Herzfeld is the fourth winner of the Excellence In Theatre Education Award (EITEA), accepting her honor at Radio City Music Hall in June 2018. She is the theater teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Teacher Helps Students Heal Through Theater Arts
Herzfeld is the fourth winner of the Excellence In Theatre Education Award (EITEA), accepting her honor at Radio City Music Hall in June 2018. She is the theater teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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Theater most defiantly has the power to heal Its a great place to work on yourself and be around others that are also creating art. Theater has one of the most amazing communities that support anyone and everyone involved. After something as dramatic as shootings like Stoneman Douglas it can be unbelievably hard to heal and continue as though the event didn’t happen. I couldn’t imagine what I would do with I went through trama like students that have to cope with school shootings. I enjoyed how she connected theater and learning to speak up and how her students used the skills learned in theater to make the world a better place and use their stories to share important messages with the world!
This is one of the more uplifting articles on the matter and really shines a light on the power of creating a safe space for expression and really creating a lasting impact on communities through an art. Often times in this industry we're oriented in pushing ourselves, pushing through the pain, not allowing ourselves to grieve, and running at something at a hundred percent rather than taking the time to feel out situations and really read the room. What happened at Stoneman Douglas wont heal from a couple of scenes and trying to use acting as a way of forgetting or burying the feelings. What's amazing about this teacher is that she instead just created a place for her students to express and grieve in a way that was not only productive, but also allowed them to inspire themselves to create a movement and really work to use theater as a catalyst for change.
Watching this speech and the performance of "Seasons of Love" by the students fills me with so much hope for the future of theater in education. People across the world are learning that the empathy and dedication taught in theater has an incredible role in healing emotional wounds and spreading positive messages to the next generation. The message of hope that Melody Herzfeld delivered in her speech is so powerful because of the fact that she is a high school teacher, which shows that even people that have a relatively small range can create significant impact. It gives me hope for the coming years, as the world is forced to face numerous issues, that it doesn't take a celebrity or a politician to create change and inspire others. The role of teachers in every stage of education are possibly more important now than ever before because they play a hugely significant role in influencing the morals and values of the generation who will likely be the ones to be responsible for fixing the mistakes being made presently.
This is one of the nicer articles that I have read and chose to comment on this week. Melody Herzfeld seems like an educator who has created a really strong difference in the lives of her students, especially as they coped through an unfathomably difficult time in their lives. I think all of us at CMU have had people who have shaped our theater education experiences before arriving here, so I think it is a really amazing opportunity that the university gives these awards to deserving teachers and also gives opportunities for passionate students that these educators have helped shape. It is very interesting how recent this award was started. It will be very interesting to hear the stories of other educators that have greatly impacted their students. This recipient is a strong case of showing the power that theatre can have for young people dealing with many different circumstances.
“Imagine if arts were a class that were considered core.” Melody Herzfeld is very clearly an amazing teacher and not just because of the strength she provided her students during such a dark time in their lives. We are not a school that really shows our students how to be the best arts educators, we mostly focus on being artists, and I think that’s really a shame because arts education truly is its own beautiful artform. Without our past teachers who knew how to embody this artform, many of us would’ve never made it into Carnegie Mellon. I am sure we can all name a teacher, or a handful of teachers, that inspired us to get us to where we are today, and I am glad that I am part of a University that at least honors those teachers, even if it doesn’t have a way to directly create more of them.
I remember hearing about the MSD High school shooting. I remember talking about it at my school. I remember finding out that we would be seeing the theatre students at our Florida State Festival. We were told to be careful about what we say around them, to tiptoe around their feelings. I met a few of those students during the week of our International Thespian Florida State Festival, and they were some of the most amazing, strong, talented people I have ever met. They sold t-shirts saying "MSDStrong" and spoke up about gun violence. They told their stories. One girl explained to me that she was so glad she had a family to turn to after that day to help her through the trauma. I got the chance to see some of the students perform in the "Individual Event" rooms, and I was amazed. Melody Herzfeld proved that the arts are an amazing hand to hold to help you get up and start walking again. The way her students talk about her only proves to show that she really is an incredible teacher. There are many school administration offices that truly need to recognize the way art can help students express themselves and be their true inner selves. Art is a home for many people. It's, and Melody Herzfeld said herself, a family you can turn to no matter what.
Theatre Teachers are unsung heroes in our society. We might praise them all we want in our industry, but in our society and schools, Theatre and arts are the first classes to get cut, are also the first time slots students are asked to give up in order to prioritize events, or other classes. I am in the arts because of a teacher. The first two years of my college career were spent in nursing school. Suddenly life got life, and I was a mess. During that period a friend and former teacher needed a PA for a production. I feel back in love with theatre, and after that run was over, I walked to the admissions office and started the paperwork to transfer to drama school. This is also the person who knew I wouldn’t like Stage Management in the States, When I told him I wanted to explore stage management here, he told me I would hate every bit of it. And I do.
Americans are both very good and very bad about honoring our educators. While we have awards and grants and teacher appreciation, at the very core of our system is a flaw in the way most kids think about education. Many see it as something obligatory that they have to do despite what they want. Teachers like Herzfeld make school more than that. They create an environment that supports and encourages kids to explore their passions, emotions, and abilities. For these educators, I wish we could make a more generally appreciative world because without the influence of at least one great teacher many of us would not be where we are now. It was their passion and ability and emotion that bled into us and stimulated our minds, souls, and hands into creating and telling stories. Their parts in the lives of artistic youth are so strong but so underappreciated just as Herzfeld says her award is for every drama teacher who has positively influenced a student. We as a society need to stop treating education and the arts like they aren't worth our money and consideration and time because not all heros wear capes.
Theatre and art can be a truly emotional experience. Theatre brings people together in times of pain. It allows people to explore what it means to be vulnerable and to expose their emotions and feelings. It allows people to channel those feelings and emotions through art. One of the biggest reasons I have enjoyed working in theatre is because of it’s power to connect and to incite change. I think what Herzfeld is doing and what she talks about was a result of some of her theatre teachings, after such a massive tragedy, also speaks to the importance of theatre education in schools. Going to a performing arts high school, there were a lot of us pursuing careers in the arts, but there were also a lot of us who were not. Some of my closest friends from high school are pursuing majors in environmental science, public policy, journalism, and computer science, but the things they learned sitting in a drama class helped them be able to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable and be able to speak up for themselves and what they believe in. Theatre education is incredibly important and helps voices be heard.
I loved this article the moment I saw this title. What I love the most about theatre is that it always provides a safe space of comfort for those who struggle. Almost all of the people I’ve met in theatre have been broken in some way, but their art gives them comfort and good people to surround themselves with. I love to see that Melody Herzfeld is getting the recognition she deserves for spreading that connection with a community that had become so hurt. It goes to show just how much power the art has. What damage has been done cannot be changed, but finding ways to heal for the better is always the best way to deal with such a tragedy. Stories like this one reminds me why I went into theatre in the first place. I hope the students and families find peace and continue to do what they love.
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