Latest Revised Alumni Talk
- 1. Talk for Alumni Good evening. My name is Sarah Ream, I am Chair of Theater and Dance and I’d like to share with you today a few thoughts about the performing arts at Exeter: why we do what we do and – why it really matters. As teachers, parents, or alumni, we want to figure out what constitutes the best education for young people meeting the challenges of the 21st century. So, as a teacher, I’ll speak to three goals we, in Theater, pursue both in and out of the classroom: critical thinking, creativity, and connection. And as a storyteller, I’ll share a few tales of students along the way. At Exeter we value critical thinking, the habit of questioning the status quo. If you want people who can change the world, you’ve got to embrace and nurture those who challenge it. That’s what artists do. They are innately subversive; they tend to look skeptically at power. We want to nurture that positive subversion, those social critics. Davis, one of our Dramat leaders, has just plastered the door of every bathroom on campus with posters asking, “Why so gendered?!” suggesting that we abolish separate male and female facilities. She has now followed it up with manifestos encouraging a uniform application of dress code: coat and tie or hemmed skirts and blouses should apply to any and all students. I can’t wait to see how she and her allies dress to stimulate conversation – or what she will come up with next. Historian Martha Nussbaum supports this view of positive subversion. She insists that democracy needs the humanities, as artists present problems for institutions and hierarchies because of what they value. “It is easier,” she says, “ to treat people as objects to be manipulated when you have never learned any other way to see them”. Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian leader, agrees: “Artists are not the reliable servants of any ideology, even a basically good one – they always ask the imagination to move beyond its usual confines, to see the world in new ways.” In theater, we look for subtext: what is really being said beneath the surface and between the lines. It is much harder to manipulate citizens when they refuse to take anything at face value. Sophocles has been saying this for 2000 years. Indeed, Christina, an Upper playing the title role of Antigone, came to me afterward and said that working on the role had changed her and what she thought about politics. “At first I thought Antigone was just naïve: throwing her life away for nothing, a gesture.” She went on. “Now I get it. She was just doing her bit and hoping it would matter, because that was all she could do.” In rehearsal we had researched the civil disobedience of the Arab Spring, but we had also dug deeply into the text, looking critically at intentions and obstacles. So, at the end of the play, when Antigone tells Creon why she defies him, Christina knew what those lines meant: “What a person can do, a person should do.” Critical thinking had spurred creativity, which had broadened and deepened Christina’s awareness of “the other”.
- 2. Creativity brings many such unexpected results. Last year I went with colleagues to a conference and heard Chinese educator Yong Zhao talk about global educational competition. While stating that China and other Asian cultures are leading the tables in math and science, he admitted that China is deeply troubled over its current educational system. Their leaders, he said, want to produce the next Steve Jobs, the man who invents the next tech break-through, not only the work force that manufactures it. Zhao believes this won’t happen as long as they imprison or expel their eccentrics, their outcasts and their loners. Lady Gaga, he insists, would not last a minute there. In my office I keep a copy of a scathing cartoon created back in 1974 by a brilliant Exeter eccentric known as ‘M’. In it, he shows a motley crew of longhaired Exonians all cramming through the main Academy hall door into school. But he has created the Academy Building as a sort of Rube Goldberg machine -- with levels and trap doors and gizmos -- a machine that takes these weird and scruffy kids and sends them out an exit door at the back, diplomas in hand, all identical copies of an idealized cookie-cutter Exonian. It is a sweet irony that Exeter back then had a special place for artists like ‘M’ who attacked the school for its propensity to cherish conformity. I often wonder if we still have room for just such eccentrics and their points of view. For creativity exists in direct proportion to a culture’s tolerance for and delight in outcasts, its ability to treasure and nurture them. Theater has always been a place for quirky kids. They often find their tribe at Fisher. Noah, a kid with wild hair and the physique of a stork, came to Exeter with keen natural curiosity. He asked questions constantly in and out of the classroom and classmates teased him for it. But when Noah played the comic lead in a Feydeau farce, and discovered a flair for physical comedy that astonished and entertained us all, his status soared. At the curtain call on opening night, the entire audience rose to its feet on his entrance. He was so shocked he almost fell off the stage – a pratfall he had not intended. Overnight, he became a rock star. We need to be intentional about creating spaces for creativity and playfulness, both for groups and individuals. Students learn in a variety of ways. Josh, a talented singer but lousy Latin student, was unfocused in glee club one night and, when challenged, admitted that he was worried about conjugating Latin verbs for a test the next day. The choral conductor brought him up front and, instead of humiliating him, composed a little ditty, allowing Josh to sing the conjugations: “Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant…” Not only did Josh pass Latin, but for the next few years he hummed that tune for the teacher whenever their paths crossed. The arts give students a safe place to experiment, in a classroom, or in a rehearsal hall. When you do that, there is no telling what kids will invent, and what problems they will solve. And we certainly live in a time that needs problem solvers, those who can reach across a divide.
