Hello KID CITY Friends! 

Gaosong here with you weekly blog! As you may or may not know, KID CITY has been BUSY BUSY BUSY as we get ready for our 2nd Annual KID CITY LAUGH IN! (which you are all welcome to join us for, Saturday April 1st, 2017 at the Maplewood Community Center/YMCA.) ;) 

However, that does not mean that we have forgotten about our teaching residencies!

Last week marked our 2nd week at John Glenn Middle School, doing teaching residencies with their after school TOPS programs. 

The TOPS Program is an after school program open to all students at John Glenn Middle School. TOPS features a wide variety of classes that offer students additional learning opportunities. The TOPS program consists of non-traditional classes that are not offered during a regular school day.

Now, we are hosting two different residencies, one of them is Brainstorm Theater and the other is KID CITY COUNCIL. Today's blog will feature our first 2 weeks working with the students in Brainstorm Theater. 

However, if you want to learn more about KID CITY COUNCIL, read my previous blog here! 

Brainstorm Theater is inspired by Brazilian Theater Maker turned politician Augusto Boal, whom created Theater of the Oppressed. In our KID CITY reinterpretation, Brainstorm Theater is does the following: 

• Jump into scenes of conflict to re-wind and re-write the outcomes in order to rehearse revolution that will empower our lives. 

At the end of our 5 sessions, we will have a final scene and performance, which will be presented to other students within the TOPS Program at John Glenn Middle School. 

However, there is a lot go planning, play and discussion that goes into creating a performance! 

Right now, we are in our planning stages. 

This involves lots of warm up exercises that include Image Theater (featured above) and Dynamizing. Both of these forms of theater are used to enhance and expand our brains to think and strategize in new, creative ways. 

As we each went around the circle, we shared experiences of times that we felt we were wronged, or stories where the outcome was unjust for ourselves, I just knew this performance is going to be powerful.

There were stories of lost friendships, bullying and mistaken identity, all resulting in an outcome, that was not favorable to our students. However, with Brainstorm Theater, we want to change these outcomes in the future!

Next week, we will work together to finalize 2-3 stories that we can then create a scene for. All the students will be in leadership positions when creating scenes; as the directors, actors and creating an improved script for the performance.

As we move forward, I am very excited to see how the scenes will grow and how these students will revision the outcomes to these stories, so they can empower themselves in the future. 

So stay tuned! Because at the end of the 5 weeks, I will feature a whole VIDEO about the experience, so you can see the whole journey! 

If you want to read more about Brainstorm Theater and our experiences at other schools, click here! 

Again! I would just like to take this moment to say, thank you for joining me today and I hope to see you all at the Laugh IN for our Joke Swap Competition and for a whole day filled with FREE FAMILY FUN!

Need inspiration for the Joke Swap Competition!? Then check out the poster below!

OR, For more information to the Laugh IN, please click on this link to the FB Event Page!

I'll see you all soon!

Cheers!

Gaosong