"...just testing your imagination for a few minutes..."

 By Christine Skorupa

Today, the NYU apartment cohort began the sunny, breezy Thursday by trekking to the nearest Pret a Manger, a common occurrence among us coffee-craving folk. The £12.50 for 5 barista-made beverages a day deal caught many of our eyes, causing us to make Pret runs a compulsory part of our schedule. (I'd recommend their hazelnut frappe, if their blender is in operation! Not sponsored.)

pictured: Julia & Taylor, sunglasses-clad and Pret-bound

Today's workshop at the New York University London campus was with the accredited Cecily O'Neill, a master of process drama and arts in education research (and all around, incredibly enlightening teacher). We explored the text of Shakespeare's King Lear, a play we appropriately saw just a few short days ago at The Globe. To begin, we made some Still Images of poignant moments we witnessed in the play (which is an example of a drama structure that can be used in process drama). 

pictured: a group of 5 students performing a still image of a scene from King Lear

pictured: a group of 4 students performing a still image of a scene from King Lear, including yours truly (dead body stage left)

pictured: a group of 4 students performing a still image of a scene from King Lear

pictured: a group of 5 students performing a still image of a scene from King Lear, feat. Cecily providing feedback while Prof. David flaunts some technical finesse

We explored both individually and in groups what it's like to introduce process drama to our classroom during this workshop session. We engaged in more creative exploration with process drama, using structures such as News Headlines, Advice Circles, Teacher-in-Role, and so on. We even got to talk about the hit TV show Succession being a pretext for studying King Lear, which is something that certainly made my brain light up!

In between our two sessions with Cecily, we had some grub before returning to our educational work. Julia and I opted for some local meatball sandwiches...definitely a wise choice.

pictured: sunglassed Taylor, Tamara, Sarah, and Nick partaking in some lunch (& more Pret)

Something that stuck with me the most is that process drama and "teacher-in-role" techniques don't have to be perfect or specifically planned out; rather, it's better to allow students the freedom to discover the story themselves through dramatic exploration! Cecily mentioned something that supported this: if students aren't familiar with the process of dramatic exploration, simply introducing it to them bit by bit in the classroom is enough. For example, a teacher can suggest at the end of class that they're "...just testing your imagination for a few minutes..." and can take a risk by integrating a touch of process drama! 

After our long day on campus, our inspired group all took a fast break before embarking on our next large journey of the day. I, personally, did my laundry in the NYU apartment as quickly as possible. This was a slight success (with the exception of the fact that my laundry is currently sitting upon my twin bed, unfolded. Sorry DaMonique!)

Before our next event of the day, we stopped at...you guessed it!...Pret. This time, for a round of smoothies. 

pictured: all the smoothies Pret has to offer

This evening, we had the honor of seeing a show produced in Stratford Town Hall, acted by incredibly talented local students from 4 different schools. It was titled The Stopping Place, and featured an all-female cast depicting scenes of "the 'hidden' history of the Holocaust." The music, acting, projections, and set design were all incredibly moving - so moving that there was even a car trailer on stage that rotated to show passage of time. 

pictured: intricate program from "The Stopping Place"

The theater in which this show took place was also incredibly beautiful. The lobby of the theater was adorned with large crystal chandeliers, long marble staircases, and tall vintage-looking windows. We took time there to attend an insightful Q&A with cast members and production/creative teams from the show, and, of course, take some glamorous photographs. 

pictured: Taylor & Nick reading a marble inscription on the lobby wall

pictured: Taylor & myself being photographed by Julia at the theater

Upon completion of the Q&A and mixer with the cast and creative team, the NYU cohort went on their journey home on The Tube. To continue our week-long tradition of consistently being the loudest people on The Tube (must be an NYC thing?) we attempted to take a series of many selfies in the train car. Thanks to Wro, we got a few good ones in for the memory box. ("Flip the camera, Wro!!!")

pictured: a selfie on The Tube

I ended the long day with some Taco Bell. A few friends and I went to a local park I don't know the name of and ate fast food on the floor before heading out to our favorite nighttime spot, The Lamb Pub. There, we met up with an old friend of ours, Sam! 

pictured: NYU friends & Sam!

We played many a card game at The Lamb to get all of our silly energy out, and then called it a night. 

For now, I must go and finally fold that laundry that lives atop my bed. But I'm personally looking forward to this weekend, where we're a little freer to sleep in and explore at our leisure! 

(p.s. I'm still waiting for someone to accomplish drinking the 5-drink-maximum at Pret in 1 day. Taylor, I'm looking at you!)