- 3. Becca was one of four students I took to Ballytobin, Ireland one summer to work on creating a drama piece with a group of disabled artists for inclusion in an annual theater festival. I had worked with Down’s Syndrome residents before, and had come prepared with plenty of game plans, books and ideas for the show. Imagine my surprise then when we met the Irish artists and discovered that they did not speak. In some cases, they were wheel chair bound. In all cases, they had care workers with them at all times for their safety. I was stumped. How could I create a play without speech or action? That first morning, I called a tea break, so the Exeter kids could tidy up the space and I could figure out how to announce my defeat. But while waiting for the kettle to boil, I heard Becca singing an old hymn to herself, as she swept the floor. “This little light of mind, I’m gonna let it shine.” The room had gone quiet. I peered in from my tea cubby and saw everyone watching and listening to Becca with rapt attention. And I saw all of the Exeter kids click on to a solution at once. They created a show, singing songs linked to the theme of light. They choreographed the Irish group into wheel chair dances and linked samba lines, folded the care givers into the chorus line, and delighted a town of local residents. Their creativity allowed them to pivot, to look with fresh eyes on how to make that ensemble work. They saw a chance for connection, where I had not. We need to cultivate the possibility of such moments. Schools need to support and in some cases, counteract prevailing forces in society. Many students feel the pressure of the college process as one that demands their focus on individual, competitive striving, often at the expense of their community spirit of non-sibi. (Indeed, ESSO, our social service program, can be seen as a way to just enhance a college profile.) Competition is fine; team sports offer a way for groups to work together in a spirit of healthy competition. But in order for there to be an us, there must be a them. In the arts, for there to be an us, there must be an even bigger us as audience. The performing arts offer academic and extra-curricular venues for group connection, rather than competition. We can look at ideas of connection in a variety of ways. Daniel Goleman in Emotional Intelligence believes we now face a crisis: we are not teaching our teens, particularly our boys, how to gain access to and express their inner emotional lives. Without that link, we can have no compassion, no empathy, and no focus on “the other”. The results, at their most extreme, are evident in rising rates of teen suicide or, as psychologist Steve Biddulph puts it, “death by loneliness”. In fact, according to many authorities, alumnus and psychologist Ned Hallowell, among them, Goleman’s crisis of connection is only getting worse: today’s teenagers have, paradoxically, never been so simultaneously connected and isolated. The internet generation may be better than we “digital aliens” at surfing the web, but they have a much harder time walking down the hall in the dorm for a quick chat. In fact, one night when I was on dorm duty, I found myself discussing school social life with Wyatt, who said, “Our primary relationship here is with a computer screen.” What was chilling about the comment was his total acceptance that this was simply the way of the world. “ What do you do if you feel lonely?” I asked. “Oh, That’s easy”
- 4. he replied. “I play awesome chess, so I can always play chess online with someone in, like, Russia.” If a school’s mission is to counteract the prevailing ill winds of society, then clearly we have work to do. Our emotional IQ needs to match our intellectual rigor. Obviously, the issue is not about the technology itself, but about how we use it. The computer revolution has not only transformed the way we teach technical subjects like lighting, with computerized lighting boards, and set design with computerized drafting programs, but also the way we define and reach our peer schools. I have had the chance to work with my friend Li Jing on several projects, the latest of which was an exchange of stories via Skype between her speechmaking class in Beijing and mine in Exeter. But just as valuable was a new translation of a Chinese play, Thunderstorm, that Li Jing and I developed together with native speaking Chinese Exonians, performed here as a main stage show. Computer technology enhances and inspires, but does not replace real live connection and interaction. We are a school, a gathering place, a community. We see as part of our mission the continuation of former principal Kendra O’Donnell’s charge: “If you are going to push kids hard academically, you have to support them emotionally.” We have many of those counseling supports in place – and we are taking a close look at advising. But we need to not only provide a safety net for kids who fall; we need to give them more tools to help them keep their balance, to keep from falling. Meditation and mindfulness practices are growing across campus as students learn to make time for reflection and manage the stress of busy lives. Work in the arts has its part to play too. Emotional intelligence involves not only self-awareness, but with that, the skill to manage one’s feelings. Too often we see frantic parents trying to bolster their child by taking over student life and responsibilities, rather than by providing appropriate tools to not only cope, but to thrive. Last spring, I came into the theater one evening and heard someone reciting lines aloud to himself in the black box. Dramatically. I stopped and listened. It was a Yeats poem. I popped my head in, recognized Jose, a student from class and asked what he was working on. “It depends”, he replied, enigmatically. “You know, Miss Ream, when we read Yeats last term? You said he was the go-to guy when you get dumped? Cause Maude Gunn dumped him, like, again and again and again? Well”…he paused…” I guess I’m checking to see if you were right.” “How’s it going?” I asked. “Well, I have a roommate, so my room was no good, and I’m not about to ‘recite poetry’ in the common room or quad, so I came here. “ “And…?” I asked.” I’ll let you know,” he replied, pointedly, eyeing the door. I left him to it and went to my office, his voice trailing after me up the stairs. ” I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.” I never learned if it helped Jose with his broken heart, but I would bet that having a little Yeats under your belt could only help a guy’s dating life.
