Ratatat Theater Group

05/27/2016

From this to this to this, and year 2 of the Home Project is complete.

HUGE thanks go Shannon De Groot Saleh, teacher extraordinaire, for letting me steal her class for several weeks, and to the amazing students, whose enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to try new things was always inspiring.

Thanks, as well, to the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, and the Santa Barbara Unified School District for funding the project!

(Disclaimer: The selfie is, to my great shame, from LAST year's Home Project. I never took one this year. :( But the notes and the final production photo are this year's and photos cannot capture how wonderful this year's students were!)

04/24/2016

A shot from last night's improv show. Thanks for the shout-out Tara Jones!

See this Instagram photo by • 26 likes

11/17/2015

It was a great show Saturday! Stories of enraged mating hippos, love in the Vietnam War, and crosswalk angst, washed down with hot apple cider.

We'll do another one soon! Subscribe to our mailing list to make sure you don't miss it. http://www.ratatattheatergroup.com/contact

11/13/2015

We've only got 7 seats left for our Playback show Saturday! (Though we might be able to squeeze in a few more.) If you're planning on coming and haven't reserved a spot, I recommend going online to do so. https://www.artful.ly/store/events/7629

06/09/2015

has officially finished its first year!

Read all about it at http://wp.me/p5GfYK-4B with photos from our final performance, and video from the students reflecting on the year.

Thank you to everyone who helped make it possible: our wonderful donors, teachers, interviewees, and students. It has been a wonderful experience.

The Home Project is over! At least for this school year. Our final performance was Thursday night, May 21st. After the crowd of parents and friends had found their seats in the theater, I stood up ...

03/20/2015

Happy Friday News: I am delighted to announce that the has received a $2,500 grant from the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation! That busts right through our fundraising goal for this season, and takes us solidly into next year, giving us a wonderful affirmation for the future of this program. Thank you Barbara Bowl!

03/11/2015

We have finished the Home Project, Phase 1! La Colina Students Tell Family Stories. Deets ://wp.me/p5GfYK-3a Students said:

“I got the opportunity to look past the surface of everyday things, and put a story with them.” “The most impactful part of this was the freedom of expression and fun that I had.” “The most impactful experience positively would be the interview, because I got to talk with my mother on a deeper level than just talking about school or things like that.”

Read and some some of their great work, and more details on what they did, at http://wp.me/p5GfYK-3a

02/18/2015

Fairy Stories, Window-Cleaning, and the Magic of Trolls. La Colina, Day 5. http://wp.me/p5GfYK-2O Last blog post for a while!

How do you refresh your vision, clean the windows of your perception, so you can see anew the things you take for granted? One way is to add some trolls. No, seriously. J.R.R. Tolkien, in his essay...

02/13/2015

Voldemort is defeated by a pen, Jack climbs a magic broom, and other exciting uses for classroom objects - La Colina, Day 3. "Principles for Getting Started" http://wp.me/p5GfYK-1Q

School can be pretty dreary some days. You take notes, then do the problem set, then take some more notes, and try to formulate the right answer. Days like that, you can feel like a drained robot. ...

02/12/2015

“Do You Have Any Mortal Enemies?” Or, How to Ask Good Questions and Listen Well – La Colina Day 2 http://wp.me/p5GfYK-1w

When was the last time someone asked you to tell them a story about your life? For many of us, it’s been a long time. And for some of my students, it is very rare indeed. Day 2 of the Home Project ...

02/12/2015

Day 1 of : Stomach Butterflies, Introductions, and Brainstorming. We read a story about the buffalo of the suburbs, discuss the places we are most at home (“There’s a spot on her mom’s bed where when the light comes in just right it makes a perfect warm square…”), and I learn what an awesome bunch of kids I’ve signed up with. http://wp.me/p5GfYK-P

On my motorscooter driving to my first day of class, my eyes were filled with the open vista of Santa Barbara’s mountains while my guts were tight with tension. Would they listen? Would they like m...