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Taught by professional playwright, actress, and University of Memphis MFA candidate in theatre Jazmin Miller, the Rhodes course entitled “Children’s Theatre” accomplished many specific goals in addition to what its title suggests, which was serving the 6th-8th grade of Humes Preparatory Academy in an after-school workshop hosted by story booth at Crosstown Arts.

For this workshop, Humes students were first encouraged to write statements of intent on why they wanted to participate. the selected seventeen middle school participants were then led by seven Rhodes student mentors in interviewing for the program, theatre games, script writing, staging vocabulary, acting skills, and more. By the end of the workshop, the young participants created material for a final script that addresses identity, how the world perceives the individual, and how the individual perceives his or her own identity.

The final script, entitled “I Am Who I Say, and I Say Who I Am,” will be staged and performed on November 8 at 2 pm at the McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College. the young students will work in tableaus and scenes that communicate who they are, while narrating and performing personal narratives that connect with every human experience: moments of happiness, anger, sadness and self-consciousness. This premiere performance will showcase the ensemble’s work with the script, as well as various talents of the ensemble, from singing to drumming. the performance is free and open to the public, with a wrap party for the young playwrights and actors and their families immediately following.