Community Outreach Project:
Saying Grace: Stories from the Shelter
Fall Play Production took on a serious role as we faced our own community’s thoughts about our “homeless neighbors”. Working alongside Pastor Jack, SSHS tractor shed theatre students went to downtown’s day shelter for the homeless in order to meet their participants and have a better understanding of what it is like to be homeless in Hickory. We met several times and fellowshipped and fed our homeless neighbors and homeless veterans. We gathered their life stories and spent hours listening to and understanding their circumstances. We went back to the Tractor Shed Theatre and created art out of our sharing sessions. We went back on several occasions after hours to help clean their facility – bathrooms, removing mold, shampooing carpets, and killing cockroaches. We brought in new DVDs, books, and other forms of entertainment. A parent of one of my student’s was able to fix their shower and even give them a new powerful shower head. The homeless neighbors were so delighted! We also supplied the ladies with a hair dryer so they wouldn’t have to go out in the cold with wet hair. We also helped make plastic bag woven beds and pillows. We then set our sights on getting the Key Club to join our efforts and do a real drive for winter items. We had two teachers donate clothes but since our efforts here were somewhat fruitless, we turned our aim to our community and churches. We were able to present The Grace House with cleaning supplies, household products, food, drink, toiletries, rain items, Chapstick, book bags, bedding, towels, etc. We hit heavy with warm clothes and coats, gloves, hats, etc. What the Grace House could not store, we took the rest to Cooperative Christian Ministries. We helped just in time for the major cold snap.
2 During one of our visits I personally was heartbroken when I heard a voice say “Mrs. Rice”. I turned around thinking it was one of my student helpers but soon found out different. It was a SSHS graduate who was homeless. Her name was Katie and she remembered me from Coffeehouses. She was in desperate need of diabetic supplies. Before our help, she was hospitalized because she couldn’t afford the supplies to help her monitor her sugar level. She was drug-free and willing to work but couldn’t afford transportation. Her shared story really hit home and touched the hearts and minds of many. Our show was one night only and combined storytelling, music, song, spoken word, poetry, scenes, and monologues. One of my theatre students also shared her personal journey through homelessness which was heart-breaking and eyeopening. We dared to raise awareness past our community’s stereotypes about the homeless. We created an amazing ripple effect online and throughout churches with some never knowing of The Grace House. We raised $460 dollars the evening of the show to give to the Grace House. Students were so touched that some volunteered further time at The Grace House and at The Salvation Army over their Christmas break. Only one faculty/staff/administration attended in evening’s performance – Mercia Barringer. The Charlotte Observer did a feature on our work with the homeless. I was disappointed when Catawba County website liaison would not cover it due to its “charity” nature. Charlotte Observer, The (NC) 2014-02-09 Section: Community Edition: 1st Catawba Page: 1V
Homelessness focus of highschool project Performance challenges assumptions, raises money Julia Sendor Correspondent The "Saying Grace" service project and performance by St. Stephens High School's play production class struck a powerful chord with students by confronting homelessness in Catawba County. "People started coming out of the woodwork - students did," said Molly Rice, theater educator. "Either they were homeless, themselves... or they had been."
3 For example, during a class service project at Grace House day shelter in Hickory, Rice encountered a former student of hers, now homeless. When Rice offered to help, the student asked for a pair of pants. After Rice shared the request with her class, one student volunteered to donate the pants. The student then revealed to Rice that she, herself, had recently been homeless, and that her mother still was. In their December performance exploring homelessness, the student shared her story, to a packed theater. "We had a lot of changed hearts," said Rice. Through poetry, spoken-word performance, music, original dance routines and aerial hooping, the project, "Saying Grace," shines a light on homelessness in Catawba County. Rice explained that the performance sought to challenge beliefs that people who are homeless brought it on themselves, through laziness or addiction. With 260 homeless residents counted in 2013, Catawba County had the thirdhighest number in North Carolina, according to the annual Point-In-Time Count, a statewide, unduplicated count of homeless people held one night each year by the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness. On a national level, 27 percent of American households could not pay for three months of basic expenses - including housing - if they met a financial emergency such as job loss or unexpected medical problems, according to a 2012 study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development. The high school students' performance raised $460 through admission prices to donate to the Grace House, a multi-service day center for the homeless that is funded by churches and donations. Rice said the project began with the need to care for one of her students who was homeless. Classmates pooled clothes and food. A simple question then sparked the service project and theater performance. "I said, 'Why is it that we turn away (from those who are homeless)?' " said Rice. The project was Rice's third time guiding her play production class to fuse community service with theater. In the class, students volunteer for a local cause, then use theater to interpret and share the stories they hear. Rice's previous classes worked with elderly community members and with victims of domestic abuse. This year, the class reached out to the Grace House. When other local shelters close during the day, the homeless can visit Grace House to use computers to search for jobs and print resumes, take GED classes, attend veterans support meetings, shower, wash clothes, and find water and food.
