If "all the world's a stage," as Shakespeare wrote, then theater can take place anywhere -- and bringing it into the schools was the goal that drew some 40 Juilliard drama alumni back to their alma mater on January 10 for the School's first-ever Theater Arts in Education Symposium and Festival. This daylong event was co-sponsored by Juilliard's Drama Division, Office of Alumni Affairs, and Office of Educational Outreach, and brought in experts from four arts-in-education organizations (DreamYard, Irondale, Manhattan Theater Club, and Working Playground) for hands-on workshops and a panel discussion followed by a performance by children from two elementary (P.S. 51 and P.S. 360) and two intermediate (TAPCO and Bronx Preparatory) schools in the Bronx. (The youngsters also participated in the workshops.)

Elementary school students from P.S. 360 and P.S. 51 in a workshop led by DreamYard. Photo by Isaac Spencer

While some of the Juilliard alumni attending already had experience working in educational settings, others were interested in exploring this exciting area for the first time. Ahvi Spindell (Group 6) admits that his main interest in attending was "a selfish one" -- with his son enrolled in a public kindergarten on Manhattan's Upper West Side, he wanted to know what programs might be available to bring to his school. (Spindell knows the potential impact such early exposure to theater can have on youngsters; his own introduction to theater was as a small child, thanks to an outreach program by Adrian Hall's Trinity Repertory in Providence, R.I). What he hadn't expected to see at the symposium was "how empowering the theater arts classes are for inner-city kids from tough neighborhoods. The need to express 'who they are' is not always met by a hip-hop sing-a-long. The performances of these children gave voice to their daily struggles in school and at home in a very personal and powerful way." Spindell had already seen younger, elementary-grade children from more affluent surroundings who were "vitalized," he said, during a theater class he had attended. "Released from their desks, these kids thrived in a playground of imagination and action."

Pilar Witherspoon (Group 24) says that what brought her to the symposium was the wish to explore possibilities for more rewarding employment between acting jobs. But as Aaron Flagg, Juilliard's director of educational outreach, spoke about the School's desire to help both its alumni and society at large by creating artists who had a broader sense of what they could contribute to their communities, says Witherspoon, "I found myself voicing a very private desire that I had not intended to share with a group of relative strangers -- which was essentially the same thing that had drawn me to theater in the beginning -- the desire to collaborate with others and to have the work I create impact and affect the world I live in."

Two years ago, Lauren Lovett Shields (Group 23) took a break from her acting career to spend a summer in Belize under the auspices of the Cornerstone Foundation, introducing children to theater as a means of self-expression and creativity. The experience lit a fire that has driven her to seek further opportunities to "give something back," as she puts it. "For me and a lot of my friends and colleagues," Shields explains, "total immersion in 'self' does not suit today's human being, much less today's artist -- not only for reasons of awareness and compassion, but also for reasons of putting butts in the seats at the theater." What she and others welcomed at the symposium and festival was the chance to "learn more about how to give to the community from those who have already been doing just that."

Drama alum Susan Finch (Group 13), a teacher with the Atlantic Theatre Company, in a workshop with children from TAPCO (Theater Arts Production Company), an intermediate school in the Bronx. Photo by Isaac Spencer

Participants chose between two morning workshops offering approaches to the same folk tale from two different angles: using improvisation to begin creating scripts for elementary school children, or a songwriting workshop as part of writing a musical for intermediate school children. In the former, says Witherspoon, "the methods they used in order to keep the kids focused and interested were completely surprising and the creation of an environment where impulse is honored and encouraged was really exciting to take part in."

An afternoon panel discussion on "Teaching Strategies and Challenges in Diverse Settings" enabled attendees to profit from the experience of those working within a variety of contexts, including social service organizations, correctional facilities, and school settings. But the highlight of the day's activities, according to nearly all those attending, was the participaton of the children who had been working with the teaching artists from DreamYard since October. The performance of "these kids, with their keen creative minds and eager elastic bodies," says Shields, was a celebration of their individual talents and collective energy that brought home the power of the arts to transform young lives. (One of their teachers noted that the DreamYard program integrating arts into her school's currriculum has made an enormous difference in the students' energy and socializing ability; even the shy ones now raise their hands constantly in class.)

While Witherspoon says there were a few other areas that could have been more specifically addressed at the symposium -- such as classroom management, lesson plans, and what an organization looks for in evaluating working actors who are interested in becoming teaching artists while not abandoning their performing careers -- the most important thing she came away with was "the idea that you can create a life in the arts instead of just looking at how to get your next gig."

Shields, who is in the process of earning a master's degree in education and soon will be student-teaching in the public school system, says that she "will be keeping vigilant watch for any and all opportunities to wrap my students in the magic of art, all the while reaping more rewards from each of them than I could ever offer to them on my own." She commends Juilliard for setting into motion the "wheels of change" that will no doubt make a difference in many of its graduates' lives... and the lives of those around them.