YASD Workshop AND professional
development ARTISTS

RON AUERBACHER – SHAKESPEARE: THE RUDE MECHANICALS An interactive and participatory program in which the students perform the hilarious “rude mechanicals” play within a play from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. All scripts, props; costumes and music provided. And students will learn to hurl Elizabethan insults! Grades: 7-8, 9-12 Size: 1 Classroom

RON AUERBACHER – HIGH ENERGY SHAKESPEARE Question: How is Shakespeare like great TV? Answer: Romance, Violence, Poetry, Passion, Action, Humor, Music and Interesting Characters! Acclaimed local actor Ron Punit Auerbacher will astonish, delight, amuse, provoke, exhilarate, and challenge your students to prove his point that Shakespeare did not write his plays to torture students, but like contemporary script writers, to entertain audiences and make money. A variety of famous monologues will be performed, interspersed with descriptions contrasting and comparing Elizabethan society to our own. HIGH ENERGY SHAKESPEARE will blow away the barriers of old-fashioned and boring! Grades: 7-8, 9-12 Size: 1 or 2 Classrooms

FERN STREET CIRCUS Clown Otis (Fern Street Circus Artistic Director, Garry Irvingwhite) shows students how a narrative story can be told through the art of circus. Students will learn how the elements of character, movement, music and circus skills combine to create a circus production that tells a story. This is a wonderful companion workshop before or after a field trip to the Fern Street Circus. Grades: K-3, 4-6 Size: 1 Classroom ALSO AVAILABLE AS A RESIDENCY

JULIE GREATHOUSE-SUAZO & LOREA HERALD – EZRA MEEKER’S CALIFORNIA GOLD “We-uns is gonna tell you all about the drama, mystery and hardship of the California Gold Rush.” Thus begins the historically accurate classroom workshop Ezra Meeker’s California Gold. Teaching artists Julie Greathouse-Suazo and Lorea Herald present this readers theatre workshop where every student (and the teacher!) in the class gets the opportunity to portray a real life character during the Gold Rush period. This workshop features music, theatre and dancing and is a wonderful companion piece for studying California history. Grades: 4-5 Size: 1 Classroom of 35

JULIE GREATHOUSE-SUAZO & LOREA HERALD – THE TIME MACHINE Two early American colonists (Ms. Suazo and Ms. Herald) are transported into your classroom via a time machine. The classroom teacher will transport them back as soon as the colonists tell the class who they are and where they live. But the colonists can’t remember! They only have their journals to help the class get clues to their original colonial settlement. Students receive a handout by which they can collect data and ask questions from which to guess the colonists’ origins which will chart information they receive from each of the colonists in order to determine the difference between the New England, Middle and Southern colonies. At the end of the workshop, these handouts will serve as an informative resource for the students to add to their study notes. Classroom teachers will have a scripted outline for the introduction of the workshop and to set up the situation. Grades: 4-5 Size: 1 Classroom of 40

JERRY HAGER – ELEMENTARY MIME an your body tell a story without words? Sure it can! Jerry Hager provides a hands-on overview of the elements of mime including the history of the art of pantomime. Students will create solo, duo and group mime scenes and use “The Giving Tree” as a final exercise project. Grades: 3-4, 5-6 Size: 1 Classroom AVAILABLE MONDAYS, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAYS

JERRY HAGER – FEED YOUR IMAGINATION Storytelling, mime and audience participation are all mixed together in this theatrical approach which emphasizes our most unique gift – imagination. Children learn the value of channeling their creative energy to create anything their minds can imagine. Grades: 3-4, 5-6 Size: 1 Classroom AVAILABLE MONDAYS, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAYS

JERRY HAGER – THEATRICAL MOVEMENT This workshop introduces the discipline and “magic” of stage movement as a communication skill. Students will discover how to use their bodies to create character, employing tempo, range and gesture. This workshop can be tailored to any play or skit the class is studying. Grades: 6-8, 9-12 Size: 1 Classroom AVAILABLE MONDAYS, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAYS

LARRY KEOUGH – WHAT'S YOUR STORY? Write a short story or sing a song! Everyone has a story to tell. From the beginning, to what’s in the middle, to the very last word…Author Larry Keough (“Fragilly”) shows students how to write a story or a song from the beginning to a final product. Grades 4-6 Size: 1 classroom Cost: 1 workshop=$100, each additional = $80.00 NOT AVAILABLE WEDNESDAYS

THE STAMP SISTERS – MARGY DAVIS & MIRIAM NASON Margy Davis and Miriam Nason will teach students the basics in stamp collecting with an emphasis on the commemorative envelope (The First Day Cover). They examine the lives and contributions of an African American depicted on a U.S. stamp. Students will be guided in creating their own First Day Cover to honor the life of an African American discussed in class. Students are introduced to a meaningful hobby that exposes them to new peoples and cultures as well as developing their thinking skills. Children learn to develop their own thinking skills and will then create an artistic commemorative envelope. Grades: 4-8 Size: 1 Classroom of 30

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For more details about scheduling an assembly, workshop, or Family Arts Night after school, contact Program Manager Sherrie Brown at 619/282-7599 ext. 114. For more details about scheduling a residency program, contact Education Director Jennifer Oliver at 619/282-7599 ext. 113.