In their Global History class at Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language, students are working with teaching artist Elise Rasmussen on various photography projects that relate to the academic content of the class.  The first semester focused on ancient civilizations.  In their Roman Times project, students created a newspaper incorporating photographs and written articles from Ancient Rome. 

Each group worked on a different section of the newspaper, highlighting important events and figures.  Sections included Politics, Life & Styles, Sports, Arts, and the newspaper's front page.

For the Real Estate section, Berlizth and Edwin acted as architects with their building plans.

 

See more photos here

Can you identify the different sections of the newspaper? 

This year’s The 24 Hour Plays in the Schools: New Design High School Intercession 2011 was an incredible mixture of learning, chaos and excitement as the writers, actors and directors unified to again pull of a flawlessly executed performance. Over the course of 4 days, (6 hours a day, a true 24 hours) the writers wrote and tweaked, the directors read and staged and the actors memorized and performed.


All of this started off with some warm up games in preparation for the work ahead: Sound in Motion, Free Flow, Categories, Yes. Then, the first step of The 24 Hour Plays, The Orientation process took place at the Urban Arts office, uniting the actors and writers. Just like in The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, the writers and actors present props, costumes and skills, talents and stage aspirations. 

                             The actors, writers and mentors warm up for the Orientation


Afterwards, the writers headed off to a quick playwriting class with Zac Kline while the actors went to a Master Class at Stella Adler Studios for an improvisation class with renowned teacher Noel Wilson. Some of the exercises included Kitty Wants a Corner, Gibberish, Working with the Invisible, and Relationship Discovery. Meanwhile, the writers hunkered down for short form writing based on the information (and inspired by props and costumes) given to them by the actors. Several tweaks and rewrites later at 6pm, after a whole day of working, the writers turned in their plays: Tha Catholic Skewl Gurlz by Maxine Batchler, Date Night by John Martinez and As Friends by Jorge Garzon. Manny Minaya and Maynor Alas, both alum of New Design High School, Urban Arts Partnership LifeStories program and of The 24 Hour Plays in the School program, served as mentors to the new writers.

                           Writer Jorge Garzon and mentor Maynor Alas work on their play


    Day Two had the writers and actors reuniting for a script reading, questions, clarification and more revision which yielded final scripts. Theater Teaching Artist, Michelle Slonim lead the following activities to help the actors hone their improvisation techniques and embody their characters in preparation for the directors: Count Down, Yes, Tableaus inspired by Scripts, Character Creation, Park Bench, Character Interview, and Scene Improvisation.  All participants then went to see The Fantasticks at the Snapple Theater. Students completed a worksheet on character exploration, marked down the character work and skills used on stage that they wanted to replicate in their performances.

                         The writers, actors and mentors work through their scripts on Day 2


    This year’s guest directors, Rosie Perez, Justin Bartha and Linus Roache came in early on Day Three and begin work-shopping the plays, putting the students through the wringer. The staging, blocking and of course, memorization are key in this stage and the directors wasted no time in drilling the plays non-stop for the next 6 hours.

                  Director Justin Bartha works on the play, Tha Catholic Skool Gurlz by Maxine Batchler


                                   Director Rosie Perez makes adjustments to Date Night

                                                     Linus Roache directing As Friends

Day Four, the final day and only 6 hours from the performance at New Design High School, the actors came in with the appropriate wardrobe and props (presented during Orientation) and lines crammed into their minds. The plays are finalized and staged vigorously through the home stretch. In true The 24 Hour Plays fashion, rehearsal lasts up to and over the minute. Then finally, at long last and after 4 grueling days, the plays get their world premiere. Tha Catholic Skewl Gurlz, directed by Justin Bartha, featured a pair of students attempting to start up their own pop group, (the plays namesake) but one member is a neurotic mess with a phobia of betrayal and unsealed water, while the other scrambles for a third member, one hopefully more emotionally stable and reliable. As Friends, directed by Linus Roache, pitted one girl against another with a misunderstood boy in between them, with the two girls vying for his love and attention, even as he explains that his friendship to them is nothing deeper and the supposed dates and anniversary gifts are nothing more than friendship. The final play, Date Night was directed by Rosie Perez and has two slackers cleaning up and talking girls as they close the store they work at. When two girls come back to recover their purse, the guys attempt to make a move on them, with mixed results. In between each performance, we had some incredible performances by the New Design Cabaret Club.

