Bronx Theatre High School students perform scenes from Brave New World.

Roundabout's Education Program enters uncharted territory

by John Istel

One warm night last June, far underneath 46th Street, in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre's new black box theatre, a group of actors desperately restaged the final moments of a crowd scene in their newest play, an original adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic 1931 novel, Brave New World.

The actors were 10th grade students at Bronx Theatre High School, one of Roundabout's three New Century High School Initiative partners. They had produced their play in their school's theatre at the John F. Kennedy Campus earlier, and now friends, family members, and professional theatre associates were waiting to see the show. Thanks to Roundabout's education program, these students were ready to make their off-Broadway debut, if they could just get the scene to work right.

The production, which juxtaposed original student-written scenes with their own adaptations of scenes from Huxley's futuristic novel, perfectly embodied Roundabout's education philosophy. Through the practice and performance of theatre, these students have come to a profound understanding of this classic piece of literature. Just as important, they've come to understand concepts like collaboration, commitment, and responsibility. The kids in Roundabout's three partner high schools recognize that neither good theatre, which they learn both from teaching artists and by seeing Roundabout's shows, nor a good school environment can exist without an intimate knowledge of such vocabulary. Ultimately, the thousands of students that Roundabout works with each year must come to understand that they have to take responsibility for their own academic success as well.

A Bronx Theatre High School student performs a scene from Brave New World.

Back in 1981, Roundabout's theatre education program was a much simpler proposition. The theatre produced classics of dramatic literature for a mostly subscription audience and teachers wanted to bring their English classes to see them. So Roundabout offered student discounts. At that point in the company's history, that was about all it could handle–the well-documented financial problems had forced Roundabout to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, then it lost its Chelsea theatres. As Julia Levy, Roundabout's Executive Director, admits, “Back then, it was just about filling those Wednesday matinee seats.”

Once Roundabout became solvent under Artistic Director Todd Haimes and moved north to the Criterion Center in Times Square, Levy and Haimes began rethinking the education program. Acclaimed, Tony Award®-winning shows like She Loves Me and Anna Christie seemed to herald a new brighter world. They wondered how Roundabout could positively affect as many members of the New York City public school community as possible, as deeply as possible, through the art form of theatre. 

That inquiry produced a comprehensive education program that has grown ten-fold, from a $100,000 annual budget to the current outlay of more than a $1 million, from a small education office in a cramped windowless space at the Criterion Center staffed by one part-timer and a handful of teaching artists to a warren of offices on 46th Street occupied by five full-time employees and supported by devoted interns. They oversee dozens of teaching artists and administrate scores of school residencies, student matinees, and post-show discussions that serve thousands of students. At the center of their work are the three public high schools that Roundabout developed and opened in collaboration with the New York City Department of Education. Taking partnership to an unprecedented level, Roundabout supports the school's educational missions with financial support, educational and theatrical personnel, and other resources not found at most public high schools.

Bronx Theatre High School students perform a scene from Brave New World.

How did such phenomenal growth happen? Levy points to one clear factor –getting the right people on board. Fortunately, the first fulltime education program staff member Roundabout hired happened to be an inspired choice. Margaret Salvante McCann brought a missionary zeal to her job as education director. She sensed that theatre education could be more meaningful to school kids than an excuse for a field trip. As an activity, theatre could actually engage students, especially teenagers, in a visceral and immediate way. It could help them grapple with complex issues.

Salvante remembers her ideas evolving over time and she credits one of Roundabout's first Teaching Artists, Reneé Flemings, with helping formulate their philosophy. (Flemings is now Roundabout's Director of Instruction and Curriculum Development; Salvante left Roundabout to become the principal of Manhattan Theatre Lab, one of three schools Roundabout has partnered with the city to create.) They knew they didn't want to just tell the students what happened in the play and give away the story. “We wanted them to have the skills to enjoy the show,” says Salvante. “We were trying to prepare kids to see Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and Reneé came up with this amazing activity based on the fact that Miller was inspired to write his play by a newspaper article about an airplane factory scandal. So we had kids read articles about different scandals and they created these terrific tableaux.” 

That became the model for all the shows. They examined each play as a text of study, as a document, and then looked at what the artists do to make it come alive. “In working with kids, it's all about the choices artists make to convey meaning,” says Salvante.

Principal Margie Salvante McCann works with students at Manhattan Theatre Lab High School.

