International Theater Project
Marisol Sanchez, International Tour coordinator
Marisol Sanchez
Marisol Sanchez Baez is a remarkable student. A senior at SDSU, she has directed "Real Women Have Curves" in her independent theater class and coordinated the International Touring Show to Oaxaca and Vera Cruz, Mexico in 2003-2004, organized by the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts. She has also received a scholarship to study theater at the University of Florida.
The Touring Show project has been an amazing experience for Marisol. "Everything I have learned has been applied in all the performances I have done." Besides bringing theater to her hometown, Chalcatongo, Oaxaca, for the first time, the Touring Show has helped her set her professional objectives. She wants to get an acting job, then in the far future teach and bring theater to underprivileged countries.
Learning Outcomes for International Theater Project
- Students will summarize their growth and findings as actors relating to the character they are developing in a directed dialogue.
- Students will apply the Passion Myth and Power Technique in a specific performance exercise.
- Students will express and discuss their learning about specific characteristics of the different communities they visit.
- Students will summarize their findings and communities' differences in a conducted dialogue after performance.
- Students will identify the important ways that other communities have influenced them in their career.
- Students will explain the play and direct a dialogue between the spectators and actors.
- Students will express cultural exchanges they experienced during the show in a conducted dialogue after performance.
- Students will research and summarize a specific topic of the show and the communities they visit.
- Students will use the different movement's exercises: Suzuki, Viewpoints, Augosto Boal to perform a specific character and share experiences in a conducted dialogue.
What's happening in the
theater around town.
Project Description
The goal of this multicultural project is to bring theater culture to communities unfamiliar with it. To achieve this, Peter Cirino and Margaret Lerner, theater professors in the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts, and several students reviewed the learning processes with specific objectives in mind.
Students main learning tasks are to research specific topics about communities, analyze performances in video tapes, practice movement exercises, and learn performance techniques. They also attend classes dedicated to rehearsal and feedback on the growth of the show and cultural exchanges.
Students and teachers are also in constant critical and constructive dialogue before, during and after the production. For example, periodic reviews determine students' growth within the character they are creating.
Evaluating the International Theater Project Student Achievement
- Constant dialogue and feedback
- Watching and analyzing others' performance videos
- Periodic reviews
Evaluating the International Theater Project
- "Evaluating the project is done by an intense interview
process with the students, community participants, faculty and staff. The process is done directly afterwards and six months later. The differences in the two set of answers is often very telling of how
meaningful the project has been to the lives of all involved. All the information gathered is used to further the development of future tours." Some of the questions follow. - How would you see your role in the project and was it successful?
- List the points of the script that have touched you as an artist/audience member/designer?
- How would you make this experience better?
- What cultural differences did you encounter in the process of creating and performing of this project?
- Give examples of the events, locations, people and environment that influenced the creation of the this production?
- Answer the same question above with the tour
events, locations, people, and environment in mind?
Making the International Theater Project Better
- Instructor: "The future of this project is dependent on the involvement of both the SDSU community and the various international communities we visit. The best way to better this project is to find funding that is present every year and not contingent on grants. Also to be able offer our international partners a venue to showcase the productions they are working on. I would also like this project to grow beyond the borders of Mexico and into Latin America. I want to develop a stronger connection to the San Diego community."
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