Catching up...

Well, it's been about 6 years since I started my business and created a website, and made a blog post. I think it's about time wrote a new one, don't you?!

So much has happened since then, the biggest of all was a global pandemic. That was so long ago now that some of my students/campers were just being born. And what a world they were born into!

After only one week of drama classes in March of 2020, I quickly pivoted to zoom-based classes. I had no idea how to teach remotely, but I quickly learned, and those 40-minute weekly sessions were a burst of fun interrupting our anxious lives. It was clear that drama was providing an essential outlet for kids to connect with their peers and find fun, hope, humor and creativity. By closely following pages of safety restrictions I was able to bring us together for our 2020 summer program in a new space with lots of room for social distancing and fresh air flowing.

Since then our summer program has grown to a multi-week licensed day camp. We added a Theatre Troupe session with public-facing performances, starting with an outdoor once-act comedy, Never Eat a Talking Lobster. The next year we did a musical!

Last year I returned to Emerson College to complete an additional twelve credits and "put the F in MFA." This was far more challenging than I imagined, but equally rewarding. My own kiddo was starting their freshman year at Emerson at the same time, so we had each other for moral support. For some reason I have a far higher appreciation for the dining commons than my child.

Then there was that trial madness over the last three years. (Yeah, that was ugly. We won't talk about that. In the words of Fiona, skip ahead, skip ahead!)

Another change of note: When I started offering drama classes in Canton in 2016, our school system had almost no theatre in the curriculum below high school. Now I am extremely proud to see a fully-fledged drama program at the Galvin Middle School going for the past three years, thanks to the incredible work of Mrs. Delaney. Hooray! We also have our own nonprofit children's theatre, led by the Vogels and the Goodriches. Silversmith Youth Theatre is providing opportunities for kids and teens throughout the year. Amazing!

My work as a theatre educator continues to address the needs of the youth in our community, to teach not only acting and playwriting skills, but empathy and communication, of which there can never be enough. I hope I can also be a conduit to build connections among the many theatre artists in our community, and make Canton MA a place known for performing arts, for cooperation...

... and most importantly for kindness.

-Aoife