Salvante soon found out that their approach was working at a student matinee of the brittle English drama, The Deep Blue Sea. In the play, a 1950s middle-aged woman in Britain tries to commit suicide because of a divorce. “On the surface, it's about as far from the experience of New York City youth at the end of the 20th century as you could find,” Salvante says. “We introduced the play with the question: Why should she go on living?” In the play, her character does so in order to become a painter, an artist. “Students at the matinee, which also had lots of subscribers, were so engaged–one girl was wiping tears away–and at the post-show discussion, the question of why she chose to keep on living came up. And the kids understood the central metaphor: she got caught between the 'devil' and 'the deep blue sea.' I thought, if they respond to this, they'll respond to anything–as long as the production is good.”

As Roundabout's teaching artists– mainly actors at first, and then directors, designers, playwrights–began going into more and more city classrooms to prepare students for each show, it became clear that making theatre in the classroom excited and motivated kids. At some point, these teaching artist visits became full-blown, ten-week residencies that Roundabout dubs “Page to Stage.”

This led Roundabout to make a simple but profound change to their approach to theatre arts education: in addition to bringing students to the theatre, Roundabout determined it would bring theatre to the students. The biggest hurdle Roundabout faced, however, was finding the common ground. Public school teachers often weren't familiar with the way professional theatre worked. And, vice versa, actors were finding themselves in Department of Education classrooms that had their own strict protocols. For instance, all teachers must have a lesson plan with a clearly stated “Aim” that is written on the board. To bridge this communication gap and to find a common language, Salvante and Flemings came up with the Theatrical Teaching Framework that married Aristotelian elements from The Poetics with the standard education department lesson plan. To share this new approach, Roundabout created its Theatrical Teaching Institute (TTI), a week-long workshop each August for teachers and teaching artists.

Actor Bill Irwin conducts a workshop with area teachers.

Teachers became as motivated as the kids. During one session, director Scott Ellis led one session, during which he got the New York City teachers up in front of their peers and started directing them, physically interacting with them as they staged a scene. “They were beside themselves,” remembers Salvante, “because they saw themselves in what he was doing. Teachers are like directors, coaxing the best performances they can out of their casts.”

When one school asked Roundabout for help with its student production, the seed was planted for “Producing Partners.” The school just wanted a director, but it became clear that they weren't equipped to produce a play. Roundabout sent in a team–a production manager, a stage manager, designers–that partnered with teachers and mentored students across English, science, global studies and math classes to put up the show. “It was when we found a way to unify the schools curriculum around producing their show that we made our next leap,” says Levy. “Connecting to the whole school's learning goals pushed us beyond just bringing theatre to kids and made us able to really support the schools.”

As the success of the program swelled, and more and more schools became eager to partner with Roundabout, Salvante felt compelled to share her stories at conferences and seminars. During one meeting of public school officials, the Bronx Superintendent of Schools stood up and, according to Salvante, said, “We must reinvent schools in the Bronx– they're broken and we need to invent new ways to educate our children.” Remembering back, she laughs. “I, of course, took him literally and said, 'Have we got an idea for you!'” That idea–create a school built to run like a theatre company.

Salvante began talking to colleagues, teachers and principals seeking suggestions and gathering information. Crucial support also came from board member David Massengill, now chair of Roundabout's education committee, who as a lead litigator in the successful Campaign for Fiscal Equity sought to get New York City public schools their proper state funding. As the proposal took shape, Roundabout was met with resistance from those who feared that students couldn't succeed in social studies, math or science when taught in the context of theatre production.  Pushing forward, Salvante teamed up with educators such as Debi Effinger, now principal of Bronx Theatre HS, and succeeded in convincing the funding panels of the rich possibilities the model held. With Roundabout's third proposal for a new school, Manhattan Theatre Lab, it was Salvante who would become the principal–pulled away from her post at Roundabout by her enthusiasm to join the frontlines of school reform.

Students and teachers gather outside Studio 54 for a Student Matinee performance of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The education program, now under the direction of Megan Kirkpatrick, continues to build on its achievements and evolve to best support the schools and students it serves through its bevy of programs. Roundabout's high school partners thrive amidst huge challenges. This past year, 24 of the 26 tenth graders in Bronx Theatre HS's English honors class passed the state Regent's exam–a year earlier than most even attempt to take it, and 82 of 84 ninth graders at Brooklyn School for Music and Theatre passed their Living Environments Regents. With three grade levels now established at these schools, plus the sophomores and freshman at Manhattan Theatre Lab, Roundabout believes its work and its success stories have only just begun.

“We're committed to these schools,” says Julia Levy proudly.  “Sometimes I think, 'Wait, we are a theatre company, why are we spending $1 million on this program?' But then you visit the schools and you meet a kid and ask him about a play like Twelve Angry Men and his eyes light up and he tells you how he thought the show was amazing. This is a kid who stutters.  And his stutter starts to disappear and he's expressing himself so beautifully,” Levy sighs. “And it's all worth it. That's why we do it. Theatre can make a difference.”

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