4 Jack McConnell, executive director of Grace House, reported to the class that an average of 80 visitors regularly use Grace House facilities. Working from McConnell's wish list, the theater class found a plumber - one student's father - to volunteer to fix the showers and even install new shower heads. They launched a drive with the St. Stephens Key Club to collect personal items such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, feminine products, lip balm and umbrellas. Then the theater students helped clean the shelter thoroughly. "It was so beautiful to see my teenagers do it so full of joy and no complaints with cans of Lysol in their back pockets," said Rice. The class returned to the shelter to share a potluck meal with Grace House visitors and learn more about their stories. Within four days after the potluck, the students had woven many of those stories into the multi-faceted show performed to a sold-out Tractor Shed Theatre. Students pre-sold tickets to "someone that they thought might need a reality check," according to Rice. Senior Monica Garrett, 17, performed an aerial dance with hoops, dedicated to "starving artists" who struggle to fit the mold of society. She was inspired by a young, gifted pianist at the Grace House shelter, who performed for the students. Garrett explained that to her, the purpose of the project was "to dispel myths (about homelessness) - people have such warped perceptions." Junior Nikki Witt, 16, performed a poem on the general topic of homelessness. Witt explained why she felt compelled to continue volunteering with those who are homeless. "Because they're human beings. Even the rich, even the people who have homes, have problems; they expect to be helped," said Witt. "I'm eager to learn and see outside the box. As an artist, I see from every perspective." Rice reported that since the performance, she's received numerous emails from audience members, thankful for the eye-opener and wanting to help. Rice attributed the outpouring to the power of art. "What true art does is not just express the self - it can enlighten; it can educate," Rice said. "The ripple effect is amazing." Julia Sendor is a freelance writer. Have a story idea for Julia? Email her at julia.b.sendor@gmail.com. Want to help? To learn more about the Grace House day shelter or support its work, call 82824-0025 or visit www.gracechurchnc.org/ministries/grace%20house.html. The
5 Open Door Homeless Relief Program in Hickory can be reached at 828-2569217. The Hickory Salvation Army can be reached at 828-322-8061. COURTESY OF MOLLY RICE Outside the Grace House day shelter, students from Molly Rice's Play Production class at St. Stephens High School finish an evening of cleaning the shelter. The class launched a project to reach out to Hickory's homeless residents. The class also created a multi-faceted performance, "Saying Grace," to combat opinions that all homelessness is caused by laziness or addiction.
