Journeys of a Teaching Artist

By Grace Clark, Education Enrollment and Marketing Coordinator

“I love teaching theatre,” Carly Oliver says. “It’s always fun to teach something you are passionate about, but you can also teach other things through theatre like empathy, teamwork, creative expression. You’re also giving kids self-confidence and public speaking skills.”

As a Hartford Stage Morningstar Education Apprentice, Oliver hopes to further her training in theatre education. With a background in acting, Oliver has traveled nationwide and abroad, teaching youth in California, Spain and France. She looks forward to the challenges and opportunities her Hartford Stage apprenticeship will bring.

Oliver begins a busy teaching week with Connections, a five-day pre-reading residency which uses theatre techniques to strengthen comprehension skills and build excitement about a piece of literature. She leads two dozen fifth-grade students at Betances STEM Magnet School in Hartford on an imaginative journey through the desert. As the students stand, Oliver begins: “We’re going to start today with a new drama word. Can someone tell me what pantomime is?” The students are silent with eagerly awaiting stares. “Have you ever heard of a mime?” The group gives affirming nods. “Panto means all, and mime means movement. So, pantomime means acting something out with only movement.”

When the students have finished their warm-up, Oliver introduces the book which will be the centerpiece of the Connections Workshop – Rich: A Dyamonde Daniel Book,by Nikki Grimes. Oliver will visit the class each day to build additional layers to the story and engage the students as actors learning theatre skills and vocabulary.  At the end of the week, each student will receive a copy of Grimes’ book.

“I’ve done this program (Connections) for four years, and this is the best one,” Kelly Zotti, classroom teacher, says. “She (Oliver) holds their attention really well.”

That afternoon, Oliver visits with two dozen tenth-grade students in a New Britain High School history class. The world of William Shakespeare is foreign territory for many of them. Oliver enthusiastically engages the students in both the language and plot of Henry V as part of a pre-show workshop for the matinee performance they will soon see at Hartford Stage.

Oliver hands the students tags with the names of different characters, along with their place in society, to study. She then introduces the students to tableau, a theatrical device using a frozen image to tell a story.

“Think about what war might be like,” Oliver says. “Imagine it.” The students create tableaus to depict their characters, as they start to weave together how characters and social strata are connected through the war.  “She’s helping us to better understand the characters” says Tatiana Ortiz, 15, who played a soldier in the activity. “It’s making me more interested in seeing the play. I like that we get to be creative with the process.”

Later in the week, Oliver rehearses with a 12-member cast of sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at Windham Middle School for Disney’s The Lion King KIDS. Oliver, who will direct, meets with the students twice a week after school to guide them toward the performance of the school’s first musical production.

As Oliver prepares to stage “Just Can’t Wait to be King,” she senses that some students are nervous and others are apprehensive about performing in front of their peers. Oliver uses theatre games to help the students relax and encourage them to work as a team. One game, ‘Pass the Pulse,’ requires the students to squeeze each other’s hands while seated together in a circle. Through this game, Oliver rallies the students by explaining that “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” to motivate them to success.

“I like everything about it,” says 11-year-old Jaeden Prochorchik, who will play Mufasa. “It always makes me feel like she’s rooting for me. Sometimes, I have a lack of confidence and [feel] that no one is rooting for me. Carly just makes that feeling go away.”

Oliver’s dedication and passion to helping students succeed are traits which Nina Pinchin, Associate Director of Education at Hartford Stage, says every teaching artist shares.

“We have the best team around – such a strong group of artists and educators who care so much about the students and the work,” Pinchin notes. “Our teaching artists give 100 percent to each individual student, program and project. I am so proud of the team we built and the work they are doing every day.”