A Project In Your School:
Using theatre, its related arts, and non-traditional approaches, students explore their ideas about the world. During an engaging participatory workshop, we¹ll communicate with our bodies and our voices, and project daily thoughts through artistic expression.

A project can readily be designed to best suit your school and classroom needs and timetable. Workshops vary in length from three hours to 25 hours or five full days.

Is there a theme or a concern that would augment your curriculum and / or help students to interact positively with their world? A project can readily be designed to best suit your needs.

SHEATRE is the only interactive creative arts company that has a dedicated program drawing on the life, works and inspirational spirit of Tom Thomson. This program is available to come to your school. For students from Grade 4 – OAC

What’s Brush?
Brush is a workshop where students explore their creativity and extend your artistic skills. You’ll be acting, writing, singing, moving, making music and diving into the mystery and wonder of Tom Thomson and his paintings.

Brush is an energetic, collaborative, colourful, playful, multi-layered exploration. We strive to create an atmosphere where participants feel absolutely comfortable so that they can be free to explore. The workshop includes warm up games, theatre, writing and music exercises, individual, small, and large group work, varied rehearsal & research methods, and performance preparation. We bring selected resources: prints, books, oral histories & historical background.

Our goal is to creatively and personally respond to the story of a Canadian artist, Tom Thomson, and his work. Participants draw from their imagination, experience and this new guided exploration of the art and life history of Tom. Together we find common ground and work with the common language of visual art, music, story and theatre (rhythm, colour, composition, tension, contrast, dynamics). We also aim to explore and embody the artistic spirit and the highs and lows of a complex artist and person. We look for ways to encourage a spark, a word, a colour, a snatch of melody into a scene, a story, a character, a song.

Please click image to enlarge

What have Students and Teachers had to say?
"You didn’t always know what was going to happen, but it was comfortable because no one cares if you do or say something stupid.” – Isabelle

"You had to just act, you can’t stop and think. I had fun.” – Veronica
 
From teachers:
 “I saw what the students are capable of and how to best tap into that.” – Kelly Reid, McPhail Memorial School, Flesherton
 
 “I would recommend this workshop to any classroom. My students benefitted in many ways from this experience. The gift of the arts – painting, writing and singing was invaluable. The development of their sense of team and co-operation abilities was great, and we continue to use and benefit from the workshop strategies.” – Wendy Kipp, Dufferin School, Owen Sound

 


Facilitating Artists:

Joan Chandler, theatre
David Sereda, music


Time Commitment:

The full-length Artists in the Classroom residency takes 25 hours including workshop, performance and group evaluation.  

Generally projects are delivered as five full days of five hours each. Sessions are broken into segments according to the school’s daily schedule.  The five days are generally concurrent.

Workshops of varying lengths may be negotiated.


Cost:  

$575 covers the fee for two artists and their materials.  That’s $115 per day.  Accommodation and travel expenses may apply. Subsidies may be available.




This program has been developed with support from The Ontario Arts Council Artists in Education program, The Laidlaw Foundation, The Trillium Foundation and Heritage Canada Cultural Capitals of Canada.


Overall Educational Expectations:

For teachers:

• To experience their students in a new light
• To audit and experience activities in drama, music, performance, writing led by professional artists
• To participate in a project where aspects of many arts are synthesized
• To support the teachers in meeting specific learning outcomes outlined in the curriculum (see below)
  
  
  For students :
  
  
• an opportunity for learners to express themselves in a multi-disciplinary project
  
• empowers and raises the self-esteem and confidence of the participants
  
• provides learners with training and skills in self and group expression, communication, self-presentation, creativity, and collective production that  will benefit participants  throughout  their lives
• to practice critical thinking, and constructive criticism
  
• to discover and express their own experiences, to investigate and develop creative ideas
  
• enhance the quality of interpersonal relationships within the class/school community:
  
• working with each other with respect, as a team, enhances interpersonal relationships and creates a positive atmosphere in the classroom
  
• working with others not in their social group helps make new connections for themselves and others, and breaks down cliques and tension in the classroom
• learn the value of collaboration, interdependence, and compassion
  
  

From the Ontario Ministry of Education’s curriculum expectations:

By the end of the residency students will:

• Create, rehearse  and perform (when appropriate)  a music theatre piece to communicate dramatic material sourced from storytelling and research and that makes effective use of  the principles of drama and music including balance and contrast, use of space, solo & ensemble singing, and so on.
  