- 5. Harkness is a wonderful, radical pedagogy; it does indeed allow us to connect around that table; it trains us in speaking, listening and the habit of mutual respect in discussion. But it does not do everything. It does not necessarily foster habits of empathy and compassion. As an English teacher, I know it is possible to have a perfectly fine Harkness conversation about Hamlet on a purely literary level. What are the dominant themes and images? Why is this verse and that prose? But when approaching Hamlet as an actor’s text, the essential questions are emotional, not intellectual ones. Who am I? Where do I come from? What do I want? What’s in my way? What will I do to get it? These insist on a leap of imagination into the heart of another person. I am not a prince in Denmark, but if I were, how would I feel? Every time you play a character you have to embody who she is, what she wants, and how she will overcome obstacles. Acting insists on empathy. It will not allow ducking and diving behind the shelter of intellect. Theater skills are, in many ways, Harkness carried to the next level: Harkness on its feet, promoting whole body learning: John Dewey speaks of experiential learning. We all know something of Howard Gardner’s different learning styles. Theater and dance allow kinesthetic learners to “get it” when they move. Many students feel frustrated with text until they start to embody it. Kyle was a PG hockey player who only ended up in my Shakespeare course because he needed an English credit for the NCAA and all of the electives he really wanted to take were full. He had no time for the Bard at all – until he took advantage of my offer for students to act scenes wherever they wanted on campus. While some chose the library lawn or Academy staircase, Kyle led us all on a long walk to the gym. There, on an ice skating rink, he and his partner performed a dynamic, exciting version of the Kate and Petruchio wooing scene from Taming of the Shrew. He skated those iambics and knew what they meant. “Whoa!”, said one classmate after seeing that passionate exchange on ice. “I’ve gotta take off my parka. It’s a little hot in here.” Later, Kyle spoke to me about his change of heart with Shakespeare. “You should have told us, Ms. Ream” he said, “The guy’s writing about us. He’s writing about me.” If, as Michael Fullan, a leader in education reform, suggests, “we need to now teach our kids to do the things computers can’t do”, cultivating empathy is one such trait, compassion another. Once attuned to that kind of emotional responsiveness, a teenager is then primed to respond with at least curiosity, if not compassion, to “that weird kid in the dorm” – and even to herself. And as our young people are growing up in a world where the “other” is determined on a global scale, a far cry from the “youth from every quarter” in far flung 18th century Connecticut, the need to imagine ourselves into the hearts of others near and far has never been greater or more challenging. As the old Yiddish proverb has it, “An enemy is someone whose story we have not heard.” Emma, a talented
- 6. actress, writer, producer and director on campus, came to Exeter with a passion for theater and went from strength to strength, trying her hand at everything on offer and relishing it all. But when she went from here to Princeton it was not the bright lights of Broadway that caught her eye. It was the chance to spend a summer doing street theater in remote Tanzanian villages , to bring her love of theater to others and to find out what about it was universal. We seek to find and tell those universal stories. As human beings, we are hard-wired to respond to and remember narrative: to share stories. Drama is a good way to explore other cultures and their values, and to celebrate difference. In expressing the work of others, we find commonality and show our students that we cherish their different cultural perspectives. The cooperation we cultivate is not just personal and global, but within and between ourselves as a school: between departments. We have worked with Music on the opera Dido and Aeneas, with English on Owen Meany, with History on Journey’s End, the list goes on. We welcome those opportunities to connect ideas across and between disciplines. Theater offers us a way to work together in a public forum. We have ventured off campus to make those connections, as well. We have gone into local public schools to play theater games, taken students to Boston to study African dance from and have brought Exonians to New York to learn from alumni about foundations and the non-profit theater scene. Next spring we plan to take more Exonians to L.A. to learn about the film world from executives and alumni willing to share their passion for what they do. And every two years the concert choir tours the US, taking their music to alumni everywhere. The performing arts offer a way for us to weave a web of connection between academic arenas and among generations of Exonians across the country and around the globe. Every time we engage with others, we have the chance to combat the charge of isolation and elitism that dogs so many independent schools. We are always on the lookout for more such connections. As we do so, we realize and appreciate that our goals for the performing arts align themselves closely with principal Tom Hassan’s mission and for his vision of Exeter’s future: a heightened focus on global exploration, intellectual ambition, and goodness. We are exploring ways to braid together Tom’s aims with Theater’s commitment to critical thinking, creativity, and connection. His vision has inspired us and continues to do so. Once you set this kind of energy in motion there is no telling where it will lead. What could be more unlikely than the story of a shy, gawky girl from a west coast inner city junior high coming to Exeter with glasses, braces, and a major speech impediment – she couldn’t pronounce her ‘r’s -- only to end up years later standing before you all today? Learning changes lives. That’s why we do what we do and why it really matters. That’s why I teach and, thanks to students like these, how I also continue to learn. Thank you.