performance lab
“You really enriched the learning of these students and their high school experience…this whole project at Berkeley Rep and the involvement of high schools throughout the region is a testament to your social responsibility and awareness. This is what a community-based theatre should be.”—Rick Ayers, former head of Communication Arts and Sciences, Berkeley High School
In high school classrooms around the Bay Area, Berkeley Rep teaching artists have partnered with English, history and drama teachers to help students explore Blue Door—not simply as a piece of dramatic literature, but as a living work of art. The partnership program is called Performance Lab, and during Season 06/07, in its third incarnation, residencies focus on one of three plays from Berkeley Rep’s season: Mother Courage, Blue Door or Oliver Twist. Students study the play’s historical, social and cultural context, attend a student matinee at Berkeley Rep, participate in a discussion with the cast and then present a creation of their own: a culminating event expressing their take on the original play. This season, Performance Lab will reach thirty-four classrooms in ten public schools. Participants will number just over 800.
hands on experiences
“Performance Lab is a program that not only exposes students to productions on the Berkeley Rep stage, but gives them the tools and opportunity to respond to these plays artistically,” says Dave Maier, Berkeley Rep outreach coordinator. “Our teaching artists are professional actors, dancers, hip-hop artists and fight directors—they bring their expertise to the classroom, and work together with the teacher to create a curriculum that suits the needs of the class.” Culminating events reflect these unique combinations of creativity, interest and skill. This season, Amador Valley High School used Mother Courage as a lens through which to explore their own perceptions of war in an original performance. “They were able to express their feelings of war through the music, dance and song that they created; I believe that was very powerful,” an observer says. “The success of the program lies in the creativity of the students, the classroom teacher, the teaching artist and these world-class works of art,” Maier continues. “Students see that the themes of the plays we produce have resonance in their lives. The potential within these works of art is endless: students have written and performed plays, made short films, designed board games and more. It is really exciting to see what they come create.”
a bridge to more art
Performance Lab builds upon our existing programs, including student matinees, teacher training workshops and outreach visits to classrooms, to generate an extended arts experience that provides ongoing contact with students. Performance Lab allows us to make a deeper impact at public schools, expose a greater number of students to more live theatre and introduce teens across the Bay to Berkeley Rep’s programs. Following a Performance Lab experience, participants have increased their involvement in the arts by signing up for classes, joining the Teen Council, attending Target® Teen Night and participating in the Target® Teen One Act Festival. During Performance Lab workshops Berkeley Rep identifies and awards talented students with merit-based scholarships for our Summer Theatre Intensive Program, helping to remove economic barriers to participation in the arts.
enriching lives
Performance Lab provides a multi-faceted theatrical experience that encourages students to engage intellectually, emotionally and creatively with a piece of art, and to think critically about its meaning. The process becomes both academically and personally rewarding. “I truly came out of my shell a little,” an Amador Valley student says, “it’s something I haven’t been able to do before.” And, as a student from Lighthouse Community Charter School wrote to Teaching Artist Gendell Hernández following the Mother Courage Performance Lab, “You gave us time to think about how violence may affect our community, and how we, as a community, can change how violence can affect us all. I know you have made a major impact upon my life…and upon my fellow classmates. Your work with us has given us an interesting way to think about our community by putting it into theatre.” Another student wrote, “Thank you so much for coming here. I hope to take all these skills with me the rest of my life.” Our greatest ambition is that the students who participate in Performance Lab will be touched and inspired by theatre, forging a connection with the art form that they will carry with them their whole life long.
The Berkeley Rep School of Theatre hosts extensive programming for youth, teens and adults both on-site and in area schools. By supporting Berkley Rep’s Annual Fund, you help bring arts education and outreach programs like Performance Lab to Bay Area schools. We thank all of our current donors, and encourage every Berkeley Rep patron to make a gift today. Call 510.647.2907 or donate online. It really does matter.
fast facts
In its first three years, Performance Lab has:
- Held free of charge residencies for 12 local public schools:
Albany High School
Amador Valley High School (Pleasanton)
Berkeley High Arts and Humanities Academy
Berkeley High Communication Arts and Sciences
Berkeley High School
Encinal High School (Alameda)
Las Lomas High School (Walnut Creek)
Lighthouse Community Charter School (Oakland)
Miramonte High School (Orinda)
Mt. Eden High School (Hayward)
San Lorenzo High School
Skyline High School (Oakland) - Served nearly 1000 participating students
- Employed 16 professional teaching artists
In Fall 2006:
- Eight teaching artists clocked over 6,900 contact hours in 15 classrooms
- 300 Performance Lab students attended Mother Courage
For more information about the Performance Lab program, please contact Dave Maier at 510.647.2977 or dmaier@berkeleyrep.org.