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The National Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest
Saint Stephens High School in Top Five in the State Six years in a row for poetry recitation! For six years in a row, students at the Tractor Shed Theatre at St. Stephens High School gear up each year to find the best poems that suit their voice and style to recite at the State level of the National Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest. 365,000 students, 2,200 schools, and 8,800 teachers participated in POL nationwide. This is SSHS' sixth year. Each year we've made it to the top five and runner-up two years in a row. Over 9,000 NC students competed in this year’s Poetry Out Loud competition. 34 students competed in the semi-finals in Greensboro last month. Given the numerical odds, just making it to the semifinals was an extraordinary accomplishment. A bus of Tractor Shed Theatre student supporters travelled up with our District winner Olivia Wilson to State in March and was pleased with Olivia’s Top Five award. Olivia commented on her experience, “It has been an amazing experience to watch myself and my peers grow through pushing ourselves as performers to meet each poem in its true hold and bring to life the words from the page to stage. I learned how to collaborate within competition and the importance of active listening. In the ‘age of distraction,’ poetry requires you to slow down and focus to fully experience the poem. In delivery, I've learned the importance of performing in the present moment, as well as the personal discipline it takes to move through the process to performance.” Poetry Out Loud features recitations by students from public and private schools; including schools as far away as Haywood County in the mountains to Dare and
7 New Hanover on the North Carolina coast. “The national program demonstrates the collaboration between national, state and local organizations in the classroom,” said Banu Valladares, Arts in Education Director for the North Carolina Arts Council. “We are grateful to all our partners, especially the Greensboro Public Library, for making poetry accessible and meaningful to students across North Carolina.”
North Carolina Theatre Conference Senior Day/Auditions This year I worked closely with seniors who were considering going into Theatre programs at Colleges/Universities. I provided one-on-one training and conversation tailor-fit to each student. I wrote several recommendations and passed along information to each student regarding auditions and college programs. I traveled with three seniors who auditioned for North Carolina Theatre Conference after spending weeks after school helping to prepare auditions for students to gain data concerning their talent. All three students, Abigail Wilson, Monica Garrett, and Salvador Loza were called-back to many in state colleges and universities theatre programs. All three of my students were offered scholarships for their abilities and two of my students gained a callback to the prestigious School of the Arts. Abigail Wilson made the commitment to UNC-Greensboro’s theatre program while Monica & Salvador plus two other students Lexie Lawrence and Johnny Dellinger will join the theatre program at Catawba Valley Community College. Junior Olivia Wilson auditioned for the high school program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is currently on the wait list. If Olivia gets in she would make the fourth SSHS student to be accepted into this highly prestigious program joining: Sydney Shepherd, Phillip Atkins, and Ruby Osorio. Currently, alumni Andrew Licout is an undergraduate and is my first student there to study Design and Production.
Governor’s School for Theatre The Governor's School of North Carolina is a five-week summer residential program for intellectually gifted high school students, integrating academic disciplines, the arts, and unique courses on each of two campuses. The curriculum focuses on the exploration of the most recent ideas and concepts in each discipline, and does not involve credit, tests, or grades. The Governor's School is the oldest statewide summer residential program for academically or intellectually gifted high school students in the nation. The program, which is open to rising seniors only, with exceptions made for rising juniors in selected performing/visual arts areas, is located on two campuses of up to 305 students each: Governor's School West at Salem College in WinstonSalem (begun in 1963), and Governor's School East at Meredith College in
8 Raleigh (begun in 1978). The program is administered by the Public Schools of North Carolina, the State Board of Education, and the Department of Public Instruction through the Exceptional Children Division. A Board of Governors, appointed by the State Board of Education, acts as an advisory body. Kyla Little & Mackenzie Patton passed the academic screening and theatre audition to make it into this prestigious program. We worked hard after school with their audition pieces and portfolios. Both of these students would like to pursue theatre after graduation.
Norton’s Anthology Poetry Film Contest (and PigHog Poetry Film Contest) In fall 2013, high school and college students worldwide were invited to submit original online video recitations of a work from the Norton Anthologies. Finalists were selected for each of the works by W. W. Norton & Company editors. We made finalist status and won each year for the past four years. This year Ashley Barnett’s poetry film based on Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem “How Do I Love Thee?” made it to the finalist round. Fall Play Production students also submitted work to England’s poetry film contest Pighog Poetry. We received honorable mention for our work.
Visiting Guest Artists This year we had four very special guest artists visit the tractor shed ready to inspire students in poetry, music, storytelling, and spoken word. Shane Manier is the founder of Guerilla Poets and a Graphic Designer at International Minute Press. Her poetry has been featured both online and in print. Morgan DePue is a poet and a member of the Guerilla Poet movement. Both ladies shared spoken word, stories, and poetry with all theatre classes. Singer/Songwriter Classical Guitarist Alan Mearns performed for theatre classes and gave a lecture on the History of the Blues (in preparation for our Media League Blues game). Musical legend and bassist Dave Fowler performed for theatre classes and inspired them with his amazing life story.
