PSU Educational Theatre Collaborative Hosts Integrated Arts Festival for Artists and Teachers

Published Date

PLYMOUTH — The Educational Theatre Collaborative (ETC) at Plymouth State University will present its 18th Annual Integrated Arts Conference for teachers and artists Saturday, January 26 from 8:15 a.m.­–4 p.m. at the Silver Center for the Arts.
This daylong workshop will explore themes and ideas about history through a variety of art forms and experiences. Each workshop will be offered during two breakout sessions.
The conference features five workshops on themes from ETC's upcoming premiere of the new musical Marking the Moment, written by Professor of History Emeritus Manuel Marquez-Sterling and Professor of Education and Integrated Arts Trish Lindberg to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the town of Plymouth.
The day begins with a welcome at 8:30 a.m. by Lindberg, who is ETC artistic director and M.Ed. in Integrated Arts program coordinator at PSU.
The welcome will be followed by a keynote address: "Placemaking," by Timm Judas, an educator at Oxbow Union High School, Bradford, Vt. Judas will discuss how we find our place in history through our stories, and how to use the arts to document and preserve those stories.
Participants will choose two of the following five workshops:
— Seasons of the Heart by Kirsten Mohring, elementary music teacher, Nottingham West Elementary School. History, time and space can be identified by the seasons. They signify change, beginnings, and mark cycles, history, and time. Participants will explore and celebrate the magic of the seasons and learn how to use music to integrate a variety of the arts in their lessons.
— Moving Through History by Lisa Travis, adjunct faculty, PSU Department of Music, Theatre and Dance. Experience the process of dance making. Using influences of social dance and basic movement concepts, participants will learn to create a dance inspired by the unique culture and history of Plymouth and how to apply the same to their own community.
— Make a Play for History by Francis Page, theatre educator, Plymouth,  In this interactive workshop, teachers will explore various ways to bring history alive in the classroom. Through improvisation, play making, and creative drama, teachers will be able to ignite students' creative forces as they recreate the historical events being taught.
— Using History to Connect to History by Timm Judas, educator, Oxbow Union High School, Bradford, Vt. Using art, music, theatre and movement, participants will explore a variety of avenues and historic contexts to integrate the internal with the external.
— Our Town—Using Creative Drama in the Classroom by Cris Blackstone, curriculum coordinator, Franklin Middle School and Elizabeth Lent, teacher, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy. Participants will learn how to use drama to convert their classrooms into safe places for students to express emotions and issues relevant to conventional lessons. Interactive drama activities will be used to connect to the Common Core State Standards across content areas.
Between the breakout sessions Rachel Belmont, New Hampshire coordinator of "One Million Bones," will discuss this large-scale social arts project that is working to raise awareness about atrocities happening in Sudan, Burma, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lunch will be served in the university dining hall from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., followed at 2 p.m. by a performance of Marking the Moment at the Silver Center.
The registration fee for the conference is $119 and includes all conference workshops and events, lunch, refreshments, a teacher resource book and a performance of Marking the Moment. Graduate credit is available for an extra charge by contacting Professor Lindberg at (603) 535-2647 or via e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Register online at https://www.events.unh.edu/RegistrationForm.pm?event_id=11180or by phone to Deb Stalnaker at (603) 535-2933.
Tickets for Marking the Moment are $25-20 for adults, $22-17 for seniors, $20-15 for youth in A and B seating at the Silver Center Box Office, (603) 535-2787 or (800) 779-3869; or online at silver.plymouth.edu. Box Office hours are Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
ETC is a venture of the Plymouth State University College of Graduate Studies, Plymouth Elementary School and Friends of the Arts, in its 19th year of producing intergenerational theatre experiences that include community members, elementary, high school and university students and PSU faculty and staff from more than 20 towns. Additional information about ETC is online at Plymouth.edu/etc.