The Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) is a program that enriches the lives of many people with the art of drama. Our school has been privileged to be a part of this program for about 6 weeks. During each 5th grade class’s drama period, a woman named LaToya from LCI came and taught us drama in a less fun and games way, like Ms. Erdos teaches us (which, by the way, is a super fun way to teach). The program was for 5th grade only.
To start off the program, all of the 5th grade saw a performance called Superman 2050, which was basically a futuristic superman. It was performed by only about 7 actors from LCI on a stage about 6’ by 3’. Each actor played multiple characters, as well as objects and scenery.
After the performance, Ms. LaToya from LCI started to come teach us during our weekly drama class. She began teaching us to create our own small space performances. The theme was The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Each class got into groups of 4 or 5, then each group was given a character from the expedition. Then, each group was given a mood, such as ominous, and then had to take a tune from something to fit the mood, and that was the group’s theme song. Each group was also given a character narration and a scene from the expedition, which were both acted out using body and sound effects. When every group had acted, the entire expedition had been told. “The theme song was my favorite part. It was fun,” one student said.
The entire experience was amazing, and there were requests for the program at our middle school and for the lower grades. However, the one big complaint was that people wished that it was a “little more fun,” and not as serious. In my opinion, LCI would be great for 3rd-8th grades, but not for K-2nd grade.
In the grand scheme of things, LCI was an amazing experience for everyone, and I hope it will come again soon.
By Anna Hettleman, Class 5-306
Photo credit to Adriane Erdos