HowlRound: On November 4, 2015, I had the privilege of taking my class to see Second Stage’s performance of Invisible Thread by Griffin Matthews, directed by Diane Paulus through their Second Generation program. Most of my BMCC students had never seen a play before and this was the first time they were introduced to the world of live theatre.
3 comments:
I am a huge fan of this idea! One of the best pieces we were given during freshman orientation was when Peter said, “see as much theater as possible.” His thought is that in order to be the next generation of theater artists and makers we need to see everything, so what that we know what is exactly out there. I completely agree with Peter. Since such a huge portion of our jobs is to recreate worlds on stage we need to see how others are achieving this. Some of the stuff we will see will be incredible, and others will be awful, but either way we are learning. By offering free or discounted tickets to students they are able to grow their theatrical vocabulary so easily. Besides my busy schedule, what most often prevents me from seeing theater outside of school is the price tag. With this I would definitely see more productions.
I agree with the author, access to the arts does enhance learning, and can be a key factor in structuring young adults. I don't feel community college students get the same advantage as theatre students at Marymount Manhattan. There is no actual reason for them to receive an email with discounted, or free tickets, because although it would be a good resource, it's not mandatory to their education. The reason performing arts schools are connected to these opportunities are because it's key to their education. There are a few college programs for discounted/ free tickets which I'm aware of.
I loved this article!! I agree 100% that more theater should set aside tickets for students. I think more and more students need to feel inspired and learn about theater. Its amazing that companies like SOHO rep offer free tickets and internship opportunities. If more theaters did this, they would be able to help so many students. While I understand that it would mean a loss of money for a show, maybe have them come to a final dress or a tech so they can still see the show but not have the company loss money!
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