Students will watch selected videos from the It Gets Better Project and respond with their own performances in the form of poems, songs, skits, and audio/video recordings. Recorded material will be collected in these sessions to be incorporated into the online and/or live project.
Ideally this session will be held with an LGBT student group and/or Gay‐Straight Alliance group, though it is also appropriate for student leaders, theater or speech students, or a multicultural student group. To the best extent possible, it is important that the participants feel free to participate in a safe space where they feel comfortable interacting authentically without fear of reprisal from their peers.
NOTE: Parental permission slips/releases must be solicited in advance of this workshop by local faculty. (90 minutes; maximum participants: 20)
The initial It Gets Better Project was an online grassroots response to a national epidemic of bullying‐related suicides among LGBT American teenagers.
Founder Dan Savage, an out‐and‐proud author and lecturer, created the first video to offer hope, support, and encouragement that there is life after high school, and that however bleak things may seem, they will get better.
Spoken from one individual to another,from celebrities and heads of state to the people next door, the message is the same: all people deserve love and respect. The most vulnerable among us should know that they are not alone.
The It Gets Better Workshop allows students to share and learn alongside Company artists, who also serve as positive mentors and role models, particularly for LGBT youth.
Students are encouraged to express their own views, without judgment, in a fun and educational atmosphere to reduce homophobia and bond with other members of their local community. The common goal is to “make it better right now” and in their own back yard.
This program addresses the following educational criteria:
NA‐T.9‐12.8 — Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present.
NA‐M.9‐12.8 — Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
NA‐T.9‐12.7 - Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions.
NA‐T.9‐12.2 — Acting by developing, communicating and sustaining characters in improvisations and formal or informal productions.
NA‐T.9‐12.6 — Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre, dance, music, visual arts and new art forms.
NL‐ENG.K‐12.12 Applying language skills.
For more information, please contact Lee Stickler,
GMCLA Manager of Youth Outreach and Programming
LeeS@gmcla.org