The Kitchen at Liberty High School: Spring 2021
By Alison Burstein, Curator, Media & Engagement
The Kitchen’s partnership with Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers has been running for over two decades, bringing together teaching artists from our community with students at this public school in Chelsea. Liberty serves new immigrant students or students who still require English acquisition in grades 9 through 12, and the members of the learning community hail from diverse cultural and academic backgrounds. The Kitchen works with classes at Liberty to integrate theater and art teaching into the curriculum, introducing the arts as a valuable field through which students can develop language skills and learn new forms of self expression.
In a typical year, The Kitchen’s teaching artists work with English classes over the course of twelve-week residences and lead separate after-school programs. However the 2020–2021 academic year was anything but typical, given the hybrid in-person and remote learning model in effect for Liberty students. Through both fall 2020 and spring 2021 semesters, The Kitchen worked with teachers and administrators at Liberty to develop ways of connecting with students and providing arts education remotely. In the spring, Liberty teacher Tory Vazquez and The Kitchen’s teaching artists Maggie Hoffman, Shaun Irons, and Lauren Petty collaborated on developing and leading a semester-long, after-school Theater Arts and Movie Making program for students.
Over the summer, I had the pleasure of speaking with Hoffman, Irons, Petty, and Vazquez about their experiences collaborating with Liberty over time and the insights they gained over the past semester in particular.
How did you first get involved with The Kitchen's partnership program with Liberty?
Tory Vazquez [TV]: I became a teaching artist for The Kitchen in February 2006. Richard Maxwell, my husband, was directing a show at The Kitchen at the time. I had been a teaching artist for PS122 and other venues, and I interviewed with The Kitchen’s staff to begin working with Liberty. I began by working on in-school residency in an ESL classroom at Liberty with one of Richard’s collaborators, Brian Mendes.
Maggie Hoffman [MH]: I had been following Tory’s performance work for years, and we knew each other from the work we did together at Elevator Repair Service. She brought me in to co-teach at Liberty when she was pregnant with her son in 2011. My performance group, Radiohole, had recently premiered Anger/Nation at The Kitchen, so it was great to have the opportunity to continue working with The Kitchen as a teaching artist, and to work with all the amazing students at Liberty High School! Since then, I have had the chance to work alongside many other incredible teaching artists in the program including Lindsay Hockaday, Kaneza Schaal, Susie Sokol, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Dee Beasnael, Lex Brown, April Mathis, Gillian Walsh, and Joseph Bacon.
Shaun Irons [SI]: I have known Tory for many years—we first met as interns at The Wooster Group (along with Rich Maxwell…). Years later, when Tory was already working with The Kitchen and Liberty High School, she reached out to me as she was looking for someone to collaborate with on the video content for the in-school residency’s culminating performances. I had been making multimedia performances and installations for a while, and creating video design for dance, theater, and opera. Tory invited me and my collaborator, Lauren Petty, in to work with the Liberty students on live performances. And it was so great—if at first a little intimidating—to be thrown right into the wonderful, creative, and sometimes chaotic mix. I could tell immediately that the students were amazing and inspiring, and it was incredible to collaborate with them to invent something new and exciting. Over the years, working with all the other wonderful teaching artists, we have continued to develop and expand our visions and ideas for this important partnership program.
Could you discuss what you worked on with the students in the spring semester’s after-school Theater Arts and Movie Making program? Were there any lessons or activities that stand out to you as particularly memorable?
MH: Our big project this past semester was to work with the students to write their own short films, and to make trailers for them. Each student wrote a screenplay and made storyboards, and we worked as a class to cast other students to play the various roles. The actors recorded their lines on their own computers, and Shaun and Lauren edited the footage together, with music the students chose, to create a full trailer for each film. The final products were great, and the students seemed really happy with them.
TV: In past years, when we taught in-person after-school programs, the curriculum centered on working with students to generate and film scripts in small groups or independently. But since our class could only meet remotely this year, we knew this would be a challenge. Maggie developed the whole curriculum and set the class up with many structured activities and deadlines.