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The Media League Online Creativity Contest
The Media League is a competitive creativity league for high schools in which Varsity Media Teams compete to produce and share the most creative original Media. It features Players, Teams, Coaches, Games, Playoffs and Championships. The Media League is similar to other varsity leagues except that instead of being for the best athletes in school, our Media Teams are for the most talented artists in each school. Playing one of our themed ‘games’ involves teams making and uploading 3 themed artworks (poems, videos, drawings, songs, animations, photos, etc.) and then generating as many views for those pieces of ‘Game Media’ as possible. Scores are based on a combination of the quality of a team’s entries (as rated by other students in the league) and the Social Score a team and its fans generates by viewing, sharing, rating and otherwise participating in the league. As with all varsity sports, The Media League is a great opportunity for kids to excel, to gain respect and even to launch professional careers. And it invites each school to celebrate its creativity by encouraging all students to participate in The Media League, either as players or as loyal fans of the school team. The new involvement with the Media League allowed students to create in a variety of art forms (rap, dance, poetry, spoken word, theatre, film, visual arts, make-up/costume design, music, and graphic design. Students worked independently or in small groups to create a "game piece" based on a given theme. The international contest is set up like football and we are the National Champions - Saint Strivers won world-wide recognition. This game not only reaches students creativity but also organizes learning teams that help students define roles, strengthen social ties, interact with people from
10 different cultures, use technology, teach the importance of cooperation and collaboration, gain a critical eye in examining art, communicate clearly, solve problems, understand connections, make complex choices, analyze art, and provides opportunity for self-assessment. We won every game we played Money Talks, We are Animals, Invent Your School, Space Invaders, The Blues, Inner Visions, Power to the Young People. As newcomers, we were delighted to win all the games and receive artist’s commentary on every game. Commentary included famous artists in the field. We were over the moon to have won a very special award. Our student Kaylee McKeny won a recording deal in NYC at Sojourn Records and the honor to collaborate with artist Blessing Offor this summer!!!! We worked hard to establish ourselves as competitive artists and made Catawba County School proud to place SSHS on a map in a world arena for high school creativity and technology. We won the title and some cool prizes. Our favorite is the recording deal and close behind it are the licenses to Adobe’s Creative Cloud Suite. Congratulations to Saint Strivers, the St.Stephens' High School Media Team, champion of the 2013-14 Media League season.
The team's artistic skills were immense, but its success is due equally to its players' hard work and their courage in pushing artistic boundaries. Saint Strivers produced several collaborative video projects that involved many team members in wildly creative adventures. Coached with great energy and openness by Molly Rice, the Saint Strivers team is a deserving champion. The team will receive a Championship Banner to hang at school and team members will also receive Media League Championship prize packs. All 4 of the finalists deserve tremendous respect for their creative energy and talent. Thank you for your inspiring us with your inspiration and creative power! You are ALL terrific artists, players and teams and you've got some impressive fans too! The Media League salutes you!
