Theatre in the Community

This certificate provides the student with the skills to enter the educational, health, recreational or social service industry as a Creative Theatre Specialist or to continue on to a four-year degree with a pre-determined emphasis. The certificate incorporates the practical, experiential and theoretical background required to design and produce theatrical experiences for children, older adults and underserved communities in non-traditional theatrical venues

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For the past ten years the East Los Angeles College Department of Theatre Arts has produced ELAC Storytheatre, touring elementary schools with children’s theatre productions or performing at senior centers throughout Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. We would like to formalize the touring theatre program with a Certificate of Achievement: Theatre in the Community. Coursework includes practicums and theory in children’s and inter-generational theatre. The curriculum provides our students with job skills to enter the educational, health, recreational, or social service industry as a Creative Theatre Specialist or to continue on to a four-year degree with a performing arts in education emphasis. ELAC Storytheatre has a great presence in the community. Each year 15-20 students perform for 1,000-2,000 elementary students during our children’s theatre tour and 300-500 seniors during our senior theatre tour.The 'Theater in the Community' Certificate of Achievement, (TICCA), curriculum is designed specifically to prepare students for alternative career opportunities in theater. Besides direct employment in the stage or film industry there are myriad opportunities for employment in education, recreation and social service and community based not-for-profit theater. These include teaching assistant, teaching artist, childcare worker, recreational assistant, gerontology aide, assistant gerontology activity director and children's or community theater education specialist. As such the curriculum is built around two practicum courses, Children's Theater and Inter-Generational Theater Performance Workshop Practicum. The courses provide job related, site-based experiences for students with workshops and performances for both populations. In addition, the certificate requires students to complete a course in child development and gerontology, a stage management or directing course and stagecraft. The keystone course is The Arts in the Community. A key component of the course is to develop awareness of alternative professional careers and opportunities in education and auxiliary professions. Upon completion of the certificate the student should possess the requisite marketable skills to enter the educational, health, recreational or social service industry as a Creative Theater Specialist or to continue on to a four-year degree with a pre-determined emphasis in education, applied therapeutic theater, dance, psychology or sociology. In addition, the certificate can be attached to either a Child Development degree or stacked with a Gerontology/Health Certificate offered by the Child, Family and Education Studies Department.

THEATER 259 The Arts in the Community 3.0 THEATER 252 Children’s Theater: Production & Methods Practicum 2.0 THEATER 257 Inter-Generational Theater: Production & Methods Practicum 2.0 TECTHTR 300 Stagecraft 3.0 TECTHTR 323 Stage Management 3.0 THEATER 225 Beginning Direction 3.0 CH DEV 003 Creative Experiences for Children I 3.0 FAM &CS 006 Challenges of Aging 3.0

Theatre

This is a unique program for our district. A similar program exists at Arizona State University which would provide our students with an opportunity to transfer to complete a four year degree in this field. Faculty from ELAC visited ASU and were introduced to their Theatre for Youth program which is ranked #3 in the country and has the world’s largest collection of children’s dramatic literature. We were especially inspired by their mission statement: “The Arizona State University Theatre for Youth Program mentors and prepares engaged and innovative leaders in artistry, scholarship, education, and activism. ASU Values: 1. We create theatre and performances to inspire, educate, transform, heal, and entertain. 2. We cultivate creative capacity as a lifelong pursuit. 3. We believe diversity is an asset. 4. We strive for social justice. 5. We value joy and play as essential to the wellbeing of individuals and communities. 6. We practice honesty and transparency in order to foster reciprocity in our relationships and artistic endeavors. 7. We support risk-taking and experimentation to inspire innovation in the field. 8. We critically examine constructions of childhood and youth. 9. We build public spaces of community and collaboration. 10. We preserve and investigate our field’s past to progress into the future.” There is also a Minor in Education in Theatre Visual and Performing Arts Education at UCLA. “VAPAE offers courses designed to introduce undergraduates to key issues and methodologies in the field of arts education and to a broad range of careers in the arts, including K-12 teaching, community arts education, museum education, art therapy and arts advocacy.”

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