Finding Ourselves in Transition

 It's July 25th and all good things must come to an end. Today is the second to last full day of the Drama and Youth program and the last blog post. It's fitting that today we again meet with Will Barlow, digging into process drama with 17 more days of experience in our minds.

Will's workshop is titled "Transitions", it's a process drama brought to life with us as his students. We're taking on the role of 5th graders about to leave elementary school and make the jump to middle school (that's leave primary school and start secondary school for you Brits). These students are in the midst of a major transition, a transition that can have expanding impacts on a students life.




After some introductory exercises designed to give Will some ideas that he will draw out in the meat of the process drama, we create a set for a bodega out of chairs and post it notes. This location will serve as the starting point for our story about Sam, a student struggling with the transition from elementary to middle school.


Much of the rest of the class was about fleshing out Sam's story and learning more about her, her experience, and the people around her. We met her foster parent named Bob and his girlfriend Suzie, her absent Aunt, her friends, and her false friends. We learned about her interests (she plays Zelda) and even the layout of her home.

Today feels like a culmination of so much of what we've learned about on this trip. Getting to see Will work with us to create this world full of characters based solely on two things: the abstract idea of transitions, and the imagination of the students. Beyond that he only had the structures provided by process drama to guide and shape our experience. Reflecting back on this it's quite inspiring to witness.

Perhaps part of why I find myself so affected is that all of us in the program are about to find ourselves in transition as well, since in only two days we will have to leave the program and find our way to our next adventure. For some of us, it's home to New York, Texas, or Hawaii. For others it's on to other shores in France, Italy, Ireland, or here in England. Our next day will be spent dining together, rushing around doing last minute shopping (have you got gifts for your parents, guardians, friends, children, or significant others?), and reflecting on our adventure together.

What an adventure it was! 

-Conor D Mullen


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