Excessively Harsh Treatment of Minor Children

2009-11-16T08:52:00.002-06:00

Amazingly, our country still debates whether executing 16 and 17 year old children should be legal. The issue is now before the Supreme Court, and of course if the vote is one of approval, thousands of children will face this edict which flies in the face of our Eighth Amendment opposing “Cruel and unusual punishment.” This means that little or no attention will be given to the harsh backgrounds of these children, which include abuse and neglect in largely poverty areas of our country, and minority groups. Alan Elsner documents all this in his book, Gates of Injustice, which all of our public officials should read.

This story of how our children are being treated in these harsh sentencing methods, and what they face in prison, led me to include this issue in my book, Theatre: Its Healing Role in Education, in the chapter, “Prisons and the Power of Art.” I hope you will all read it. It includes some pretty horrible details; but it also includes, in heartening terms, what theatre and other arts programs are achieving in our prisons in turning these young people around. It is an inspiring story. I do hope you will give it some attention, and join us in a mass protest of these conditions.

SHARING THE NEWS ON THEATRE IN EDUCATION

2009-10-28T18:05:00.002-05:00

Many years ago, while performing as a mime artist and actor at the Cleveland Play House, the course of my life was changed. I had been hired during the 1971-72 season mainly to perform original mime programs with my very talented partner, Pilar Garcia, as The Richard Morse Mime Theatre.
Our fall show was an overwhelming success, and another in the spring, titled “Duet,” even more so. While in Cleveland, Producer Richard Oberlin scheduled a series of one hour morning shows for inner city children. Suddenly their teachers were writing all kinds of letters thanking us and noting how mime theatre was transforming the classroom to a place of joy, and changing the lives of these young people.

Returning to New York, we became an established New York repertory company, and for the next 12 years, this work with children and young people continued. Now, many years later I have written this down in a book, entitled, Theatre: Its Healing Role in Education, and this book has just appeared with its 2 accompanying DVDs.

Besides documenting many moving stories of individual transformations – young people delivered from despair, addiction and violence - there are also chapters revealing, with the help of the 2 DVDs, how anyone can utilize theater techniques such as storytelling, dance, mime, masks, comedy and clowning to effect change in our young people. The classroom becomes a more joyous place with the use of these theater techniques, and grade scores improve visibly. But you must read these stories.

I hope you will read my book. It is an important volume for educators, but also parents, sociologists and actors.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for Literature and world playwright, Wole Soyinka, states:

“This account of (Richard Morse’s) personal odyssey is a treasure trove for educationalists, sociologists, and theatre practitioners.”

Robert Neff Williams of the Drama Division Faculty at The Juilliard School writes:

“In Theatre: Its Healing Role in Education, the enormously talented and experienced mime artist, Richard Morse has written an important, perceptive, and wide-ranging book which every parent, actor and teacher will find useful.”

I do want to share what I have discovered with all interested in exploring a new dimension in education.

Healing Through Theatre

Excessively Harsh Treatment of Minor Children

SHARING THE NEWS ON THEATRE IN EDUCATION