人妻少妇专区

Alumni Gazette

When Madeline Topkins Michel 鈥�77 took the stage at the Tony Awards ceremony in June to receive the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award, she quickly asserted that the award wasn鈥檛 hers alone鈥攊t also belonged to her diverse group of drama students at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia.

鈥淭his award is for all of the students who have found their voice and who speak for themselves, their families, and their community through theater and playwriting,鈥� she told the audience at Radio City Music Hall.

Michel heads Monticello鈥檚 drama department, but she came to theater through a side door. An English major at Rochester, she later earned her teaching certification in math and English and as a reading specialist.

She took a job with the Baltimore school district and discovered that the classroom is an inherently theatrical place. When faced with skeptical or unmotivated students, she made her class dramatically compelling. 鈥淩eally early on, I realized the value of theater in teaching,鈥� she says.

She also coached National History Day teams after joining the staff at Monticello. Students compete by carrying out historical research and presenting their conclusions in the format of their choice. Michel鈥檚 teams opted for play performance鈥攁nd when they brought home national gold medals two years in a row, Monticello鈥檚 principal decided it was high time that Michel taught drama.

Michel is modest and wry about where her career has taken her. 鈥淚鈥檓 really not a theater person鈥攄espite the Tony Award,鈥� she laughs.

But she鈥檚 ardent about inclusive theater. A drama program should reflect the makeup of a school鈥檚 student body, but that鈥檚 not what often happens, she says. 鈥淚f you have a group of kids who represent the entire school, then what you get on stage is an energy that鈥檚 completely different from what you find at most schools. Everybody鈥檚 got a backstory鈥攁n interesting backstory鈥攁nd then everybody learns from everyone else.鈥�

As a teacher, she prefers the wings to the spotlight. 鈥淚 like the kids to take control,鈥� she says. She helps them stage, choreograph, and direct works that speak to them. And they craft new plays, too. This summer, Michel was working with two groups, each writing a play that they were aiming to have in production this August.

In the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the Monticello drama program staged student Josh St. Hill鈥檚 one-act, rap-narrative play, A King鈥檚 Story, which examines a community鈥檚 response to violence. Student Courtney Grooms wrote the play Necessary Trouble in 2016, about responses to a high school student attending history class dressed in a shirt printed with the Confederate flag. Last fall, the program performed student Kayla Scott鈥檚 play #WhileBlack, about gentrification and the racial profiling she experienced in her hometown. Monticello brought home awards for the production from the Virginia Theatre Association.

鈥淲hen my kids do a show that really has an effect on an audience, people come up afterwards to hug the actors and the playwright,鈥� says Michel. 鈥淭hese were issues they were thinking about and were disturbed by, but they hadn鈥檛 seen them dramatized.鈥�

The key to creating an inclusive theater program is patience, she says. In her classroom, 鈥渁ll that鈥檚 expected of you is to do what you鈥檙e comfortable with. And sometimes it takes a while for people to get comfortable. I have to be willing to let somebody sit in my class and observe for as long as they feel necessary.鈥�

Michel says that taking part in drama builds students鈥� confidence and presentation skills, something they can carry with them in any endeavor. But it鈥檚 not skill building that really motivates Michel or her students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 that sense of meeting people who are different and building community,鈥� she says. 鈥淣inth graders are there with 12th graders, and I don鈥檛 distinguish you by your experience or your reading level or the classes you鈥檝e had before, or anything like that.鈥�

The stage is somewhere everyone belongs, Michel says. In her drama department, 鈥渢here鈥檚 no gatekeeping.鈥