A theatrical group that was founded by a Yale professor and that offers interactive performances on topics of interest to urban teenagers has received a $6,000 grant from the Community Foundation of New Haven.
The Open End Theater was created and coordinated by Thomas Greene, the Frederick Clifford Ford Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature, and was launched last year with funding from President Richard C. Levin.
The grant from the Community Foundation will enable the ensemble to produce a second season of interactive performances in New Haven's middle and senior high schools.
The Open End Theater presents plays about urban teenagers who become entangled in painful, realistic moral dilemmas. This season's play will deal with gang-related issues.
During the performances, when the characters on stage reach an impasse and can't agree on what to do, the action stops. A moderator steps forward and invites the student audience members to discuss the issues and advise the characters. The performance concludes along the lines suggested by the audience.
The cast consists of Yale undergraduates and secondary students from local high schools. This year, Charlene Andrade, founder of Youth Theater New Haven, will serve as director. Jim Luse, lecturer in theater studies at Yale and former director of education at Long Wharf Theater, will write the script. Richard Squeri will return as discussion moderator.
Both students and educators reacted enthusiastically to The Open End Theater's first season. "Not only were the actors convincing, but the message was delivered clearly and provoked a lot of thought, questions and general discussion," says Keith Cunningham, arts director at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School.
One ninth grader at Hillhouse High School praised the performance he saw because "it had more than one ending, according to the way the character handled the problem, which is the way life is."
According to Professor Greene, "One reason the program succeeds is because it is genuinely open-ended. We're not going into the schools to preach or indoctrinate." He adds: "Who am I, who spent my life in the 16th century, to tell these kids, who have experienced so much, how to live? We try to create a space for reflection, a nonconfrontational place. We want the audience to walk out arguing about what's right and what's wrong."
Mr. Greene undertook this project as a way of "reinventing himself" as his retirement approached. "After devoting my life to teaching and research, I felt I needed to pay more attention to my role as a citizen in the community," he says. "This gives me great satisfaction."
Since 1928 the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven has built a permanent endowment, currently valued at approximately $166 million, thanks to the generosity of donors.
In 1996, the Foundation distributed $4.9 million from over 330 different funds supporting grants in health, community and economic development, the arts, culture, and other vital areas. The Open End Theater project will receive its grant from the Foundation's Arts Fund.