Creative Arts encompasses Art, Music, Theatre Arts (Acting and Dance) and WritingThis painting of the Dancers by Henri Matisse includes two arts, painting and dancing

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the impact of using creative arts such as art, music, theatre arts and writing as coping tools to create a sense of belonging, a sense of self-worth and a sense of goal direction for the adolescent actors of blank slate theatre during their production of the play Generations.

The city-state of Athens invented theatre.[4] It was part of a broader culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that included festivals, religious rituals, politics, law, athletics and gymnastics, music, poetry, weddings, funerals, and symposia.[5] Participation in the city-state's many festivals—and attendance at the City Dionysia as an audience member (or even as a participant in the theatrical productions) in particular—was an important part of citizenship.[6] Civic participation also involved the evaluation of the rhetoric of orators evidenced in performances in the law-court or political assembly, both of which were understood as analogous to the theatre and increasingly came to absorb its dramatic vocabulary.[7] The Greeks also developed the concepts of dramatic criticism, acting as a career, and theatre architecture.[8] The theatre of ancient Greece consisted of three types of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play.[9]

The tradition of Creative Arts as expression was challenged by the technical revolution in the 1950’s and 1960’s with aerospace, exploration and the development of computers and TV’s. Sputnik was Russia’s entry into the technical age and started an international competition to land a man on the moon.

New Urban Arts is a creative and empowering arts community driven by the leadership of public high school students and emerging artists. The goal is to encourage young people to develop a creative practice they can sustain throughout their lives. The philosophy of New Urban Arts is the belief that an active imagination is essential to the positive development of youth, and that innovative arts education can bring this practice to all young people.

The 52nd Street Project was founded in 1981 by actor/playwright Willie Reale in response to a deepening need to improve the quality of life for the kids of Hell’s Kitchen. Mr. Reale used his privileges as a company member of Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) to reach out to the children of the neighborhood by creating a creative theatre arts program.

The Project is about making children proud of themselves. The Project is not about teaching children to act, although they learn to. It is not about teaching them to write plays, although they will learn that as well. What it is about is giving a kid an experience of success. It is about giving a kid an opportunity to prove that he or she has something of value to offer, something that comes from within that he or she alone possesses, something that cannot be taken away. In Adlerian terms the kids discover what a sense of

This adolescent theatre program philosophy was based on the Adlerian principles of the tasks of life.

Social interest was key in creating the plays. The topic of abuse, for instance, in “Generations,” was an issue the writers thought needed to be expressed. The central theme is about understanding the genetic passing down of abuse from one generation to another. The message for the play is to illustrate how abuse can be confronted by the lead character, Teagen, and how she can process through therapy to break this family habit of abuse for the next generation and to heal herself from the abuse she received.

Teagen used dance and psychotherapy as her means to confront and cope with the history of abuse. Through dance therapy and working with her therapist, Teagan is able to come to terms through this process by confronting her inner hurt child and making the change.

“Generations” encompassed all five of the tasks of life, love, family, community, self and even

Each of these Experientials were solution focused. As the director, Adam Arnold, expressed the experientials became an assessment of how the actors were feeling and relating while they were rehearsing the particular topical plays. 1. Alice - There was an issue of lines not memorized, solution was to get together and help each other instead of memorizing on their own. This was one week before production.

The Carousel Experiential consisted of 18 pages of 18 x 24 paper. Each actor chose two oil pastels. The Therapist used music and paced the switch to the next paper every 3-5 minutes. The participants always knew where their drawings or markings were on each piece of the 18 pages (one for each participant) The actors moved on to the right every switch of music. There was a great energy as the actors completed the project and realized what their solution for learning the lines for the play. The Solution: They decided to meet without the director and rehearse their lines with each other. It worked.

You are a person no matter how big or small. The masks were every size and shape. The energy in this group was extraordinary. There was a materials search frenzy when the bins of supplies were opened up. This was an inclusive and positive energy play and the enthusiasm was infectious. This was a great contrast to the seriousness of the emotionally strong blank slate theatre plays.

