Artist in Residency
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Cultural Heritage
This production will have a number of children playing a variety of roles. They will be interacting with each other in working toward a common goal of putting on a play. They will learn how to make props and backgrounds. A major outcome of this play will be that Talahi children from 14 different ethnic groups will be coming together in roles that are so different from real life. The best evaluation of this project will be the final production. It is here where all of the practice work for the roles will come together. Also, the in depth work in putting together scenes and costumes will be brought at this moment.
The basic outcome for this project was for a number of students to participate in the production of the Wizard of Oz. It was a very pleasant surprise to see how many of these students took on roles they never “dreamed” they could do. For example to see a young lad playing the role of the Tin Man with all of his special moves was great. What was especially moving was to see the Somalia children taking on drama roles they had not done before in their lives. This was a new experience for many of them. Drama is not something that is part of their culture. It was special to see these students who for the majority were Islamic not doing something that would be just assumed to take place in a drama. For example these students are not allowed to bow and instead had to wave to people. This was a learning experience for the teachers and all concerned. What made this experience also remarkable was the growth of the students as they took on roles they had not done before. To show anger and humor in new formats was something to see for these students. We saw much emotional growth in our students.