TEACHING STATEMENT
Angel Morales
It was April 1997 in a small municipal theatre named Teatro Fenix in my hometown of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, when I was working as a lighting designer in the local high school production of Los Soles Truncos by René Marquez. Inside, the stage was filled with almost twenty boys and girls, aged sixteen to eighteen, who worked on the scenery with their teacher. The space vibrated with activity. The theatrical properties to be seen included large trunks, a rocking chair, pieces of white fabric, antiques, and the beginnings of an architectural blueprint of an Old San Juan house. Among the simultaneous activities underway one could hear the student ac- tors reviewing their lines, and the technical director giving instructions on how the lighting instruments should be placed. Everyone was at work at some responsibility. From time to time, the teacher, standing in the middle of the stage, summoned the students to make decisions about the creation of the set. As they continued working and consulting each other in enthusiastic activity, I was amazed to see how powerful and educational this collaborative process could be. I never had the opportunity to take a theatre class in high school since my school did not have such a program, and what I was witnessing was exciting and productive.
Was it drama? Was it theatre? Was it education? The answer, of course, is that it was all three, for what I was watching at work was the process of implementing everything the students had been studying in the classroom. They were “doing it” in a real setting and learning how to be responsible in a group. Students were exposed to develop and to expand their capacities as they undertook demanding tasks. They were also doing research about the time period, and working with the professional staff of the theatre. That combination of amateurism and professionalism attracted me in such a way that it was then when I decided I wanted to devote part of my professional life to educational theatre, and producing theatre in schools.
At Hostos Community College, I have had the privilege to expand the principles I learned in graduate school about educational theatre that resembled what I first experienced in 1997. I learned that communication is an integral part of the theatre. When the students in the Acting class discuss what their dramas will be about, who will play which parts, and how it will all take place, communication is enhanced. They also learn about communication in their character roles, working through the characters’ situations verbally and nonverbally. The drama itself encourages them to become more effective in their use of language.
What I have loved the most about teaching Acting and Introduction to Theater has been watching the students release their creative potential through writing and performance. The writing of monologues and the performance of improvisations and scripted scenes has not only been fun for both the students and me, but also rewarding because we have learned about the problem-solving process, explored new ideas, and exercised imagination generating solutions and synthesizing the diverse elements of theatre.
One of my greatest achievements as a teacher has been to encourage creative thinking by providing a climate in which the student can try and fail without being afraid of taking risks and exploring. For example, I have had several students in the Public Speaking and Acting classes who are extremely self-conscious or apprehensive. They simply do not want to “be the center of attention.” Through role-plays and small-group discussions they have discovered and believed in their personal worth and creative potential. Working “in role” has provided them with some sort of “safety” in the classroom, so that they are not afraid to make mistakes.
I would say that bringing the students that participate in the productions to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival has been a highlight in my teaching career at Hostos. The festival is a tremendous, high-impact educational practice where our students have been transformed and have had the opportunity to take workshops, audition for scholarships, and mingle with other students from senior colleges. As their mentor, I have witnessed how traveling is an essential part of an education. It gives them another perspective of the world, and they learn by participating in healthy competition.
I am so excited and fortunate to use theatre as a teaching and learning tool. Learning through theatre gives students an opportunity to find the relevancy of their class work and communicate it in an exciting way to others. I will always use theatre as a powerful tool that can be used to enlighten and better the society, and clarify understanding in the classroom. I feel I have just performed my first act, and during the intermission I will reflect upon the work I have done during the first act in order to continue with the other acts of this wonderful play I am devising.