First, Maggie showed video projects from previous years. She broke the videos down and clearly articulated each step one needs to take in creating a video. Students then brainstormed ideas for their scripts. Maggie modeled examples of scriptwriting, referencing previous Liberty class projects as well as movies that students were familiar with, like Black Panther. These step-by-step examples were really effective for teaching the students.
Another lesson that worked really well involved a storyboarding activity using the online program StoryboardThat. The storyboards got the students to think visually and about the camera and location in storytelling. Maggie also designed several script graphic organizers.
We spent many Zoom sessions working with the students brainstorming dialogue, character, place, and action. Maggie and I let more advanced students work independently, while we used breakout rooms to work with groups who needed more support—this worked well on Zoom.
When we were ready to shoot the final films, Maggie and Lauren came up with some effective, remote ways to teach students how to shoot themselves at home. They gave instruction on aspects including lighting, camera positioning, background, eye focal points, and how to show a range of emotions and gestures. This attention to detail was very important. Since the students were spending so much time on zoom these technical adjustments were really useful.
To complement the videos, Shaun and Lauren made these great “movie posters” for each student project. These are a great visual addition to the projects!
Lauren Petty [LP]: Maggie and Tory did a great job of organizing the program and getting the students to generate scripts and storyboards. I consulted with them throughout the semester, but I largely came in at the end to help with the shooting and editing. I agree that the individual “movie posters” were a blast.
This semester’s after school program was conducted entirely over Zoom. Can you discuss the challenges and opportunities that came with this form of remote teaching? How did your interactions or relationships with the students differ from previous years?
TV: Making interesting videos solely on Zoom is a challenge in itself! But the format also provided opportunities to experiment with innovative ways of using technology, to incorporate visual components more frequently, and to have students focus much more on “form” than they do when we’re working in person.
Maggie built in some great icebreaker games which were very entertaining and brought the group together, like Zoom freeze dance (turn your camera on when you hear “freeze”). The students in the group bonded very much at a time when we all were in need of community.
MH: It was great to see how much of an impression our team-building games and acting exercises made over Zoom. These activities provided the students with a much-needed chance to socialize, have fun, and practice English in a low-pressure environment.
Overall, everyone rose to the occasion by working on Zoom as best they could. If a student’s internet was unstable or dropped off, a friend from class would reach out and report back with the issue. Likewise, the students would occasionally see or hear my son who was on his own Zoom in the next room. We all had to be patient and understanding as our home lives occasionally overlapped.
LP: I have worked with the after-school program many times over the years, and I always enjoy helping students write and shoot their projects. Normally this process happens in person, and Shaun and I will bring in one of our cameras to work with the students to set up shots and to direct by calling “action” and “cut.” The students have a lot of say in the process, but Shaun and I oversee.
Asking students to shoot on their own at home was definitely challenging, as the levels of tech ability varied, and we weren’t there with them to help with things like adjusting the framing and lighting. But being able to be on Zoom at the same time allowed us to direct from afar and help to encourage and shape performances.
Everyone did a great job of getting footage shot and submitted. As usual, the Liberty students were super supportive of each other.
SI: Despite this long difficult year, the students rose to the occasion with inspired and emotional performances.
You each bring to this program your unique backgrounds and approaches, and your many years of experience working with Liberty in varying capacities. Could you discuss how you collaborated with one another this semester, and how your individual practices and pedagogical methods came together in developing the curriculum for this program?
TV: I transitioned from working with Liberty as a Kitchen teaching artist to becoming a full-time teacher at Liberty three years ago. After teaching ESL in the classroom for three years, I felt I could bring to the Kitchen partnership my knowledge of student engagement and of the relationship between engagement and language. Based on my experience, I can tell what students are having difficulty with when they are not participating or struggling. I can also tell the difference between when a struggle is a learning opportunity, and when students need home-language support to understand concepts. At these times, we either translate, work with smaller groups, or have students with the same home language help one another. What I love about my colleagues from The Kitchen is that they are very encouraging of the students using their home languages in our projects. This opportunity to nurture and include their home languages alongside English makes the projects richer.
