Waking up at 10 a.m and heading to school, Elijah Luna, a student from Arts, Theatre and Entertainment School (ArTES) Magnet, waited patiently to head to Campbell Hall [CH] for his first day of the Theatre Arts Residency program. From there, a transportation company would take him and his friends to CH and they would sit around tables enjoying fast food for lunch, along with the student store cookies all the students loved. After they had their lunch, they started working on their own personal monologues, stepping outside of
the normal theatre workshops they normally would do.
With a goal of serving theatre students from public schools who may not have the economic resources to attend pre-college summer theatre intensives, Josh Adell, high school theatre teacher, created the Theatre Arts Residency. This program is for local public high school students in the San Fernando valley and is a tuition free, three week summer theatre workshop. The process of starting this program began last year when Adell started reaching out to a few public schools around CH. His goal for this program was for students to create art without the pressures of academics and financial burdens on their families. Although this was the first year this program took place, Adell plans on continuing it for as long as he can.
Adell acknowledges that having access to programs at colleges or other precious programs might not be possible for many families. He feels as though theatre and art belong to everyone and that there should be available resources to all.
“The director of public partnerships and strategic initiatives, John Rue, put out to the faculty, [that] if anyone is interested in starting a public partnership program [to] let him know and so I said yes I’d love to,” Adell said. “He and I worked together for about a year to really create the structure of the program and who [it] would be for and why it’s important.”
One student who participated in this program from ArTES Magnet, Luna, felt that the Theatre Arts Residency program was a great opportunity to step out of his comfort zone and try something new. He found out about this program from his school’s theatre teacher, who thought it would be a learning opportunity for him. He experienced that the process of these workshops was more personal, especially having had an interview with Adell before the program had started. Luna appreciated that this gave him an opportunity to create his own work of art since he felt that most of the work he performed before was already created by someone else.
“If you’re a theatre kid you do this thing called DTASC,” Luna said. “Where a bunch of kids from a lot of schools in California go to one school and perform. And [my theatre teacher Brodie] calls it Coachella for theater kids. It’s interesting being in a place where people are already loud and theatre kiddy and it’s okay to be weird and loud and honestly it feels almost like you’re expected to.”
Understanding that most of these students were new to Campbell Hall as well as theatre, Adell felt the confidence his students gained from this program. He could see the friendships and connections formed throughout their time together and enjoyed the stories his students shared with him.
“It seemed to be very empowering for these kids,” Adell said. “For the kids who didn’t have theater programs, I think they have permission to be who [they are], have permission to take risks, have permission to take up space, have permission to connect with other people deeply that [they] never would have met before. I think it was really confidence building in that there was a sort of recognition that [they] have every right to create art as much as anybody.”
Alum Molly Kirschenbaum ‘16 played a role in the development of the new summer theatre program, bringing creativity and experience to support the students. As an assistant teacher, they helped students develop original work and incorporate a musical component into each project. Beyond artistic development, Kirschenbaum felt as though this program is not only helpful in deepening students’ theatre skills, but also making connections with other students. They believed it created many future career opportunities, such as potential internships, guidance or even help on a later project. Kirschenbaum demonstrated this strength by inviting a friend who is a director to help guide the students through their work. Overall, they wanted the students to gain new connections with one another to push them into future careers in theatre further.
“Something else I really loved about this program was the fostering of extended mentorship,” Kirschenbaum said. “Just getting to see their work at the end was incredible. I’m also a writer, actor and musician and I felt so much more inspired to pursue my own work as an artist because of the students. The care and talent and commitment that they were bringing, it just was so inspiring.They got vulnerable with it and they were funny and specific and it’s really rewarding to see young artists trust themselves and like learning to trust themselves.”
Kirschenbaum felt as though there weren’t many summer programs like the Campbell Hall summer program that help students delve deeper into their own work and refine it to a point of confidence and clear artistic growth. This program primarily focused on students developing their own body of original work. Additionally, students gained confidence to share their work and work together. Kirschenbaum felt that the program creates many connections that will last a lifetime, providing new opportunities for these students that will benefit them in the future.
“I want to see this program become a launchpad and a safe place for these artists as they grow and get older to come back to,” Kirschenbaum said. “I know that with Adell they’ll be in good hands to create that extended mentorship.”
Campbell Hall’s mission is committed to serve partnerships with public schools in our community. Through these public partnerships, Campbell Hall provides opportunities for underserved students.
Adell identifies that this program aligns perfectly with Campbell Hall’s mission. Having so much support from the parent body, as well as donors who love the performing arts department, has supported Adell generally in terms of finances. He is grateful for having such a wonderful campus and being provided with state-of-the-art materials to create theatre; he aimed to share those resources with underserved communities.
“Our mission is to create equity, [however], the arts and the college admissions process is not always equitable,” Adell said. “There are really smart, talented, passionate high school kids out there who deserve access to all the resources that we have here. So by creating this public partnership, we feel we’re serving our mission to make the arts more equitable.”