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Charlotte Observer, The (NC) 2014-01-05 Section: Community Edition: 1st Catawba Page: 1V
Hickory St. Stephens team soars in art competition Tourney explores various topics through an array of formats Julia Sendor Correspondent
In her rap in "Money Talks Montage," Makayla Wackenberg, 18, a senior at St. Stephens High School, unleashes fiery words that, line by line, attack the disparity between wealth and poverty. The rap helped propel her team, the Saint Strivers of St. Stephens, to victory in a national tournament of artist all-stars called The Media League. The tournament itself also prompted Wackenberg to test out a new art form - and earn a shout-out from international rapper Wali Shah. "I never thought I would ever write raps or rap at all," Wackenberg said. The Media League is a "creative league" that connects high school media teams through online competition. Creative students from every corner of the arts - singers, actors, writers, rappers, dancers, videographers, animators, comedians - face off, virtually, against schools from across the county. So far, the Saint Strivers and their fans have taken conference titles for the first two months of games. The league opens a way for artists to shine in competition, according to Molly Rice, one of the Saint Strivers' coaches and theater educator at St. Stephens. "They want to 'strive' to win and 'strive' to be better," said Rice. "Here in the South, we focus so much in the high schools on sports. Why can't artists be all-stars?" Each month, schools are assigned a new topic, such as "Money Talks," "(We Are) Animals," and "Invent Your School." Students can interpret the theme to create any piece of art. Each high school's panel of judges chooses three creative pieces, from any form of media, to upload to the league website. Fans rate and score the art. The highest-scoring teams advance to the playoffs. A championship decides the winner. The Saint Strivers team has grown to 44 members, who all have the chance to enter the contest. Rice incorporates the contest into her Play Production curriculum, and digital art educator Renae Eller and art educator Steven Hoke also encourage their students to enter pieces. Rice, Eller, and Hoke, along with media coordinator Tammy Cordeiro, form the panel to select the final cut for the school's three monthly entries. "I told my students, we have to play it seriously; we have to give it our whole hearts," said Rice. "I'm always so proud of what they create, and it's given them the opportunity to collaborate in groups and try out their ideas, and bat them back and forth in their art form."
13 The game also pushes the students to explore and refine their styles, and to keep them creating art, said Wackenberg. "A lot of people tried something new and really enjoyed it, or found what they're best at," Wackenberg said. "It's been like practice for us - it's been like exercise. We've all gotten to create something different each time." Senior Abigail Wilson, 18, described the game as a fresh twist on traditional theater classes, where students memorize plays already written for them. Instead, students may team up to act out poetry and raps of their own - or written by classmates. "It's just a huge creative outlet," said Wilson. "You can put your own individuality into it. ... It encourages all of us to reach out and work together and collaborate." For the competition themed "(We Are) Animals," Wilson collaborated with sophomore Julia Parham, 16, on a spoken word piece, titled "Beast." The piece portrayed society as sheep, being blindly led by a "mainstream culture" wolf. Parham said that the piece illustrates struggles of creative thinkers in modern society. "I took the story as in, the wolf is more like society, (telling the sheep) 'You are having to become like the rest of us,' " said Parham. "In the end, a lot of people leave the arts, because they want to be accepted." Parham and Rice also pointed out the downsides to the game's competitive edge. Some students resist sticking to a theme; others don't want to fixate on winning and losing with art. However, Rice said, these downsides have prompted some powerful conversations. Rice has held roundtable talks with her students about what rejection feels like, and how to cope with it. "This game has provoked much discussion and thought about the arts and competition, and doing work on 'commission,' " Rice said. "The competitive edge of it offered a vehicle to look (at) and talk about what makes good art... and why do we Americans always have to be the best? Why are we so competitive? "The dialogue that has come out is something that I wouldn't give up." Rice and her students also debate the value of using social media to gain an audience. Often, Rice said, the students spend more hours than they'd like, sitting at a computer and clicking a mouse to appeal for votes. "It really goes against the grain of theater itself," said Rice. "But yet, it is going to reach a lot of audience." The Saint Strivers will gear up for Game 3 in January, driven by the theme, "Invent Your School." With this next theme, the Media League will offer students a chance to use art to promote the arts. Rice said her students are already discussing the importance of arts programming in the schools, as well as the state-level politics that influence education. "They're really activists, these kids, and advocates for the arts," Rice said. "I get a lot of kids where the arts are actually healing them, and they need the arts."
14 Julia Sendor is a freelance writer. Have a story idea for Julia? Email her at julia.b.sendor@gmail.com. Learn more: To learn about the Saint Strivers team and how to support it by becoming a voting fan, visit www.themedialeague.com/team/149 or email Molly Rice at Molly_Rice@catawbaschools.net. COURTESY OF MACKENZIE PATTON Mackenzie Patton, a junior at St. Stephens, entered this illustrative photo in response to a media contest with the theme of "Money Talks." Patton and her fellow students joined The Media League, a creative league that connects high school Media Teams through national online competition. "In this world of fluctuation, nothing is ever certain," Patton wrote, describing her photo. "The business man in the office could be just one paycheck away from homelessness."
