The Care Center
Enchanted Circle Theater and The Care Center in Holyoke have been collaborative partners in education for over ten years.Through the years, ECT has taught numerous 8-week courses at the Care Center. These courses are designed to enhance communication and expose students to the world of theater arts. Courses have included:
Play Reading and Discussion:
Students read and discuss contemporary and classic plays, illuminating the experience of adolescents and young women,. Plays have included Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare), For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Shange), How I Learned to Drive (Vogel) and The Crucible (Miller). Each semester, students also attend a performance at a major venue.
Public Speaking 101:
Students explore communications skills and techniques for speaking and listening from multiple perspectives: job interviews, public speaking, non-verbal communication, advocating for yourself and others,, toasts, jokes, and other life skills.
Performance Studies:
Moving from page to stage, students in performance studies explore poetry and prose as well as short plays and creative writing to develop unique and dynamic performances. To date, students have performed excerpts from Othello, For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, and an ongoing play called Sex and the Mill Girls.
“ECT has been instrumental in helping us (The Care Center) meet our goal of providing opportunity and support for our students to find their voice. Introducing theater for the first time to many of our students has produced more fruits than we’ve ever imagined. Thank you ECT!” ~Ana Rodriguez, Education Director, The Care Center
For more information about our community collaborations,
email info@enchantedcircletheater.com or call (413) 534-3789.
Programs
“Students that were struggling readers became narrators and learned to read with ease. The students gained so much confidence. They learned how to work together cooperatively, and the value in supporting each other. This was a tremendous learning experience for all of us.”
~ 3rd grade teacher, Holyoke, MA