Demonstrate

• appropriate use of voice, gestures, and language in different dramatic situations,
• an understanding of the importance of and ways of sustaining a character through the use of physicality, gestures, voice and attitude.
• an understanding of characters’ motives & influences and of the dramatic situation.
  
  
  
• Identify ways of sustaining concentration in drama and music.
• Evaluate effectiveness of dramatic choices, giving expanded analysis for their opinions,  and sensitive criticism.
• Solve artistic problems using concensus.
• Experience collective theatre, its creation, practice, use and benefits.
• Identify the function and contribution of the drama and music in their community and its significance in their lives.
• Interpret and communicate ideas and feelings drawn from real accounts, selecting and combining these using dramatic and musical techniques.
  

Sheatre in the Classroom:
In the last decade, Sheatre has conducted over 50 intensive projects with thousands of students primarily in grades 3 to OAC. 61% of our programming has been for learners. We have been contracted to assist with program delivery to hundreds of others.

Artistic Director, Joan Chandler has been awarded the Ontario Artists in the Classroom Award four times. Her work has been conducted within public, private, Native and multi-cultural communities. She was a drama specialist with Scarborough Board of Education in 1991-92. In workshops and in-classroom trainings, she has brought dynamic arts methods to teachers and educators in Ontario and England.

SAMPLE WORKSHOPS:

FORUM THEATRE: Create and perform drama together that addresses and problem solves real life concerns that we share. An excellent tool for violence prevention, anti-racism and other issues.

BRUSH: AN EXPLORATION OF TOM THOMSON AND CREATIVITY
We focus our class around Canadian historical figure, Tom Thomson. Not only will students learn artistic and communication skills, they will develop an appreciation for the environment, and learn about geography and our heritage. Students will develop scenes and songs from storytelling and imagination. A performance for the school can be arranged for the final
day.

MASK MAKING: What are you like as the hero in your own life? A look into the qualities that define us. Students make, design and animate their own original masks and cast of characters.

Method:
Our highly structured workshops include warm up games, theatre, writing and music exercises, small and large group work, varied rehearsal & research methods, and performance preparation. We also bring selected resources: prints, books, oral histories & historical background. The workshop will:

• Provide youth with training and skills in self and group expression, communications, self-presentation, creativity, and collective production that will benefit participants throughout their lives;
• Provide an alternative activity that will augment classroom strategies;
• Engender cooperation, co-creativity and sharing, blending ideas together in public presentations;
• Provide an in-class training opportunity for teachers.

Overall Educational Expectations:
By the end of the residency students will:

• Create, rehearse and perform a play, songs or a music theatre piece to communicate dramatic material sourced from storytelling and research and that makes effective use of the principles of drama and music including balance and contrast, use of space, solo & ensemble singing, and so on;
• Demonstrate:
  
  •  Appropriate use of voice, gestures, and language in different dramatic situations;
  • An understanding of the importance of and ways of sustaining a character through the use of physicality, gestures, voice and attitude;
  • An understanding of characters' motives & influences and of the dramatic situation.
    
• Identify ways of sustaining concentration in drama and music;
• Evaluate effectiveness of dramatic choices, giving expanded analysis for their opinions, and sensitive criticism;
• Solve artistic problems using concensus;
• Explain collective theatre, its creation, practice, use and benefits;
• Identify the function and contribution of the drama and music in their community and its significance in their lives;
• Interpret and communicate ideas and feelings drawn from real accounts, selecting and combining these using dramatic and musical techniques.