The play was written by members of blank slate theatre, directed by Adam Arnold and choreographed by Bailey Anderson.

blank slate theatre encouraged this independent development through theatre by acting with empathy for the characters the actors were portraying. The point here was through acting and art experientials, the blank slate troupe learned to empathize with their characters and were able to portray them truthfully. However, it was important as a therapist to guide the actors gently through the emotional impact the theme of abuse had on them. The acting and the art expression then became the actors’ coping mechanism helping them deal with the emotions they felt with the play, “Generations.”

There were those who chose to participate, those who chose not to participate, those who collaborated with a partner, those who worked on their own and did not want to share, those who worked on the project and did not finish, and those who wanted to talk and share.

It turned out that the troupe did not finish this experiential at the first sitting so they continued to work on it during rehearsal downtimes and during another art therapy session several weeks later.

The rehearsal space turned into an open studio, which was totally unexpected. It seemed that the actors needed an expressive outlet while they were rehearsing such a powerful and emotional play. The materials preferred were oil pastels and paints, some fabrics, ribbons, collage and other odds and ends.

This art therapist was disturbed by the patched together heart and the knifelike designs outside the patched heart.

The artist provided her explanation. She provided love in an interesting way--scattered and earthy, controlled, me in the middle of the drawing, pieces don’t always fit. She suggested that pieces don’t always fit and to accept imperfections. The contrast was the outside, superficial, sharp edges.. shattered, stalactites, fangs and signifying danger.

This is an interesting interpretation of an organic/inside heart and a symbolic, decorative heart on the outside, drawn side-by-side.The collaboration was about helping each other create. The comparison of a technical heart vs. an emotional heart. Technical/medical heart has a half smile illustrating being guarded, a cover for reality.Emotional heart has a key to the inner heart, can’t control emotions, opens up what is inside, mood swings and the ups and downs of an actor. There is an empty smile. The actors explained that a monkey depicts the swinging of emotions, can be goofy and fun at the same time. An empty smile and a half smile - the meaning was that neither were full. To this AT, the actors truly were expressing her conflicting relationship with her part.

Hand and heart generating energy, sunny emotions, connected to all the actors, the power of the group.Emotions go in many directionsHenna design symbol of a ceremony, Mind symbol. This actor had just had a henna tattoo put on her hand and arm. This AT felt that this was the surface of her personality. The part she was playing was very emotional. Was this her way to cope to stay in a happy mode?

This actress used paint, oil pastel and shiny paper.She spent a lot of time painting and using the art to express herself.Bottom piece done by another actress symbolized round balls, hot and cool colors, done in pastel. Also,both actors did art during rehearsals utilizing the open studio and drew, painted and collaged.This was part of the actors’ statements display.

This could be said about the Art Therapy Experientials the actors created. The Art was an expression of the actors and dancers’ emotions they felt while rehearsing. The Open studio enabled them to express their frustrations and/or emotions

The character of Little Teagan wore a wig to match the color of the older Teagan. Both actors had long, full heads of hair. Hair was a topic in the play. Little Teagan was the inner child that the older Teagan confronted in her attempt to heal herself from the “Generations” of abuse.

There was a significance in the lack of facial expression in this portrait. The actor chose not to use any features as if the character had no face or significance in her family and childhood. The use of the word “static” was a significant metaphoric description because there was tension between the Younger Teagan and her Mother when she was growing up in the play. “Static” symbolized the energy of the abuse.

