An Open Letter to Teachers from Ethan

(Please note: this entry does not necessarily represent the view and opinion of the Slim Goodbody Corporation. The opinions expressed are mine and mine alone, and I take full responsibility for them. Further, the statements made apply only to a tiny number of teachers I have met. In my five weeks on the road, the vast majority of the teachers I have encountered have been courteous, friendly, helpful, attentive and clearly enthused by the performance. They are a joy to work with, and perform for. However, a small handful have been less than pleasant, and it is these schools, and these teachers, that have prompted this post.)

Dear Teachers,

Of late, I have had the privilege of visiting your elementary schools as a performer of the Slim Goodbody assemblies. Thank you for inviting me into your schools, and for taking time out of your class periods to bring you students to my shows. As a practitioner of Theater for Young Audiences for almost two years now, it brings me great joy to see the wide-eyed faces of my audience members, and to be a part of their introduction to live theater. The arts are, and always have been, a civic necessity, and I continue to find it inspiring that our schools find room in their ever-shrinking budgets to include cultural events in their students' lives.

However, I need your help.

As a performer for young audiences, I am always concerned with helping students learn about the appropriate way to attend a live theatrical event. This behavior--attentiveness, responsiveness, alertness--is something that my interactive shows cultivate. Students are encouraged to be active audience members (at times literally, when I am asking them to participate), staying engaged in the show and helping me provide them with the best theatrical experience possible. And, most of the time, this behavior is excellent. However, when I encounter disrespectful and disruptive audience activity, it seems to be connected to a common thread: staff members who disengage during the performance. And it is this activity that I wish to bring to your attention.

Now, please understand that I have the greatest respect for your profession and the demands placed upon you. They are not unlike my own. We both work long hours for relatively low pay and expend huge amounts of energy trying to enrich the lives of students. What you do is truly a labor of love, and that is indeed something to be commended. And I too would love to discover a full hour in my day where I could chit-chat to my colleagues, send text message, make phone calls, eat a snack, and generally relax and disengage from all that is going on around me without the challenges of students. However, my assemblies are not the place to do so.

I have seen that your students clearly look up to you. They follow your lead, and take behavioral cues from what you are doing. Your attention sets an example for how adults are expected to behave in a theatrical situation. Which means that, when you are engaged, focused and playing along, so are your students. You are giving them the tools they will need whenever they attend cultural events throughout the rest of their lives. However, teachers who ignore the performance, chat with each other, play with their cell phones and eat during the show set a model that this kind of behavior is acceptable. It is not. Not only is it distracting to the performer, it also shows a lack of respect for the work and art on display. And that, I am sure, is not the message you wish to send to your students.

I know that my presentation is no Broadway show, but I am a unionized professional with a degree, extensive training and experience (commensurate with many of those actors performing on Broadway) and, while I certainly have no delusions that I will be treated as though I am performing at the Palace Theater, I do ask for a basic respect for my artistry, time and talent. The foundations you lay for your students about responsible audience membership will transfer from their Slim Goodbody presentation to their first experience in a theater and beyond. Your simple choice to remain engaged will set the tone for my presentation, keeping your students focused and attentive throughout and allowing me to give my best possible performance. Help me create lifelong arts patrons by modeling the best behavior possible for them. We will both be doing a world of good.

Ethan

Call tomorrow: 7:00am, Brooklyn. Time to close down this tour.

Kid quote of the day: When we were discussing the glories of whole grain oats, a small kid in the front row stood up, jumped up and down and told me: "I LOVE oatmeal!!"