Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury
How Good do you Want to be? And What are you Going to do About it?
Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury
Coming Soon
When Gregory H. Simpson was hired to run the drama program at Ottawa private school Ashbury College, he brought with him a very simple premise:
If you taught kids to think, there would be a revolution in education.
That premise—plus a few years, more than a few scandalously unfiltered plays, and a whole bunch of wonderful students—would create the internationally-acclaimed Theatre Ashbury. Mr. Simpson demanded critical thought, intense work, and commitment from those kids, and what he got was decades of showstopping, educational, and attention-grabbing theatre. (Not to mention a few stars among his alumni!)
Now, Mr. Simpson lays out his methodology: Theatre as Education. By giving his students the artistic freedom to explore difficult subjects, the rigor and the skills to depict them authentically, and the highest standards to reach with their achievements, he taught his students—and everyone around them—a lot more than how to act.
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Praise for Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury
REVIEWS
Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5
"Introducing an innovative approach to youth theater, Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury is an inspiring educator’s guide.
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"Gregory H. Simpson’s inspiring book Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury describes the successes and challenges of a school theater program that sought to equip students to stage professional-caliber productions on provocative topics.
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"Part manual, part reflection, the book introduces an innovative approach to youth theater implemented for thirty years at Ashbury College, a private day and boarding school in Canada. There, teachers instruct students to think about social issues while developing their excellence in all aspects of theatrical production. The program’s ethics and mission are named before the book moves on to anecdotes and case studies illustrating the level of education and attention needed to support students staging plays involving subjects like rape, suicide, domestic violence, and the Holocaust. Matthew Perry, an Ashbury alumnus, acted in the first school production based on the Theatre as Education approach, and the story of the play’s rehearsal and staging involves most program tenets and the key to the program director’s role: 'My responsibility was to teach them in a safe manner. They needed to learn the reasons behind the behaviors.'
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"To make it a useful instructional resource for those aiming to replicate the school’s model, the book first introduces basic class rules and aims, in addition to addressing dramatic skills, conflict resolution, accountability, and education on a play’s themes. Experts whom the students consulted, including professional actors, doctors, sex workers, parolees, and Holocaust survivors, are given their due. The program’s workshops, exercises, and games are detailed next, followed by an exploration of self-talk, an in-depth personal presentation to help students connect with their characters’ emotions and to help casts develop trust.
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"The nitty-gritty of the Ashbury process, down to costuming, prop checks, warm-ups, and cues, is covered in depth before the book moves on to its case studies of individual plays and challenging students. Each case study explains the interior work required of students for that particular play, the experts involved, and adaptations made to support the students’ emotional and mental health. Here, the depth and breadth of Theatre Ashbury’s productions, including the challenges from teachers who wanted a 'typical high school' theater program, is brought to life. Serious opposition to the program is covered thereafter. Portions of columbinus, identified as the program’s signature play, appear throughout the book. The case-study chapter on the play, which is about the Columbine school massacre, details the actors’ immersion in news clips and autopsy reports; they even designed a memorial to the students who died.
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"With its blend of educational philosophy, practical tips, and case studies, Training the Young Actors of Theatre Ashbury is an intriguing resource for those leading youth theater programs."
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—Foreword Clarion Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
"Simpson, a veteran drama teacher, recounts his career and his pedagogical philosophy of theatre as education.
"The author directed the theatre program at Ashbury College in Ottawa, Ontario, for 31 years, until 2011. Now, he passes on his teaching methods in these pages. Specifically, the book aims to work as a “how-to…that explains how interested teachers and students can put Theatre as Education into practice.” The concept is to explore ideas with students by working with them on stage productions; it’s an effective way to address provocative topics, he says, such as racism, misogyny, and gun violence. After a thorough description of the methodology, Simpson presents specific case studies. For example, the author and his students produced dark, complicated plays, such as Stephen Karam and P.J. Paparelli’s columbinus, which addresses the 1999 Columbine school shooting, as well as several plays about the Holocaust; he also tells of staging a production of The Laramie Project, a play about gay teen Matthew Shepard’s murder, and plays that focused on the AIDS epidemic. It’s clear from the text that Simpson has immense respect for his students’ intellect and maturity; he expected a lot from them, but he clearly received excellence in return. However, in his explanation of his methods, he skims over a few concepts too briefly, such as the use of mannerisms in an acting performance, and he speaks disdainfully of what he calls “Generation Me”—kids whose parents, he argues, were too “coddling,” causing “self-absorption, excuses, and extreme narcissism”—which may not appeal to all readers. Ultimately, though, Simpson’s book is likely to be a useful text for teachers and teachers-in-training.
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"A useful and educational text for drama instructors, as well as educators in other humanities"
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—Kirkus Reviews