A Family Dinner Gone ArtistCorps

Author: Gino Cyrus

Though it may sound cliché, there's nothing like the imagination. Wiley Middle School students proved just that in their collaborative theatrical performance of a family dinner gone bad. This came about when ArtistCorps members Gino Cyrus and Kayana Waller assigned a prompt to these students, confident that they would turn this into a spectacular performance that would impress the ArtistCorps members, their fellow students, parents, faculty, and staff. And that's exactly what the Wiley students did!

To say that the students' interpretation of the prompt, their blocking, costuming, dialogue, and stage presence were captivating would be a complete understatement. To make matters even better, these students didn't need much assistance in putting on their black box-like performance. After the ArtistCorps members' introduction of the activity, the Wiley students were motivated to do it themselves. They put all their heart, mind, and all that feeds their artistic drive into the assignment. It cannot be determined whether the great outcome was due to the excitement of the ArtistCorps members or the collaborative skills of these future artists. Whatever it was that made the performance run smoothly is the reason why ArtistCorps should forever be deemed as an asset to the Winston-Salem community.