Maggie has a real gift for teaching and a sixth sense for how to keep things simple so that everyone can participate easily in higher formal work. I have learned a lot from her in these areas.
Having Lauren come in as a tech expert is always wonderful. She has so much experience directing the students on camera, and she knows exactly how to direct them to make their videos clear—both formally and in what they communicate. I learn so much from her also. As usual, she and Shaun hit the final projects out of the park, drawing from the cultural knowledge they have learned from working with the students for so many years.
The four of us really value having the students drive the stories created in this program, and we put each student in the center of their own work. Watching them develop these stories is an experience I am very grateful to witness.
MH: My background is in devised theater and collaborative creation so I’m always most comfortable when I can work collaboratively. It was wonderful to work with Tory and learn from her years of experience in ESL and as a teaching artist. She was always there to make sure the students were supported. Shaun and Lauren have been creating video with Liberty students for years, and we trust them completely to make something wonderful. We all worked as a team to support the student’s creations and, as Tory says, put the students in the center.
LP: I agree with Tory that all of us really value the student input in these programs, especially in the after-school program where we are working for an extended time with a smaller group of students. I think we are all very committed to helping them realize their ideas and dedicated to supporting them as they explore these new forms of communication, from writing to storyboarding to shooting.
Throughout the semester, Tory and Maggie met with students weekly to work on projects, and Lauren, Shaun, and additional guest artists joined for select sessions. Could you tell us about those visits? What is the significance of creating opportunities for students to meet with a range of artists over the course of the after-school program?
MH: We had two incredible guest artists this semester. Moko Fukuyama and Enoch Ntunga (aka Ntungalia Enoch).
Moko shared sections from the film she developed through a residency with The Kitchen, American Recordings, Act I: American Harvest. The film focuses on Iowa, the state where she first lived in the US as an exchange student. Her work and experiences really resonated with the students. One of the students said that she had “never seen art like that before” and that she was so impressed and excited to see a new way of working.
Enoch Ntunga is originally from Congo and is a 2014 graduate of Liberty High School who works as a professional performer and musician. He recently appeared in The Vessel directed by Richard Maxwell. It was so amazing for the students to get to meet a working artist who graduated from their school, and it was wonderful to hear Enoch talk about the Kitchen performances he had been in years ago.
TV: This was the first time we had an alumni from LHS come in to share work. Enoch is a songwriter based in Maryland and has made some gorgeous music videos.
Moko was really inspiring. She came in on our last day, so she was able to see the final student work. Having her there to give feedback was a great opportunity for exchange.
Were there any insights that emerged from this Zoom-based period of schooling that might inform how you continue to work with students in the future?
TV: Community is the key to a successful classroom environment. Though not ideal, it is possible to build community on Zoom through personal connection, listening, and curiosity about others.
MH: Yes! We were able to build a wonderful community. I really look forward to being back in person, but I think this year showed us that we can connect and create even in the most challenging environment.
LP: It has been inspiring to watch students rise to the challenges of this year. They have been asked to be far more independent than normal, relying on their own skills and abilities apart from continuous classroom support. I also think the challenges of this year fostered their ability to express themselves—there seemed to be a need to use the arts as a way to help them through this difficult time. I saw this deeper commitment to personal expression with Liberty students as well as college students that I teach.
Images and video: 1) Facade of Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers, 250 W 18th Street, New York, NY. 2) Left: Mame Ndiaye, storyboard for video, 2021. Right: Aramatoulaye Diaby, storyboard for video, 2021. 3) Left: Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty, movie poster for Evelyn Pilamunga and Jonathan Pilamunga, “Soccer at Grandmother’s House” starring Evelyn Pilamunga, Momy Somb, and Tory Vazquez, 2021. Right: Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty, movie poster for Marie Toure, “The Weight of My Destiny,” starring Marie Toure and Jolie Camara, 2021. 4) Ntungalia Enoch, music video for “Tu es a moi,” 2020.
The Kitchen’s after-school Theater Arts and Movie Making program at Liberty High School is made possible with support from Lotos Foundation, Keith Haring Foundation, and in part by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.