Our plan
I am the luckiest gal on the planet. I was working with a group called VSA arts, which brings the arts to people with disabilities, and training early childhood teachers on how to use the arts (music, drama, dance, and visual art) as a tool for learning in other subject areas, including language arts, math, science, and social studies. It struck me that there are learning concepts that cross the traditional disciplinary standards -- for example, observation is an essential part of art, but it's also an essential part of science. I was particularly drawn to the concept of pattern recognition, and how important it is for both language and mathematics. I tried to come up with a way of exploring this issue through theatre. Could we use colors, shapes, and language to create rhythms and visual patterns? Could a really good, artistically sound play help students and teachers learn to recognize patterns? It seems so!
What we did
We started in 2005 with the original PATTERNS. It is both episodic and with a linear through-line. The frame is a day in the life of RED -- a very non-conforming young color. Through physical and vocal interactions with his friends GREEN, YELLOW, and BLUE, he begins to notice the patterns in sound, in language and in nature. This play toured schools in 2005 and 2006, and was such a hit that teachers kept asking for its return. So, in 2007 and 2008, we toured MORE PATTERNS. In this version, RED was a little more hip to the world around him, and GREEN, YELLOW, and BLUE encountered more challenges and discoveries in establishing, breaking, and naming patterns. The play was invited to be part of the opening weekend of the new Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Austin, and had its final public performance for free in March 2008.
Our results
As a playwright, I evaluate my work by the response it gets from the audience. This show got students really involved during the performance — calling out the next number in a sequence, and squealing with delight when a pattern was truly recognized. Letters and comments from teachers also indicate that the play was helpful to their lesson plans, and supported the early childhood curriculum well. MORE PATTERNS toured to over 30 schools and reached 9000 children, our largest audience ever. We performed in gyms, auditoriums and in cafeterias throughout Central Texas. Teachers were supported with study guides to help tie the production in to their classroom work. Actor Skip Johnson won a B. Iden Payne Award for his performance. The Texas Commission on the Arts lists Pollyanna as part of its Touring Artists and Companies Roster. Thus, we are now planning for another in our series for Fall 2009: PATTERN NATION.
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