A Kid Like Jake Thesis Production

For my graduate thesis I produced and directed a production of A Kid Like Jake at Niles West High School. A Kid Like Jake is a play that centers around two loving liberal parents of a gender-nonconforming child. It grapples with their parenting decisions, a second miscarriage, and if they are going to speak to their son's gender-play in private elementary school applications for him. I created a plethora of documents that I used to help support the actors and design team. This project was extremely personal to me and to many of the students. A community was truly formed around it.

Here is the full thesis documentation: 

A Kid Like Jake - Thesis Documentation - Sam Rosenfeld

*The full document is 567 pages. Some areas of interest may be: Production photos (281), Email from responder (297), Hypothetical design work (298), Production plans and evaluation (169), Conclusion essay (188)

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Choreopoem Project

This was one of the most effective learning experiences I had when teaching virtually. Based on Ntozake Shange’s Choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf the class created their own choreopoems to represent an intersectionality of theirs that they wanted to explore. In conjunction with studying Kimberlé Crenshaw’s work we applied an artistic lens to examining our identities. As the leadup to this project was focused on the intersectionality of being Black and a woman I asked one of my advanced students, who had previously encountered and fallen in love with this work, to come in, teach, and speak to what it meant to them.

Here is a sample of some of the learning activities, the project itself, and some examples:

For Colored Girls...

 

Angels in America Workshopped Scenes

Last year I had a class that was ready for a challenge in content as well as acting and directing work. Together we decided that we would spend a semester doing a deep dive into one of the great plays of the American theatre cannon, Angels in America. This two part, seven hour long production that centers around the AIDS crisis in New York is a challenge to the most experienced theatre artists. I was tentative about doing this work with the students but through one-on-one work as well as many group discussions we tackled this mammoth of a play together. Each student selected a monologue from the play to perform that would be directed by one of their classmates as well as one scene that they wanted to direct their classmates in. The result was a performance of outstanding work that showcased brilliance, emotional vulnerability, and work ethic beyond their years.

This is a sample of some of materials that were used in the process of this project:

Angels in America Instructional Materials.pdf
 

Ensemble Building Activities

Every semester of my teaching I have started my basic Theatre courses with a series of Ensemble Building challenges and activities that help establish trust, a sense of camaraderie, and a group identity. These consist of games, team building activities, and competitions. They also help create group norms, goals, and roles. This series of activities is catered to each individual class based on what they need in order to set themselves up for success throughout the semester.

This is a sample of some of those activities and what skills they help to establish and grow:

Examples of Team Building Activities