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Have a look at our season’s work here: http://www.themedialeague.com/team/149
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Alice Underground: A Steampunk Spin on a Classic Tale! The honors students in line with the common ccore ore take on leadership and I created a Play Reading Committee in which honors students have the duty of reading several plays and choosing one in agreement for Spring Production. The commitment found it difficult to choose a play for the class. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was suggested b but ut we did not like the adaptation so we set out to create our own. Once students decided on which crew would best suit their talents, the Playwrights joined in effort to divide the novel after close classroom reading into chapters which would then turn into scenes. Other crews involved Special Effects on Stage/Film, Film Film,, Costumes, Set Design and Construction, Props, Make-up/Hair/Masks, up/Hair/Masks, Music and Sound, Lights, Public Relations, and Dramaturgy. Pinterest was a must in our research into process. Check out our site here: http://www.pinterest.com/sshstst/ tp://www.pinterest.com/sshstst/ We decided after several days of discussion on a director’s concept that we would aim for Steampunk. Our spring break was spent readying the Tractor Shed for production. We had to clean our storage shed to make room for all a classroom items as the Tractor Shed changed from classroom into Black Box Theatre. We spent 40 hours during our break on this and our set design. After several discussions we went with Alice Underground and made moves to the concept of the cards 2, 5, 7 becoming miner-like like character who would also change set and run tech. All of our set, costumes, and masks were handmade.
Mad Hatter’s homemade steampunk hat made from a bird cage.
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White Rabbit’s handmade mask We spent over 260 hours after school and during weekends to produce Alice Underground. Parents helped to make the beautiful King and Queen costumes and a grandmother helped to make our awesome caterpillar costume. Students worked around the clock on their costumes, masks, make-up, hair, and even learned how to make glass for the theatre (sugar glass) that safely breaks. We also collaborated with SSHS teachers (and their children), local elementary schools and Arndt’s new drama teacher for our child narration parts. We adapted very closely to the novel so the audience could learn the true Lewis Carroll story and not Burton’s or Disney’s mishmash. The show was full of spectacle including one of the miners used stilts during the whole show. Original film was included and intertwined and served as a portal to Alice’s dream. The court scene was outstanding and even had the King and Queen of Hearts suspended in mid-air! It was truly an Alice that no one had seen before. Students learned every aspect of theatre and the soft skills that any employer would need in an employee including but not limited to: Math, Safety, Courtesy, Honesty, Grammar, Reliability, Flexibility, Team skills, Eye contact, Cooperation, Adaptability, 12. Follow rules, Self-directed, Good attitude, Writing skills, Dependability, Advanced math, Self-supervising, Being drug free, Good attendance, Personal energy, Work experience, Ability to measure, Personal integrity, Positive work ethic, Interpersonal skills, Motivational skills, Valuing education, Personal chemistry, Willingness to learn, Common sense, Critical thinking skills, Knowledge of fractions, Reporting to work on time, Use of rulers and calculators, Good personal appearance, Wanting to do a good job, Basic spelling and grammar, Reading and comprehension, Ability to follow regulations, Willingness to be accountable Ability to make production quotas, Basic manufacturing skills training, Awareness of how business works, Staying on the
20 job until it is finished, Ability to read and follow instructions, Willingness to work second and third shifts, Caring about seeing the company succeed, Understanding what the world is all about, Ability to listen and document what you have heard, Commitment to continued training and learning, Willingness to take instruction and responsibility, Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment, Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months, Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day, and Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers. Of course the theatre skills of creativity, innovation, memorization, concentration, ensemble work, problem-solving and public speaking and learning life skills in addition to the soft skills mentioned above is what each cast member took with them. I was very pleased that I reached my goal with getting more parental support but sadden by the fact that I do not have more faculty/administration attendance.
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