Toto Kisaku's, "Le Petit Studio"
What: "Le Petit Studio" is a workshop space for dramatic readings by and for children (ages 8-12), with some participation by brave adults!
Why: Creativity is exciting. It's exhilarating. And creating safe spaces for young people to be creators is vital to developing the neighborhoods, the communities, the cities we dream of.
How: Imagine in 2 hours that 20 young people recreate an entire world on stage. Imagine that they take responsibility for making artistic decisions to realize their vision and make their story come alive.
First, the children choose a book or story to dramatize. The book is chosen at random. Participants are invited to bring a favorite book to add.
Next, the children decide who will play each character, who will make sounds and music that will create the environment, and who will design the costumes and scenery. Then the activity begins! For 1 marvelous hour, the young people cut, sew, paint, staple, and draw; they sing, whistle, blow, snap, stomp, and make unearthly sounds to recreate the world they’re creating; they practice voices for characters, look up how to pronounce unfamiliar words, try out various postures that fit their characters, and dig deeply into their characters — how they feel about themselves, and how they feel about the other characters.
The workshop concludes with a performance of the play created entirely by the children, and their assistants (the adults), in under 2 hours.