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A first-, third- and sixth-grader enter a building at 9 a.m. At the end of the day, a dragon, a fairy and a vampire emerge.
A monster-maker or costume shop? No. Just a K-6 program at Arden Theatre Company in Old City.
On Election Day, students at the Arden Theatre Company’s Hamilton Family Arts Center had eight hours to create an original play, complete with characters, dialogue and a storyline, before performing it for their parents.
The program, called Play-in-a-Day, gives children a day of theater activities while schools are closed. Students develop their own productions with guidance from teaching artists while practicing collaboration, communication and creative problem-solving.
The Arden hosts roughly 10 to 15 sessions annually, and sessions generally cost $90, though prices can vary during certain school breaks. Each session has a different theme chosen by teachers to match the time of the year. Halloween’s session was “monster mash.” The Nov. 3 session was “enchanted forest” to match the changing leaves. The theme prompted lots of talk of fairies and spirits among the participants. In Arden’s director of education Elise D’Avella’s classroom, students discussed a war between water and ice fairies as the plot of their play.
“They always come in with a ton of ideas,” said D’Avella. “For me, it helps me rethink things all the time because they’re always approaching it from a different lens; it’s everything for me.”
Founded in 1988, Arden Theatre Company produces professional plays and musicals for adults and children at its Old City theaters. Beyond Play-in-a-Day, its Arden Drama School offers after-school and weekend acting classes, summer camps and musical theater workshops for children and teens. The company also runs Arden for All, which brings theater education into Philadelphia-area elementary schools with limited access to arts programming. Its education programs reach thousands of students each year, while Arden Children’s Theatre stages professional productions for young audiences and families.
Learning to work together
The day begins with students brainstorming characters, settings and storylines. Teaching artists help organize their ideas before the children rehearse and prepare for the afternoon performance.
Francine Odri, who has taught at the Arden for three years, said one of the biggest challenges is getting students to agree on ideas, especially when they have different visions for the play.
Sometimes they get to do their idea and then sometimes it’s someone else’s,” Odri said. “So being able to work successfully as a team and being able to be kind to each other — because a lot of these kids are meeting each other for the first time today. So how we can have resiliency for that and still have a great product and a fun time even if what we’re doing is not your idea.”
Odri said students sometimes have to step out of the classroom to work through emotions when disagreements arise, but often they can work out conflicts themselves with the help of teachers.
“Sometimes there’s better ideas,” said Zuri Grant, a third grader.
Zuri added that she also learned not to get too excited when her idea is the best, as “then your friends might be jealous.”
The program also encourages students to experiment without worrying about producing a correct answer.
“Sometimes it can be difficult because they are, especially at this age, looking for what is the right answer,” Odri said.
That freedom to experiment is one of the ways theater differs from more traditional classroom activities, according to Thalia Goldstein, a developmental psychology professor at George Mason University who studies how theater affects children’s social, emotional and cognitive development.
Goldstein, a former professional actor, said theater encourages children to consider different solutions to problems, communicate with classmates and become more comfortable expressing themselves — something students often don’t get in traditional education like a math, English or history class.
“I think what we’re losing without theater is this idea that there are multiple viewpoints,” said Goldstein. “Multiple perspectives that can all be considered valid.”
Goldstein is the author of the book “Why Theatre Education Matters: Understanding Its Cognitive, Social, and Emotional Benefits.”
What does the research show?
Research suggests arts education can improve children’s academic performance and social development, although the strength of those benefits varies.
A 2023 study published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management examined the effects of expanded arts education in 42 elementary and middle schools in Houston, Texas. Researchers found that students randomly assigned additional arts education improved writing achievement and emotional empathy, along with fewer disciplinary infractions. Elementary school students also showed greater school engagement and higher college aspirations.
Of the Play-in-a-Day students Billy Penn talked to, Ilan Walters said he wanted to be a video game designer, and Zuri said she wanted to be a babysitter. Sidney Eckert said he didn’t know what he wanted to be, which is a perfectly OK answer for a first grader.
Goldstein said one of the most commonly assumed benefits of theater — increased empathy — has been difficult to establish consistently. Her research has found improvements in some groups of children, including certain high school students, but not others.
Instead, she said theater appears to encourage mentalizing, the ability to consider another person’s thoughts, feelings and motivations. By portraying characters, children must consider why someone might behave a certain way, even if they don’t personally share that character’s emotions. Goldstein said theater also gives students opportunities to build confidence by making mistakes in front of their peers and described the importance of a theater classroom as “a safe space to make mistakes.”
“What theater seems to set kids up to do is think about the reasons why characters and people behave the way they do,” Goldstein said. “We try to be brave in this space and try things that you would have never otherwise thought to express.”
Teachers can help create that environment by encouraging experimentation and preventing students from making fun of classmates who struggle — something reflected in Arden’s approach. Odri said students are encouraged to continue participating even when their ideas are rejected or they become nervous about performing.
“We really just encourage that mistakes are OK,” Odri said.
Can one day of theater make a difference?
Some children attend Play-in-a-Day repeatedly throughout the year, while others participate for the first time. Walters, a sixth grader, said he’d been coming since he was a first grader and the program has helped him with his fear of public speaking.
Goldstein said there isn’t enough evidence to conclude that one day of theater produces lasting psychological benefits. Still, she said even a brief workshop can introduce children to an activity they may want to pursue further, giving them more opportunities to develop their skills through repeated participation.
“What a day in the theater, or what a day in a theater classroom, can do is open a door that a child starts to have some curiosity to peer through,” Goldstein said. “When I go to a theater classroom, it’s a different way of expressing myself and a different way of thinking about the world. That different way of thinking is a tool that they are now exposed to and know they have access to.”
Adults who participated in theater as children often report improvements in self-confidence and communication, she said.
D’Avella said her own experience influenced her decision to teach theater. A self-described shy child, she said performing helped her become more comfortable speaking in front of others.
“I would have been the kid who came in terrified for this day,” D’Avella said. “Theater helped me find my voice.”
