In partnership with social justice nonprofit organization, El Puente, The Bushwick Starr offers Creating Performance, an after-school extracurricular course in practical theater-making for local teens and young adults.
Students in this program learn all aspects of the creation of performance-based works, including acting, writing, design, and technical skills. They collaboratively develop pieces dealing with topics and issues that directly affect them and their communities.
Students work in a supportive environment where they practice different approaches to forms of performance such as traditional theatrical performance, spoken word, poetry and solo work. Students create narratives using basic playwriting tools, rewrite them after constructive peer feedback, and ultimately perform their work in a final culmination that is free and open to family, friends, and the community.
This program was created to be both educational and vocational—we hope to equip these young people with a variety of skills that will prepare them for professional training programs and the theater industry if they so desire.