HAVE HUG, Incorporating Mindfulness in the Art of Acting and Education.
Pulling from experiences during my time as theatre department chair of the Patel Conservatory and my coursework and teaching experiences in my current graduate program, I have developed a series of workshops using forms drawn from traditional acting techniques, Playback Theatre, and Theatre of the Oppressed, The workshops are geared toward three targeted groups listed below and are based on concepts I developed with the students in my classes before I left for graduate school. They are the HAVE HUG words: Honesty, Accountability, Vulnerability, Empathy, Humility, Unity, and Generosity.
HAVE HUG Workshop Models
1) The first iteration of the workshop is geared toward middle and/or high school drama students. The students will spend either 4 hours on a weekend or evening or roughly the same amount of time over 3-4 days during regular class times. We spend time working through seven secondary acting skills known as the HAVE HUG words: Honesty, Accountability, Vulnerability, Empathy, Humility, Unity, and Generosity. We have enough time to touch on each of the seven skills and usually devote one hour toward delving into one of the words a little deeper. This can be pre-determined through conversations with the teacher or can be open to what I feel the students are gravitating toward as the work goes on. (15-30 participants)
2) From the above workshop model, I created a one (4-hour) or two (6-hour) day weekend or evening teacher training. This workshop applies the HAVE HUG words to the task of creating a desired classroom environment. While based in the world of theatre, the uses are universal. There are two versions; the first is geared in a detailed manner toward theatre educators and the second is a more universal version geared toward teacher of all subjects.Teachers are also given the opportunity to lead an exercise where they merge their own personal knowledge with the framework of one of the learned exercises of the workshop. If there is enough interest and time available, this can be stretched into 8 hours over 2 days. (8-16 participants)
3) The final workshop is a free-for-all. I work directly with a classroom, school or organization leader to develop a specific goal and time frame, still based in concepts of the HAVE HUG words. Examples of organizations I've worked with in the past are: literacy program for elementary students, a halfway house for female recovering substance abusers, a shelter for abused women and children (both the residents and the staff each had a specialized workshop), and EMERGE/young professionals organizations.