The final performance of Tha Catholic Skool Gurlz, with Director Justin Bartha on the wing with lines

                                  Linus Roache sets the scene for Jorge Garzons As Friends


                                     Rosie Perez introduces the final play, Date Night

Each year gets better and better, and this year was no different. Some of the young actors from this years Intercession have never acted before, but they blew us away all the same. Below you’ll find the young actors names and other details in the program. There are plenty more The 24 Hour Plays events to come this year, so stay tuned!
 

 

 

Story by Daniel Familia
Photographed by Joshua Davis

 

 
PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN -- In the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn there is an organic food shop called the Park Slope Food Co-op. This is a heaven for people who search for organic food.  From bright leafy greens to smelly cheese, they have it all.  It is a busy place: many people walk through of all shapes, colors and sizes.
 
 
To shop at the Park Slope Food Co-op you need to be a member. It's a great way to bring fresh, organic, non-genetically engineered and locally-grown products to the community.  At a point when diabetes rates are high in communities of color, which are often disenfranchised, it is alternatives like this that introduce communities to healthier ways of living.
 
 
The problem is that Park Slope is not a disenfranchised community. It is actually one of Brooklyn's wealthiest neighborhoods. According to the Points2Homes website, the average yearly household income in Park Slope is $90,450 as compared to $33,418 in West Farms, The Bronx, which is where I live.  What's more, Park Slope residents spend 124% of the national average on food versus the 69% of the national average that West Farms residents, like me, spend.
 
I often wonder why it is that in my community there are three shops within a four block radius that have glazed donuts and high-sugar drinks.  There are no organic or fresh fruits and vegetables shops there.  No wonder diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity rates are higher in communities like mine. If there were more alternatives like the Park Slope Food Co-op in our disenfranchised communities, we might be more aware of healthy food alternatives.
 
 
 
We hope the Type Cast Response Project will help bring awareness to this issue, and I personally hope that more farmers’ markets will be introduced to my community.
 

Three high school students from the Life Stories program visited MS 258's after school theater program this week to lead a master class.  They performed a scene they have been working on from "Ordinary People" followed by a Q&A session about the scene and their process as actors.  The students from 258 were led through a series of theater exercises and games to help build the ensemble's skills for vocal volume, focus and responding to your fellow actors.  The students from MS 258 also staged a reading of an original play they have been working on with UAP teaching artist Brendan Boland about the events of the Salem witch trials.  It was an exciting session for everyone, and we look forward to more master classes led by Life Stories students in the near future.

Students' responses to the master class:

"I thought it was really awesome.  Today changed my mind about acting and made me want to do more.  Everything was helpful for us for play we are working on." - Anayess (MS 258)

"It was fun.  I liked the energy they brought and when we talked about character intentions." - Qsavan (MS 258)

"I really liked everything.  My favorite part was when they did their scene.  It showed how good acting can be." - Christian (MS 258)

"I thought it was really fun.  It was great to see how advanced we are as actors to be able to teach others." - Anthony (Life Stories)

"I'm thankful for the experience and I learned a lot from being able to teach kids younger than me." - Isaiah (Life Stories)

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 7:32 PM, Juliagrob wrote:
So cool Life Stories! Love the comments from both groups. Great work team!
VIEW ALL COMMENTS

Music Production at IS 528

26 Jan 2011, 4:21 PM by Lisa LH, Middle School

In the fall semester at IS 528, students in the Music Production class worked on songs that related to themes about friendship and setting goals.  The students created the beats in GarageBand, wrote the lyrics, and learned how to record to a computer.  The students also performed these songs for their school community in December.

 

Maria, Anabel, Diana - 'Here to Stay'

 "This song is about friends and what they do to help you, by being there with you when you need them and protecting you.  This song is about how amazing good friends are."

- Anabel and Maria

 

Damian, Rafael - 'Reach for the stars'

 

Ricky - 'Trends'

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Facebook Twitter Contact
Website design by Hudson Union