There Once Was a Longhouse: Merry Go Round Playhouse Creative Dramatics Program

Students and staff in the Marcellus Central School District are excited to be once again participating in the Merry Go Round (MGR) Playhouse Creative Dramatics Program for the 2010-2011 school year. The District has been involved with the MGR educational program for more than a dozen years. This unique learning experience provides students across Grades K-6 with a series of workshops and performances designed to meet New York State fine arts instructional standards, address grade level curriculum needs, and help each of our students to grow as a “whole person”. Funding for the program is made possible through MGR grants and district involvement with the BOCES Regional Arts in Education Service. Guiding principles for the MGR program include the “integration of individual grade level curriculum” and “fostering a partnership between artists and teachers”. Providing an integrated opportunity to experience the arts has always been a component of the Marcellus Central School District educational mission and the MGR program helps the district to actualize that mission. The MGR education initiative provides individual classroom workshops at each grade level as well as live performances. Students have the opportunity to learn about play/character development, set/costume design, all while experiencing a theatrical event that is tied directly to grade level curriculum needs. Fourth grade students at Driver Middle School received a hands-on demonstration of that curriculum connection as Merry Go Round Playhouse actors Mike Brennan, Allie Beckmann, and Frazier Smith presented “There Once Was a Longhouse” on Tuesday, January 11, 2011. Prior to the actual performance, MGR actors met with individual classrooms to discuss all aspects of Iroquois life, traditions, culture, and history. MGR actor Allie Beckmann described how the Iroquois got their name, “The French explorers and the Native Americans did not originally get along, so the French gave the name Iroquois, which meant snakelike or fierce fighter, to the New York natives. The Native Americans actually called themselves Haudenosaunee or People of the Longhouse. “MGR actor Mike Brennan described the five reasons for peace that formed the foundation for the Iroquois nation, “trade/sharing of resources, longer life, strength in numbers, common language, and preservation of the land.” Students then became actual tribal members for the Longhouse performance. The performance took place in the Driver Middle School gymnasium and the theater space replicated an authentic Iroquois Longhouse setting. The fourth grade students learned about the importance of unity and consensus in Iroquois life. They had the opportunity to participate in tribal dances, chants, and festival ceremonies. The Merry-Go-Round actors also demonstrated the Native American oral tradition of storytelling all within a unique “Longhouse” theater setting. Merry-Go-Round Theater grade level performances for the 2010-2011 school year include:
· Grade 1/Pre First – Shirt of Happiness
· Grade 2 – Aesop’s Fables
· Grade 3 – Seagirl
· Grade 4 – Longhouse
· Grade 5 – Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe
· Grade 6 – Echoes
All performances include individual classroom workshops as well as the full grade level performance.