater

All three photos Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, directed by Devin Brain
The Acting Company

Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson

On Friday, several of us at Belmont took the Leake and Watts group to see an abridged production of Julius Caesar at the New Victory Theater.  Mr. Villaronga worked with these students in ELA class to read through the classic.  I don’t want to spoil anything for those of you who might want to see it on Sunday, but so I’ll  just say that it is an excellent choice for adolescents considering themes of power, friendship, betrayal and violence. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Malcolm X & Julius Caesar

New Victory Teaching Artists Janet Onyenuchea and Chad Beckim pose with students after a pre-theater workshop.  Photo credit: Jessica Fenster-Sparber

To get students ready to see X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation in repertory with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, placement advisory classes have been reading Myers’ Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary for the last two and a half weeks. Part of a larger interdisciplinary collaboration with Social Studies and Art teachers, and heavily supported by Belmont's speech and reading specialists, placement students at Belmont have approached the historical figure and his context with a variety of lenses.  Last Monday, songwriter Janet Onyenuchea and playwright Chad Beckim deepened the unit of study further when they visited Belmont to conduct pre-theater workshops with all placement groups in their roles as teaching artists with the New Victory Theater.  Chad and Janet engaged students’ growing base of knowledge of Malcolm X’s life and death and then invited students to create tableaux and portraying a variety of roles relating to the play they are rescheduled to attend at the end of the week.  We can’t wait! --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Fly at the New Victory Theater

Last week, students in the Lutheran group attended a performance of Fly at the New Victory Theater.  The play dramatizes the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and cleverly includes a dance griot, a role filled by the extraordinary Omar Edwards.  New Victory Teaching Artists Chad Beckim and Janet Onyenucheya, remarkable artists in their own right, visited the following day to debrief with the students, who turned out to be full of questions about stagecraft, military service, and world politics.  Many thanks to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens for crucial funding that made this trip possible, and The New Victory Theater for providing us with access to this extremely worthwhile show.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

photo credit: The New Victory Theater

Class Trip: Pedal Punk

On Thursday, December 10th, nine students from Passages Academy's Belmont site visited the New Victory Theater to take in Cirque Mechanics' Pedal Punk performance.  Students were prepared during the days leading up to the trip by lessons co-taught in the library with Erica Nadel, ELA and Special Education teacher, and with a pre-theater visit from the talented New Victory teaching artists Chad Beckim and Shela Rhoulhac.  Literacy for Incarcerated Teens generously purchased the tickets for students and staff, all of whom seemed to enjoy the experience.  Said one participant, "After the show I felt very calm and satisfied.  I felt this way because the show was so entertaining that it had me concentrated and amused." Indeed.  --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Guest Post: With Their Eyes Edited by Annie Thoms

Just four blocks from Ground Zero, Stuyvesant High School students witnessed the horrors of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. With Their Eyes presents a collection of twenty-three stories of that day, told by members of the diverse Stuyvesant community including students, teachers and other school personnel. The work was performed in February of 2002, as a two-act play by ten Stuyvesant students and was received with resounding praise from audience members. The heartfelt stories and beautifully arranged poetry leave lasting reminders of what that day's effect has been on each and everyone of us. The illustrations, the Chronology of Events, the photos and stories are compelling and honest and serve as a wonderful springboard for engaging students to relate their own stories of 9/11. I have often used this book with Passages’ students, reading and discussing the Chronology of Events and a selection of essays and poems. After that, students begin drafting and then discussing personal recollections of the days events; ie. how old were they, what grade, what school, what borough they were in. Did they know anyone directly/indirectly involved and how were they involved? A wonderful creative writing tool to use in conjunction with honoring and memorializing the heroes and victims of 9/11. --Mary Lou DeLigio

With Their Eyes: September 11th: the view from a high school at Ground Zero. Ed. Annie Thoms. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.