June 25, 2021 – Recently, the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI) helped conduct a virtual theater performance influenced by an innovative restorative justice-based approach to conflict resolution with students at Stephen White Middle School. Conducted under a partnership between the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts’ Institute for Theatre & Social Change (ITSC) and WPDI’s Domestic Harmonizer Program (DHP), the performance allowed the students to grapple with prominent issues they have encountered both at school and at home in a positive way.
The performance came about from WPDI’s new partnership with the ITSC, which began earlier this year. Using the medium of theatre, WPDI and the ITSC worked together to recruit middle school students interested in drama and social justice at Stephen White Middle School in Carson, California. Lead by Dr. Brent Blair and USC alumni Kimiko Warren and Sarah Peters, the youths were invited to participate in this online program after school club. The selected students chose the themes, drawing from their lives and current events they wanted to explore, in a play that they also designed. The process allowed them to learn about and engage their fellow students, teachers, and audience members in a meaningful way. This format of authoring and acting, informed by the methodology of Theatre of the Oppressed, brought students into simulations that required them to unpack the complexity of the chosen social justice issues, with a significant psychosocial impact.
After extensive practice throughout the spring, the students performed their play – virtually, because of the COVID-19 pandemic – to an audience including teachers, administrators, and the public. Themes and issues addressed during the performance included bullying, cultural differences and acceptance, and confronting challenging situations at home. After each scene, the students and Dr. Blair engaged with the audience in an interactive dialogue to constructively address key points, challenges, and results raised, resulting in a highly dynamic and thought-provoking shared theatrical experience.
“It was moving to see the students’ commitment to share challenging issues and to create dramatic scenes despite the occasional limitations of internet service and familiar distractions common to the ‘Zoom from home’ experience,” Dr. Blair said. “The students were courageous, the scenes were brave, and the audience engagements were illuminating. This process helped everyone to see the world from the eyes of the students through direct participation in their world. ITSC cannot wait to work with WPDI and the students from Stephen White Middle School again.” Karen DeVoogd, the Domestic Harmonizer Program’s Conflict Resolution Education Trainer, had a similar sentiment: “the process of the audience being invited into the performance, after discussing the featured issue from multiple perspectives, brought forth deep understanding and empathy. These are key outcomes of the DHP and make this ITSC partnership an ideal addition to the scope of our work.”
With this first performance now concluded, WPDI and ITSC will continue to work together in the 2021-22 school year to involve more students from our DHP partner schools. There is great anticipation in bringing this theater experience to a live audience of students in our schools, once schools are back to in person instruction.
