Education Written into Script for Theatre
March 1, 2003By LISA BORNTEIN
Rocky Mountain News
The numbers pile up under the title of Walden Family Playhouse's opening musical like recommended daily allowances on a cereal box.
Survival Skills: Geography 6
Modern Myth-Making: Reading and Writing 6
There's No Place Like Home: Science 4; Geography 1
The numbers aren't quantites, but rather references to the public schools' student-achievement requirements.
Much like the hero of its first show, "Rock Odyssey", Walden has left no stone unturned in reaching out to area educators. Without the lesson plans, teacher guides and all-important CSAP correlations, the theater probably wouldn't be where it stands now, more than 90 percent sold out before the first curtain rises.
These days, it's not enough to trumpet art for art's sake. To wrangle a field trip or time out of the classroom, many teachers must prove that they are fulfilling non-arts education as well.
That's one of the lessons Sheila Sears learned when she met with the 90 educators who sit on Walden's advisory council. Sears, the theater's managing director, has spent a career in arts and education, most recently as executive director of Young Audiences.
"It was to make sure that we were doing something that teachers would respond to, as well as families,' Sears says of the advisory council. 'We really had a goal to not just say, we're doing theater so we're going to write theater lessons."
The first show alone offers 14 classroom activities, each tied to one or more of the Colorado content standards. The lessons were prepared by freelancers, themselves hired by Walden Media's educational arm in Boston.
If it delivers as promised, Walden could provide the most extensive educational offerings of any theater in the area.
Other theaters offer study guides or day programs. At the Arvada Center, schools can pay extra for a full day of the arts. The free museum and gallery on-site are an added attraction.
"That's more bang for your buck," says Arvada performing arts director Kathy Kuehn. "The schools, they're in sort of a pickle themselves because it's hard when you don't have bus money and you don't have a lot of money that allows them to go out on field trips. They're looking for an educational component, I think. You've got a 50-minute show or a 60-minute show, you have hired a bus, and all you're going to get is an hour out of the building?"
Some educators take less convincing than others. Jefferson County schools had long been visiting the Arvada Center; now many of them have added Walden to their schedules.
"They came to us early on, and they have a desire and an understanding about how the arts influence kids' learning," says superintendent Cindy Stevenson. "I believe that their productions will make those standards come alive."
Like many schools, Crofton Elementary uses fund-raisers to pay for its field trips. Principal Diana Howard sat on the educator council for Walden, although her teachers didn't sign up in time for Rock Odyssey.
"I wanted my teachers to get into the Odyssey one because we study Greek and Roman history in fifth grade," she says.
Crofton specializes in gifted and talented students, and Howard says the arts are indispensible. "I believe to have a full education, children must have the arts," Howard says. "To make school engaging and to make children be very proficient on CSAP tests, one must have a school where children are fully engaged in learning. And you can check out our scores, it works."
