Drama 137 a ‘turning point’ for students

by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce
Theatre Arts and
Shane Moreman
Communication Department
Each spring, Fresno State students from one section of a Drama 137 (Creative Drama) class work with 80 students from the McLane High School Turning Points Academy (TPA) to develop original theatre. The McLane students earn university credit via Drama 77 and come to campus three days a week for the entire semester. This partnership provides an applied learning experience for Fresno State pre-service teachers and an exciting and meaningful arts class for the TPA students. 

In the course, university students lead the McLane students in developing original theatre work. They adapt myths, legends, and tales, tell stories from their own lives in personal narratives and explore current social issues through devised activation scenes meant to inspire thought and action within audiences. The methods used in this project stem from the work of Agusto Boal and Michael Rohd, resembling classic Theatre-in-Education practices, where the audience is involved in considering choices of  the main character; audience members often enter the scene as the character in order to fully explore the options.

The Turning Points Academy was created in 1994 by then-assistant principal Frank Sylvester of McLane High School in collaboration with Dr. Jody Daughtry of  Fresno State. This program brings approximately 150 high school sophomores to the university setting for one semester each year. The student's curriculum consists of four academic high school courses: English, science, mathematics and world history, as well as two or more university classes in such areas as kinesiology, theater arts, music and education. This partnership was designed specifically for the inner city, "at-risk" student. Its goal is to encourage students who may not have otherwise considered college as a postsecondary education option, to pursue a college degree. The hope is that this will be achieved by providing the high school students with mentoring, exposure to the university campus and the earning of university credit.

The theatre component of the program was first developed by Fresno State professor Kim Morin. Dr. Shane Moreman and Roxanne Schroeder-Arce are currently engaged in researching how the Drama 137 class and specifically the performative elements of the course intersect with the goals of the program. The two professors presented a session entitled “Recentering Theatre: Breaking Down the Dramatic Boundaries between Universities and High Schools with Service Learning” at the American Alliance for Theatre and Education this summer in Chicago. Their research is ongoing.

The contributions of Fresno State students in the course to the high school students are highly appreciated by the McLane administration, teachers and students.  Jeremy Ward, lead teacher of TPA states, "The theatre class is an integral part of the TPA program. It helps the students develop a community and helps them to strengthen their voices as individuals."

University students working with the high school students have referred to the class as, "the most valuable I have had in college." Rather than hearing a professor theorize on educational issues, the students engage in teaching every day, and continually reflect on this authentic experience, including their strengths and weaknesses as growing teachers.

The Drama 137 Turning Points Academy project is a thrilling opportunity to engage in a service-learning partnership where Fresno State and McLane students all benefit greatly as they learn together.

(Roxanne Schroeder-Arce is an assistant professor in the Theatre Arts Department at Fresno State.)