Taproot Theatre’s Road Company entertained at Coe Elementary last Thursday, bestowing the virtues of problem solving, empathy training, emotional management, bullying prevention to its students.
The Road Company performed its bullying-prevention play Super School to an auditorium packed with children in grades kindergarten to fifth. The young students listened and laughed as the cast of five told the story of Asteroid Academy students who begin a new year confronting challenges of social interaction, like dealing with a bully, managing anger, and the tests of honesty and friendship.
“It was awesome,” said fifth grader Makayla Johnson. “It had a very good meaning and it looks like they did a lot of hard work.”
Fellow fifth grader Melanie Lopez agreed that the play was fun and that she learned a lot.
A Q&A session at the end of the show allowed students to ask questions about the show, which mostly addressed the various props and tricks that gave the illusion of super powers. The session also gave the cast a chance to quiz the students, who had no problem articulating the finer points of the show’s message.
The bullying prevention play addresses a growing concern in schools. Previous coverage about incidents of bullying in Queen Anne schools can be found here.
From Taproot Theatre’s press release:
In the United States, 15-25% of students report being bullied, and 15-20% report bullying others, according to the “Stop Bullying Now!” website of the Health Resources and Services Administration. In some cases bullying has led to suicide. For the offenders, it can lead to suspension, expulsion or even criminal charges. In Washington, nearly 15,000 students were suspended and 442 expelled in 2008-2009, according to data published by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction last January. In King County alone, 2,231 students were suspended and 89 expelled.
In Washington, a new expanded anti-bullying law took effect in June, stating that although a law had been put in place to prohibit harassment, intimidation and bullying, the problem had failed to decline. The new law expands efforts, requiring schools to institute policies regarding harassment, intimidation and bullying, and requires each school district to appoint one individual to be the primary contact on the issue.
But the play is more than a timely statement on current social issues, said actors Solomon Davis and Laura Bannister.
“I think the message is timeless,” said Davis. “It could have run since the beginning of time because we’re talking about helping kids to understand their emotions and what they can do.”
“And it’s about how to live as part of a community,” added Bannister.
Bannister and Davis, who both have experience teaching children, said they love what they do and take seriously their obligation to impart an important message.
“This show, all of our shows, have an emotional quality to it. You notice that the students get completely silent during some of the more emotional scenes, which means they’re really engaging with the storyline and also the emotion of it,” said Davis. “I think that this is going to make it in their system and they’re going to make a note of that so that when they get into a situation that is similar they have that memory that says ‘I know how to deal with this.'”
This school year the Taproot Theatre Road Company is performing four plays. Don’t Tell Jessica… and New Girl teach junior and high school students the dangers of gossip, rumors and cyberbullying and the consequences their actions can have, while Treasure Ally and Super School are aimed at elementary school students.
From the press release:
Taproot Theatre’s Road Company has been touring dynamic social-issue plays to students throughout the Pacific Northwest since 1985. The Road Company reaches tens of thousands of students each year with productions that address relevant social issues and provide youth with safe steps to approach them.