MEMPHIS, Tennessee—Maria Cristina Condori drove her two daughters to the Hattiloo Theater for the Saturday after school program. She arrived early. She and her two daughters participated in the "Junior Achievement Tutor Program" for two weeks and expected the program would bring her daughters Hope. Though she doesn't speak much English, she is happy to talk to anyone she meets to practice her English. Her elder daughter, Iris Mercado, sometimes has to translate for her between Spanish and English.
In the State of Tennessee, the government began a lottery a few years ago to generate extra revenue to set up "Hope Scholarships" to help students from low-income families to afford college education. The graduating high school student must have an average GPA equal to or above 3.0 to qualify for the Hope Scholarship. In order to prepare the students with GPAs short of 3.0, YMCA Mason of Memphis started the "Junior Achievement Tutoring Program" aimed at the students with a 2.5 GPA to improve their scores.
"The program received a good response. For the first two weeks, more than 70 students showed up," said Cynthia Magallon Puljic, Executive Director and VP of Mason YMCA, "We have college students and high school students to help with their math and reading. We invited guest speakers to talk about their career and their life, so the kids can learn from their experiences and to be motivated for a college degree. There is an ESL (English as second language) program for their parents too."
To make the program more fun and attractive, a lot of field trips are included such as the visit to Hattiloo Theater. The 66-seat, black repertory theater located in the Edge district theater is only one block to the west of Sun Studio, where Elvis Presley recorded his first record. Hattiloo Theater was founded by Ekundayo Bandele, a playwright and director, and named after his two daughters Hatti and Loo. "There are six theaters, but this is the only black theater in Memphis (Tennessee)," said Bandele.
Bandele would be a good instructor in a classroom. He is energetic, excited and attractive to the 20 or so kids who came on the field trip to plant "seeds of Hope". He threw a series of questions to the students, parents and project leaders from YMCA. "Do you think the actors walk and talk on stage … at will or rehearse many times?" "The director of the play is up the House. Where is the House?"
Curious students stared at him begging for answers. So he started introducing theater terminologies such as "House is the audiences", "Down stage left" and "Up stage right". He also talked about famous plays and playwrights both ancient and contemporary and said "the first thing before writing a play is to read."
To perform on the stage is not as easy as it looks. "The first test is to stand on the stage and talk two minutes with two arms along the body with no movement," said Ekundayo, "You can't put a hand in your hair, rub your nose or pull your pants." "Who volunteers to try it on the stage?" he asked.
The first boy who walked up to the stage to try it out was Om Sandeep Pednekar, an 8 year old from Grahamwood Elementary. With many experiences of performing Indian traditional dance on the stage, he looked quite comfortable facing the House.
Next was Terry Wight, a ten-year-old boy from Cherokee Elementary School. "Please go to Down Stage Center," ordered Ekundayo Bandele as the stage director. Wright quickly positioned himself correctly. Unconsciously, he began to make body gestures such as rubbing the nose and pulling the pants. The others began to laugh but young Terry was quick to catch on. He immediately recognized these unnecessary body movements and put his arms tightly at his sides. Then, he answered a few questions without any movement. Others applauded as he was returning to his seat.
The lesson was over. After a 15-minute break, they watched a live show with other patrons to look at how actors and actresses perform on the stage.
Feeds