Week Ten - What a Riot

Imagine yourself sitting in a middle school history classroom and as a class, you had to come together to develop a presentation about the black history in the 1950s, how would you begin to present it? I feel that Mady Schutzman was more so creating a history lesson to engage her students, than developing a theatrical piece. In no way was Schutzman’s strategies or motives a wrong move per say, however it presented a creative environment to introduce the children to a time in history they can somewhat relate to. What struck my curiosity was the level of engagement the students contributed to the development of “What a Riot.” Been given a context and a lead setting from Schutzman, the students opened the dialogue to discuss complex moments in history and how they shaped who some of us are today. This was exactly the style of performance piece that Schutzman wanted to create for audience to experience. A performance/audience engagement piece that raised questions and opened communication after the show was over for the evening. Whats great about “What a Riot” is that the dialogue was 90% created by the students. All the questions and moments in history were a cause for them to bring them up in conversation. I do not think CAP and Schutzman could have done a better job at bringing such an eye opening piece to the youth of Los Angeles.