On Its Stage and Across the State, Intiman Theatre’s Annual Arts Education Programs Rough Eagles and Living History Give Voice to Young People

The Rough Eagles, students from Cleveland and Roosevelt High Schools , will perform their own original play on the set of Abe Lincoln in Illinois on Monday, October 26 at 7 pm, under the direction of Mary Sea Kaminski

Living History teaching artists will spend residencies in schools across the state during a eight-week tour that takes them from Seattle to Eastern Washington

SEATTLE— Intiman Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and Managing Director Brian Colburn , announces new information about its annual arts education initiatives for young people across the state of Washington. Presented as part of an integrated series of programs that also include student matinees, Rough Eagles and Living History support Intiman’s mission to go beyond the walls of its theatre and encourage young people to think and speak about contemporary issues they face in their own lives through participation in the arts.

Rough Eagles, one of Intiman’s American Cycle programs, brings together diverse teens from Cleveland and Roosevelt High Schools (the name is a combination of the two school mascots, the Roosevelt Rough Riders and the Cleveland Eagles). On Monday, October 26 at 7 pm, seven students will present their own original play, “To Speak of a Dream,” which is inspired by the themes of Intiman’s current production of Robert E. Sherwood’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois and the question of what it means to be a hero today. Directed by Seattle artist Marya Sea Kaminski, the performance is free to the public, and will be followed by a discussion and reception with the students; for reservations, patrons should call 206.269.1900.

Although Cleveland and Roosevelt High Schools in many ways represent two different worlds, Rough Eagles is about the collaborative process of making theatre as a way to explore big ideas and discover what unites the students, rather than to stay on the surface of what separates them. The program begins each year with a summer retreat, during which the students begin to connect on an individual level by participating in theatrical exercises and by attending different kinds of shows (many of them for the first time) around Seattle . In the fall, they develop, write and rehearse their own play, which they also perform in their schools for their peers following their performance on the Intiman stage.

Living History, Intiman’s statewide arts-in-education program, brings teaching artists to schools from Seattle to rural communities in Eastern Washington for intensive week-long residencies. Living History includes performance excerpts that allow students see the ideas in classic plays, followed by innovative classroom exercises that challenge and inspire them to think about corresponding social, economic and political conditions in our world today.

This season, Living History will include scenes from Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Shakespeare’s Othello and A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner. At the beginning of each residency, the actors perform scenes from these plays, immediately challenging assumptions as they switch between genders, races, ages and eras. They then spend the rest of each week as teaching artists in classrooms. Each residency incorporates a character-based “hot seat” discussion between two real or historical figures, and an issue-based debate that uses the themes of the plays as a springboard to explore a contemporary conflict. Students are motivated by original ways of learning, including interacting with iconic characters from literature and important figures from history such as Emma Goldman, Walt Whitman and Frederick Douglass.

Living History will tour the state for eight weeks from October 19 through December 11, including residencies at AC Davis, Cleveland , Franklin , Ingraham, Interlake, O’Dea, Omak, Renton and Roosevelt High Schools . Under the leadership of program director Robin Lynn Smith and production director Desdemona Chiang, the cast includes actors/teaching artists Hannah Franklin, Sylvester Kamara and Khatt Taylor.

The American Cycle is sponsored by Ameriprise Financial, The Boeing Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nesholm Family Foundation and PONCHO. Media Sponsorship is provided by KUOW. Front Porch Theater is sponsored in part by Starbucks Coffee Company. Rough Eagles is sponsored in part by Wells Fargo.

Seasonal support for Intiman Theatre is provided by ArtsFund; Intiman Theatre Foundation; Kreielsheimer Remainder Foundation; The Leading National Theatres Program, a joint initiative of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Shubert Foundation; and Washington State Arts Commission.