Who: Our Lady of Grace (a private school)
What: Performance with related short-term student workshop series
Program Dates: January-March 2006
Staff: Clare Schulberg

The students of Our Lady of Grace School in Encino may never think of poetry in the same way again after experiencing the performance and workshops by Music Center theatre artist David Prather. In his performance called "Poetry Jam," Prather introduced poetry, metaphor, imagery and meter in a high-energy, animated, humorous and interactive way. He really "pulled in the kids," according to the school's fifth grade teacher, showing that poems are more than words on a page. Performing mainly contemporary poems about everyday experiences, Prather revealed how poems can present images that resonate long after the performance ends. Selections included "Casey at the Bat" and poems by Shel Silverstein, A.A. Milne, Woody Guthrie, Carl Sandburg and others.

To complement the assemblies, the parent Program Contact (Elena) at Our Lady of Grace also scheduled four classroom workshops with David Prather for four classes - 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Elena chose these services to reinforce the writing and language arts curriculum at the school. She also wanted the students' "imaginations to be tweaked!"

David Prather's workshops focused on the "Theatrical Approach to Poetry." Together students and artist explored poems' images, characters, sounds and rhythms. Lessons included choral reading; story theatre techniques; inventing onomatopoeic action words; and identifying the "five W's" - who, what, when, where, why. Using the above techniques, the fifth and sixth graders studied the poem "Casey at the Bat." The fifth grade classroom teacher appreciated that the speaking, gestures and facial expressions used for character development in the workshop added a "physical" dimension to poetry, complementing her own unit which emphasized rhythm and rhyme. A couple of her shy students developed the confidence to "get out of themselves, get up and perform." Her students became better prepared to participate in a play they put on in May.

In the workshops for the seventh and eighth graders, Mr. Prather focused on two Langston Hughes' poems, "Madam and the Rent Man" and "Deferred."

Our Lady of Grace in Encino is a private school of 300 students (some on scholarship), pre-school through eighth grade, one class per grade. The school's commitment to arts education is apparent. Each class receives one session a week in Visual Arts and in Music, taught by full time teachers on staff. (Anne Nicholson, the music teacher, was a BRAVO Award finalist in 2000!) Music (keyboards) and art lessons are also offered after school for a small fee. Parent volunteers are active. Each class receives an annual field trip, including theatre productions.

An additional "Cultural Arts Budget" of a few thousand dollars is raised annually to fund assemblies and workshops such as those from the Music Center. Each class is responsible for two bake sales after Sunday Mass. The Student Council also puts on bake sales, and parents make extra contributions to the Cultural Arts budget when needed.

The Music Center has a long partnership with Our Lady of Grace, going back to 1991. Since then, the school has scheduled from two to four artists or ensembles a year - totaling about 30 artists from the Music Center roster over the years. Elena has been our Program Contact since 1995! Now that her eighth grade twins are graduating, she is passing the torch. We just hope her replacement will follow in the footsteps of this devoted parent volunteer.

Written by Clare Schulberg, Program Associate

To schedule a performance or learn more about our programs and links to classroom learning, call (213) 250-ARTS, e-mail schoolprograms@musiccenter.org or check out the Snapshots Archive.