SpliN­ters for Ed­u­ca­tion and Per­for­mance (SEP) will be host­ing its sec­ond The­atre Games sym­po­sium on May 16, at UTT Cam­pus at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA), Port-of-Spain, and May 18, at the UTT San Fer­nan­do Cam­pus (for­mer­ly San Fer­nan­do Tech­ni­cal In­sti­tute.) As­pir­ing ac­tors, thes­pi­ans and ed­u­ca­tors of Trinidad and To­ba­go and stu­dents are in­vit­ed to par­tic­i­pate. The­atre Games is used in the teach­ing of per­for­mance skills. For new­com­ers, the for­mat of the The­atre Games Sym­po­sium is a high­ly in­ten­sive prac­ti­cal day that al­lows par­tic­i­pants to work with oth­ers from across the coun­try in a non-com­pet­i­tive en­vi­ron­ment. Prac­ti­tion­ers lead groups through games and dra­ma and dance ex­er­cis­es un­der dif­fer­ent skill ar­eas. Groups then work on im­prov pieces to present.

This year the dance com­po­nent has been added of­fer­ing par­tic­i­pants the chance to meet pub­lic fig­ures in the­atre and oth­er spe­cial treats that the stu­dents will en­joy. This year SEP will be fo­cus­ing on Role-Play. The abil­i­ty to im­pro­vise move­ment and di­a­logue of an imag­ined char­ac­ter is an es­sen­tial el­e­ment that needs greater de­vel­op­ment. Par­tic­i­pants are in need of greater ex­po­sure to cre­ative train­ing and stim­uli in a non-com­pet­i­tive en­vi­ron­ment/for­mat. SEP's The­atre Games Sym­po­sium is skills-based and is not a com­pe­ti­tion, based on re­search which shows that role play acts as a means of nat­ur­al dis­cov­ery through "tri­al and er­ror," where stu­dents had an op­por­tu­ni­ty to gain in­sight in­to hu­man sit­u­a­tions by plac­ing them­selves in­to "oth­er peo­ple's shoes" (Gavin Bolton, 1986.)

They gain the skills to co­op­er­ate with peers, con­trol im­puls­es, and grow less ag­gres­sive than chil­dren who do not en­gage in this type of play. Suc­cess­ful role play re­quires the abil­i­ty to por­tray char­ac­ter through the use of voice, bod­i­ly move­ments, and spa­tial aware­ness which our The­atre Games Sym­po­sium will ad­dress. SEP's team of qual­i­fied Dra­ma and Dance prac­ti­tion­ers, stage-hands and at­ten­dees must com­ply with its Child Pro­tec­tion Pol­i­cy which gov­erns all of our pub­lic events. In its com­mit­ment to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment and with your co-op­er­a­tion SEP there­fore en­vi­sions that it will be able to share this ex­pe­ri­ence and en­hance­ment of learn­ing with stu­dents and teach­ers of T&T.

En­gag­ing in role-play func­tions by en­hanc­ing

• So­cial & Emo­tion­al De­vel­op­ment: ne­go­ti­at­ing roles, agree­ing on a top­ic, co­op­er­at­ing to por­tray dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions.

• Phys­i­cal de­vel­op­ment: play in all its forms is es­sen­tial to the de­vel­op­ment of gross and fine mo­tor skills.

• Em­pa­thy and un­der­stand­ing: chil­dren are strong on em­pa­thy. They see the emo­tions and feel­ings their peers are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing and can re­late to these.

• Speak­ing and lis­ten­ing: role-play en­cour­ages speak­ing and lis­ten­ing skills and leads to shared un­der­stand­ing, ef­fec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion and co­op­er­a­tion.

• Ques­tion­ing: ques­tion­ing skills are im­por­tant if chil­dren are to de­vel­op as in­de­pen­dent learn­ers.

• Cog­ni­tive de­vel­op­ment: when they pre­tend, chil­dren cre­ate pic­tures in their minds about past ex­pe­ri­ences and the sit­u­a­tions they imag­ine. These im­ages are a form of ab­stract think­ing.

• Lan­guage de­vel­op­ment: to en­gage with oth­ers in dra­mat­ic play, chil­dren use lan­guage to ex­plain what they are do­ing and ask and an­swer ques­tions. They choose the lan­guage that fits the role they have se­lect­ed.

For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion or for reg­is­tra­tion, con­tact 471-9387 or email ghan­sham.mo­hammed@gmail.com.