Republicans and Democrats bash each other in public. Communities wrestle with issues of racial justice. Kids see the smallest differences between their peers as excuses to mock them. Nobody seems to care about the other person’s perspective — or even their humanity — as our culture faces a pandemic of misunderstanding and disrespect.

But what if we made an honest effort to listen to the distinct viewpoints and experiences of the people around us, from the guy in the rude political t-shirt to the kid with the learning difference? This artist residency empowers students to walk in the shoes of people who are different from them using the toolbox of theatre:

• Improvisation
• Role-Playing
• Public Speaking
• Character Creation
• Storytelling
• Playwriting

US vs. THEM is a perspective-taking program that can be presented in one week (five sessions) or two weeks (10 sessions), depending on the number of activities and how deeply we dive into them. In a 10-session program, the first class focuses on self-understanding and introduces some of the dramatic tools we'll use throughout. The next four sessions will build understanding for people whose appearance, beliefs, or culture lies outside of the mainstream. The last five sessions will guide students through the process of writing a dramatic piece that incorporates what students have learned.

1. Getting Inside My Head

Why do we have a hard time moving on from setbacks in our lives, whether they’re bad habits or major failures? Often, it’s because of the way we talk to ourselves about the event: "There’s no point in trying again; I’m a failure." We’re harsher to ourselves than any friend (or maybe even enemy) would be. However, until we intentionally tune into our inner monologues, we may not consciously realize our own thoughts! Before we work on understanding others, this workshop builds self-understanding with role-playing activities drawn from the world of sociodrama.

2. Interviewing the Outcast

Social norms are a big deal, especially for teenagers. The rules aren’t written down, but woe to the person who breaks them! Violators may be labeled as weird and annoying or ignored as outcasts. We'll ask students to identify social missteps they’ve seen peers commit, from forgetting deodorant to asking a million questions in class. Then we’ll ask each student to choose one misstep they find particularly annoying. Their job is to get inside the head of someone who disobeys that social norm and figure out why it happens. Can they understand how the "outcast" might actually feel when they're interviewed by a peer?

3. The Great Debate

Students will brainstorm an assortment of things that people might disagree about in everyday life -- say, whether a teen should lose her phone over grades. Then we’ll match those conflicts with characters (in this example, perhaps a teen guy and his mom). We’ll break the students into small groups and have each group choose a conflict, then assign roles. Each character will draft a few bullet points to use in arguing their positions. But before the improvised confrontation begins, we’re going to flip the script! The student who’s been preparing to argue the teen girl’s case will have to argue as the mom, and vice versa. Do the students understand each other well enough take the opposing viewpoint?

4. Alien Invasion

What would happen if space aliens arrived on earth as refugees and tried to integrate into American society? We’ll use this fictional scenario to explore ways that we, as humans, are tempted to regard members of other identity groups as inferior to ourselves. This session draws on the insights of the Milgram social psychology experiment about disregard for others’ humanity. In our in-class "experiment," students will have to decide how to treat the aliens. Will they regard them as fellow intelligent beings, or as less valuable than humans?

5. I'm Different, Too

We'll ask each student to choose something about themselves that makes them feel “different” -- anything from religion to skin color to clothing choices. Students will work with partners to improvise two versions of a scene. In the first version, someone discriminates against them for their difference. In the second version, we see how they’d prefer to be treated. Would they like people to ignore their difference? To ask them about it? Something else? Respecting others' differences is one of the ways we build a better world.

6. A Story to Tell

Sessions 6 and 7 will empower students with basic writing techniques and at least two different “story seeds” that they can use to develop a short play that will represent the culmination of our workshop. We’ll begin by introducing the five fundamental parts of a story: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax, and Denouement. We’ll involve everyone in practicing these story parts in a group storytelling activity. Now, we’ll ask students to pick one of the identifiable groups they belong to (like a person with ADHD or Latinx heritage) and another group they do not belong to (like an elderly person or a transgender man). The goal is to synopsize a story, in writing, starring a person who shares both group identities. When students create their characters, how will their humanity emerge from the things that make them "different"?

7. Keeping It Real

Students will come to class today with a description of a real person that they observed last night. The person should share at least one identity group with the student. (For example, a Black female teen might observe a Black elderly male. They have many differences, but at least one thing in common: in this case, race.) Now, we’re going to develop the observed person into a fictional character. Students will pair up to answer a series of questions that develop a detailed biography. What does it feel like to walk in this person's shoes?

8. The Whole Story, Part A

Students will choose one of the stories they’ve developed in the last two classes. Their mission during Sessions 8 and 9 is to turn it into a play (a) that’s about three minutes long with (b) one or two characters and (c) no more than two scenes. Students will have most of the sessions to write, with the teaching artist circulating to read script segments and offer coaching. Towards the end of each session, we’ll have the students divide into pairs to share portions of their scripts and offer brief peer critiques.

9. The Whole Story, Part B

Continued from Session 8.

10. Bringing the Story to Life

Our final session will be dedicated to showcasing the students’ finished plays. If possible, we’ll invite students’ family members and adult members of the school community (like administrators) to watch the students present their work. Students who wrote a monologue will read their own scripts. Students who wrote a dialogue will read their scripts with the help of a partner. After allowing as many students as possible to perform, we’ll ask some of them to share briefly what they learned about taking the perspectives of people both similar and different from themselves.

$250 is the cost for a single workshop. If you schedule all 10 workshops at the same school during the same academic year, you'll receive the discount that's reflected in the price shown above.