#riverdalecountryschool

Chris Johnston (’16) compares his experience in the MA in Applied Theatre to taking a bag off his head.

Four years ago, Chris was teetering on burnout as a teaching artist. He was bored with his curriculum and dismayed to see that his students were getting less from his classes as a result.

After graduating from the MA program this fall, Chris began working in a sought-after position as a drama teacher for elementary-aged students at the innovative Riverdale Country School. He loves the job. Chris works closely with MA in Applied Theatre alumna Amy Fitts (‘15) to offer intensive drama programs tailored to classes’ needs. Moreover, the pair recently won approval to lead one of the school’s “Project Knowmad” courses: this summer, the two will lead students in an intergenerational theatre project with seniors.

If that’s not enough, Riverdale administration recently approached Chris about the possibility of helping the school integrate intergenerational work into its overall curriculum.

How did he get here?

Bag one: talk less. “I tried many personas in the program. I started very outspoken…stepping up a lot, saying something about nearly everything.” Faculty challenged Chris on this. “I became someone who really listened…now I’m working in a place where people are challenging me every day [and I hear them]. And those are skills that I don’t think I had, and don’t think I considered needing, three years ago, but are now so essential to the person and the artist that I aspire to be.”

Bag two: write honestly and directly. When he began the program, Chris’s writing was affected and esoteric. To get clear, he worked consistently a program writing coach and then with his thesis adviser. His work paid off. “‘We’ve read 70-80 proposals related to theatre, and your passion for this topic and this project were shown through your eloquent writing,’” said reviewers of Chris and alumna Amy’s intergenerational theatre project. “I was like, wow,” reflects Chris, “that was a big point of growth for me throughout the program.”

Bag three: create learning. “Prior to the [MA] program, I saw my role as an educator being to impart knowledge, to provide students opportunities to use skills that I had mastered,” says Chris. “I left understanding that education is a very personal experience for the learner.” Now he uses this approach at Riverdale.

To wit, Chris and Amy recently worked with fifth-graders to devise original theatre exploring doctor’s offices from 1802 to 1987. They and their students presented the piece to another class. In one scene, staff discovered that a favorite nurse was working without immigration papers, and the staff weighed turning her in. A student in the group took this up. “That scene really bothered me. The British came for opportunities, but isn’t that what people immigrating are doing now?” Chris and his collaborators had planned to take the post presentation discussion in a different direction, but they recognized the power of what they student had said, so they pivoted to address immigration.

Bag four: Then there’s the seniors. Chris was uncomfortable working with older adults, but faculty in the program urged him forward. He found he loved the connections he made. He apprenticed with Elders Share the Arts as a program elective and worked in his thesis to make theatre with seniors with dementia. Now intergenerational work is a key component of his career.