E M PATHY R i s i n g
Setting the stage for greater
understanding and compassion
B y A nnie M iddleton
T
he arts have existed at the
center of my world from as far
back as I can remember. I grew
up in a family that valued stories and
storytelling, music, plays, films, and
books. We lived in a town just outside
of New York City, and the public
schools I attended all had drama, mu-
sic, and fine arts programs that helped
me discover and cultivate my passion.
I may not have realized it at the time,
but I was given the great opportunity
as a young student to explore the arts
and use them to develop vital human
skills: self-expression, communication,
and empathy.
I lived in Los Angeles for a few
years following college, and it was
there in the late spring of 2012 my
friend invited me to the screening of
a documentary titled Staging Hope:
Acts of Peace in Northern Uganda. This
film was presented and made pos-
sible by Voices in Harmony, a youth
arts organization that was founded
with the purpose to empower the
voices and visions of at-risk teens. The
documentary follows a team of actors,
playwrights, and activists from the
United States who visit Uganda and
use theater to help teens share their
stories of resilience after being abduct-
ed and forced to become child soldiers
and sex slaves in northern Uganda.
This film reawakened my aware-
ness of how art can be utilized as a
tool that bonds humans on many
26 IMAGINE l Spring 2017
levels. The film reveals the significant
opportunity an artist has to encourage
another person to discover her voice
and her courage to use her voice to
tell stories from her life. I was deeply
moved by the compassion shared
between the visiting artists and the
Ugandan teens. It is the vulnerable
moments and powerful bonds that
connect all of us as humans, no matter
where we live or what we have gone
through.
Shortly after seeing this film,
some close friends and artists I knew
in LA and I started putting our heads
together. We challenged one another
to find a way to use our experience
and skills to contribute to the edu-
cation of young people who didn’t
have the same opportunities in their
schools to explore the arts. We recog-
nized our privilege for having access
to theater education throughout our
lives, especially while most schools
in the U.S. were experiencing a major
decline or total absence of the art in
their curriculum. The subject con-
tinues to fall further down the list of
educational priorities, while STEM, a
curriculum based on science, technol-
ogy, engineering and mathematics,
receives increasing support from the
government and policymakers.
Over the course of the next year,
my team and I developed a curriculum
for a two-week long workshop involv-
ing acting, playwriting, dance, and
Actors Steven Payne and Jess Barbagallo
in a scene from Orange Julius at Rattles-
tick Playwrights Theater.
music. We connected with Crenshaw
High School in South Los Angeles,
a school that did not have a drama
program. We raised over $10,000 so
we could host over 60 high school
students with free admission and free
meals throughout the workshop. We
ended up having about 20 teaching
artists volunteer their time and tal-
ent. During the workshop, which we
titled CommunicateME, the students
practiced improvisation, learned a
dance routine, wrote original songs
and short plays, and at the end of the
two weeks they performed for friends
and family in the community. This
was one of the most challenging and
overwhelmingly exciting experiences
of my life. We witnessed several
inspirational transformations, one
in particular from a student named
Cheyenne, who had appropriately