Again the use of significant hair was emphasized in this self portrait. The face had the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth. However, the face was, in fact, a photo of a forest landscape, which the actor related to as she preferred to be outdoors and taking long canoe trips in Canada. There were a number of contrasts in the painting, the hot and cold color contrasts, the dress patterns and the wild blonde hair. This actor was not wild normally. She portrayed an abusive Mother, which was contrary to her whole personality in real life. It was a particularly hard challenge for this actor to be abusive. She spent a lot of time working on her body outline and also did a lot of extra drawings to process the difficulty of playing the Abusive Mother. She used a lot of control when doing her drawings. All this actor’s drawings emphasized a need to control her emotions. Her drawings were very tightly constructed.

This Art Therapist is concerned by all the discontinuous lines in this piece. The body is vague here, shapeless, a suggestion of arms and shoulders and mostly hair. There is a suggestion that this character the actor was playing could have an issue with her body, with her place in the play, and/or with the role she plays. She may not be happy about playing an abusive person. She alludes to a disconnect in using the word on the outside of the body outline. She may not be happy about being labeled abusive. That may be the characteristics of the part she plays. She uses death as a commentary in the interior and exterior of her body outline. The interior is mostly negative with bad, loneliness, and internal death. Words like disconnect, depression, death, blind, anxious, sad, anger and abusive on the exterior of the outline, the interpretation/suggestion is that the actor is struggling to stay positive while she is playing an abusive woman in the play. She uses the word happy for her head/hair. One wonders if that is the only place where she can detach and be happy... in her head/hair.

The actor spoke of having a funny family of artists. Her family is her core. The three dimensional head is symbolic of more than one thought in her head and music in her body. She also spoke of

This young actor’s body fit in the paper. There is a lot of energy. She was resourceful and took all the scraps from other drawings. There is a true outline around this body. She is joyful, happy, naive and deliberate. The ribbon and colors are collage in youthful exuberance. It is as if this actor and character are the same person. The actor plays a smart younger sister. There is something young and positive about this piece and the actor who created it.

This actor became the mascot for the whole troupe. She was well loved by all.

This actor played her part as a dancer well. She wanted to hang her body outline upside down to express her movement and positive energy. She put her whole body into her performance and expresses it with her flexibility in her body outline/self portrait.

This pair of dancers worked exceedingly well together. In this project they took opposite parts. He cut all the collage pieces with scissors while she tore each word or saying. There is one head and two bodies with brick patterns on their bodies. The bricks are echoing the stone wall in the blank slate theatre space. The male worked on the concept of being a dreamer of future lives ... alone picking up wisdom on the way. The dance movement they do in the play is about mirroring each other, born for each other. You affect You... on your head, in my mind. Whatever you do affects your future/now. Words of wisdom, Sleep, love, emotions, hands on each other, half words, half pictures. Gloomy girl with balloons. Eyes... can see the emotions... most honest. Can be whatever I want to be. Illusion of a bridge.

Mirroring Dance movements of each other...

This very self-contained sculpture illustrates how individualistic the sculptures became. This actor spoke of this piece as a brain. The green symbolizes the fog from the smoking in his character’s brain. This can be held in one hand. It is the size of an apple.

A collage of color, textures tied together by the sewing hoop. An example of self expression but not related to the group or maybe it is?

Again, there was no discussion about how to tie the pieces together. This was one individual’s piece. What is significant here is the combination of painting 2-D and the 3-D tree above.

This was an excellent example of the dancer knowing exactly what she was in the play. This could have been combined if other pieces had worked with it. Dancers legs and leg warmers.

Sewing Hoop and Fabric.

Very interesting sculpture on its own

The actors and dancers loved their body outlines so much they helped get them displayed in the entry hall to the theatre for every performance. It was very uplifting for this Art Therapist to arrive and find this already done for me every performance.

In this selection, there are two self portraits and a road going a long way with no end in sight.

This researcher found strong research that suggested that utilizing more than just the frontal cortex of the brain showed a higher intelligence factor. In Haier & Jung (2008), the brain imaging studies found a strong correlation between being creative and being more intelligent. This researcher believed that if the measure of creativity and intelligence correlate, then, it would be wise to encourage adolescents to be creative.