Doris Pfister Murphy
604.990.3473
Free Workshops
So How Should I Be
Body Image and the Impact of Social and Mass Media on Children
Grades 6 – 8
PROJECT LENGTH:
- Up to Five 90 Minute Sessions (Timing is flexible and tailored to the availability and needs of your school)
FACILITATORS:
- Professional theatre artists Linda A. Carson and Ilana Zackon, and video, music and sound designer Joel Grinke
COST: FREE
Using theatre performance and design techniques, So How Should I Be workshops help students to reflect on their self image, personal identities and how these identities fit into their own larger communities. Drama, visual and media arts are used to ignite exploration and discussion amongst the students about how peer pressure, social and/or mass media influence their sense of themselves.
The sessions are lively, engaging, and fun. The students will be creating concrete art and media art pieces.
Following the workshops, students will have a deeper understanding of who they are, who their classmates are, and their own place in their classroom community. They will be more aware of how media works to manipulate people’s self-perceptions, and have tools to question the impacts, both positive and negative, that social and mass media can have on them.
FACILITATORS:
Linda Carson wrote a play on eating disorders called Dying To Be Thin 25 years ago. It was an international hit and is still being used today as an important tool for educators and students to better understand Eating Disorders and their causes. Presentation House Theatre has commissioned Linda to write an new play for 10 to 14 yearolds to further explore this subject for today’s experiences. These workshops are an extension of that project. Linda has acted in theatres across Canada and written several plays,includingDying to Be Thin (Jessie Award), Mom’s The Word (co-wrote, Jessie Award), George and Martha (Adapted from James Marshal) and Jack and the Bean (YPT).Linda’s latest acting credits include George and Martha,(Carousel Players) Rocket and the Queen of Dreams, Blanche in Brighton Beach Memoirs (Theatre Northwest) and Where the Wild Things Are (Jessie Award).
Ilana Zackon is a Canadian artist who enjoys wearing many hats. An actor, singer, voice-over artist, writer, producer and director, she has been involved in the performing arts since the age of three. Selected theatre credits include a cross-Canada tour of the TYA musicalThe Magical Journey(TohuBohu Productions),Nuclear Sky(Title 66 Productions, Montreal) andUnder Milk Wood(Edinburgh Fringe).Ilana can be heard as the voice of Catalyst inLivelock(Tuque Games) and Katherina von DernsbachinMordheim: City of the Damned(Games Workshop). She is also the founder of social issue theatre company Project X Perfomanceand ispassionate about using theatre as a platform to create awareness and empathy, worldwide. She is currently an Artist-in-Residence at Presentation House Theatre.
JoelGrinke is a Jessie Award nominated designer and performer. His work spans genres, including podcasting, live variety show, Christmas spectacular, educational installations, opera, and immersive walk-through theatre. He designs experiences ranging from live theatre, interactive installations, variety shows, audio programs and high tech spectacles. Across all of these projects, his focus is the same: creating an uplifting, affecting, and immersive experiences that reaches beyond the conventional theatrical settings and forms. Joel holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts, is a graduate of Studio 58, is a display fireworks assistant and a member of the Themed Entertainment Association.
ABOUT PRESENTATION HOUSE THEATRE:
Nestled in the heart of North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale, Presentation House Theatre has become a neighbourhood cultural hub, providing the community with a dynamic mix of professional theatre, music, and dance productions -- all just a Seabus away from downtown Vancouver. We are the North Shore's professional theatre company. For nearly 40 years, we've entertained audiences with innovative programming and quality professional productions in our wonderfully intimate space. We are committed to presenting and producing shows of the highest standards, and appealing to the diversity of North Shore audiences. We proudly offer programming for children and youth, adults young and old.
So, How Should I Be
Pilot Project Overview
Body Image and the Impact of Social and Mass Media on Children
Grades 6 – 8
Workshop facilitators frame themselves as researchers, asking questions. They are working on a new play, So How Should I Be, for this age group, and they wonder how the students think and feel about themselves and the role of social and mass media in their lives.
THESE workshops get the students to experience first – then ask the questions. We try not to “tell” the kids or instruct…
Session One: Diversity in our Community
Theme: Who am I? What is the foundation of me?
Objective/Goal: Using metaphor, students explore who they are and share who they are with the group. The diversity of the individuals in the group is showcased and honoured.
How:
- Drama games to cultivate trust in the room and open channels to the imagination.
- Media Arts activity in groups to explore who we are metaphorically.
- Individual Visual art activity that explores who we are.
- Closing circle discussion.
Session Two: “I Am What I Am”
Theme: Healthy change and adaptation.
Objective/Goal: Students explore who they are as individuals in their larger community and reflect upon what influences how they see and feel about themselves. They gain insight into the power of “likes” and “dislikes”. They discuss how to remain true to who they are in the face of peer pressure and social and/or mass media.
How:
- Drama games that explore the individual in the community of the classroom.
- Visual Arts exercise exploring an individual in the world around them.
- Media Arts exploring how the media manipulates the real world.
- Media Arts “Likes/Dislikes” exploration – if I like it and someone else doesn’t – what is the emotional ride and how does it affect me?
- Closing circle discussion.
Session Three: Inhabiting our world
Theme: The ideal world
Objective: Discussion sparked about what ingredients a human being needs to keep healthy physically and mentally and their dreams, wishes, and visions in place.
How:
- Drama games to explore different states of “being”.
- Visual Arts group murals: Our Ideal Community.
- Media Arts: Using the same groups as above, imagine what forces might enter your ideal community and throw it off course? Have negative outcomes for the people? Find five visual representations of these forces and present them to the class.
Session Four:Navigating
Theme: Survival
Objective: Students will think about what they need to navigate themselves through the next five years of life.
How:
- Students each design their own one-person rocket-ship.
- Individually, students use cameras to find visual metaphors for what they will take with them on their five-year journey.
- Groups of 4 students use multi media to design the perfect space station where they will meet to rest, rejuvenate and supply themselves. What expectations – if any – would they put in place to keep their space stations a safe harbour?
- Closing circle question: What do you think any of this had to do with body image or social media?
Session Five:CreatingOur World
Theme: Our Ideal World
Objective: Final presentations of Day 4’s project and closing discussion
- Each group presents their space station to the class and each individual presents one or two vital items that they have aboard their spaceship that represents who they are.
- Closing discussion about what influences how we feel and see ourselves in our own world and communities.
BC Curriculum BIG IDEA | Our physical, emotional, and mental health are interconnected. | Grade 2