More Questions Raised

Anytime you try to answer questions, you end up raising more questions. This class has me thinking about my own personal role in the world of theatre and how the works I do effect others. We can have the best intentions when we deal with cultures different from our own, but is that enough? I will be working as a full time drama teacher for the Ursiline School of Performing Arts, and the director of the school wants to add more culturally diverse productions to the upcoming theatre season. About 98% percent of the students who attend the school are from affluent white families. And one of the shows that is scheduled for next season is called An African Story, about a stripe-less zebra who has to earns his stripes. What responsibility do we have as adults to these kids in representing a culture that is foreign to them and probably to the adults who will be teaching them. I am concern because: 1. It's a really bad script that's too similar to the last show the students did this past February. 2. It has the whole continent of Africa being represented by animals instead of people. I feel like I have a responsibility to the students who will be performing representations of a another culture and to the culture that's being represented. I know the director has good intentions in wanting to add cultural diversity, but doesn't know how to go about doing so in a way that empowers the students while fairly representing the different cultures. If anyone is still keeping up with this blog. (Or is it just me who's writing late blog entries!) I would love feedback into how to work with children in accurately representing cultures in performance. It reminds me of what Sarah says about the responsibility we have to children as well in representing others different from us.