WiseWrite Sets the Stage for Stronger Literacy Skills

Debuting this April, live on The Repertory Theatre stage, are 15 much-anticipated plays from some local up-and-coming writers. So up-and-coming, they aren’t even old enough to drive to their own performances. 

These 15 dramatists – and 130 of their fellow Shakespeares-in-training – direct from Hudson and Wyland Elementary Schools’ fifth grade communication arts classes, honed their writing skills through the WiseWrite program, an educational collaboration between Springboard and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. 

After working with the organizations’ teacher artists this school year, the students have written their own masterpieces, all of which will be published. A lucky select few will also watch their works performed by professional actors during the 16th annual WiseWrite Festival of One-Act Plays. 

From an orange dolphin who struggles to fit in because of her unusual color to a glove who dreams of showing her fellow gloves the benefits of cleanliness, the plays presented at the Festival bring to life topics close to the students’ hearts in an exciting, memorable way. 

But even more important, WiseWrite instills a confidence in writing in these talented fifth graders. Said one playwright from Hudson Elementary, “WiseWrite is a lot of fun. We have had the chance to see a couple of plays, we played games, and we learned about the elements of a play. I thought it would hard to write a play, but once we started, it was fun.” 

Using theatre as a tool for learning

WiseWrite is much more than a playwriting course – it’s a fun, multi-level writing literacy program that just happens to culminate with a theatrical piece. 

Said Sheroo Mukhtiar, Springboard’s executive director, via email, “The WiseWrite program not only introduces students to the world of theater, but also advocates the integration of different aspects of learning within the primary educational curriculum. The process of playwriting captures children’s imagination through improvisation and provides a solid beginning to their development as writers. This approach allows their learning to be clearly structured while they explore different opportunities to write in different forms and style.” 

According to WiseWrite teaching artist, Alissa Rowan, the program introduces students to the nine elements of playwriting – character arc, cause and effect, forward motion, theatricality, logical behavior, beginning/middle/end, obstacles, character strategies, and dramatic conflict – through a series of exercises. 

The elements dovetail with many of the concepts in the fifth grade communication arts curriculum, giving teachers another avenue for strengthening students’ literary analysis abilities and preparing them for middle school writing. 

While WiseWrite has always been an inclusive program, this year, organizers arranged for an instructor to exclusively assist those children with special needs, such as students on the autism spectrum or with learning disabilities. 

“Often students who may struggle to write have terrific ideas in their head,” Rowan remarked. “With help with getting the words on paper, these students can write plays with compelling characters and humor. The Festival looks for plays with a particularly defined element or a play with many elements. The best writers in the class are not the ones who are necessarily selected. This levels the playing field for the less academically successful kids.” 

She added, “In a past year when a student with special needs had his play picked for the festival, his mother cried and said, ‘You have no idea what this means to our family.’” 

Hitting the stage this April

This year’s plays will be performed on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 by volunteer actors from St. Louis and beyond. It’s not only an incredible experience for the students, but is exciting for the actors as well. 

Said Marsha Coplon, director of education for The Rep, “Over the course of the 16 years, there have been hundreds of actors and theatre professionals involved. Our local actors have been so generous with their time. The directors and actors treat the material with such respect, finding the humor and imagination in the playwright’s work.” 

Performances will run continuously from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves. The event is free, and the public is encouraged to attend. For more information, visit www.repstl.org/wisewrite. 

When the curtain closes for the year at the end of Festival day, it’s won’t be the number of laughs a scene received or the applause at the end of the performance that sticks with these young playwrights, but instead, the pride they feel in their ability to express themselves through the written word. 

“The way our WiseWrite teachers present the process of playwriting unlocks the imagination of the students,” said Melissa Venverloh, a fifth grade teacher from Hudson Elementary, “and the result is an amazing range of characters in unbelievable worlds – learning lessons that children can walk away with.” 

By Nicole Plegge, Lifestyle Blogger for SmartParenting