Discovering an Opportunity for Catharsis and Social & Emotional Learning in Arts & Learning’s Youth Production of Les Misérables

Catharsis in theatre, first introduced by Aristotle in Poetics, represents a process by which the intense and tragic emotions of the actors in a performance spread throughout the audience, as though they too have experienced such heightened emotion. Over the course of the show the audience processes these intense feelings, and finally resolves them, creating an emotional cleanse for both the actors and spectators.

Though theatre has evolved greatly since Ancient Greece, we still find evidence of the need for catharsis in the popularity of true crime podcasts throughout the pandemic era. Unsurprisingly then, when asked for their input, older Arts & Learning students requested a more serious show than those traditionally put on by the Conservatory.

?

While the Conservatory assumed that the immediate interest lay in the long-standing popularity of the show, after brief interviews with some of the cast, they quickly learned that

the real appeal of Les Misérables was each character’s deeply emotional narrative.

Similarly, students were eager for the challenge of ?understanding their character’s motivations well enough to convincingly convey those emotions on stage, offering an excellent opportunity for Social and Emotional Learning in the cast.

Grief, loneliness, rage, crisis of identity, social injustice, tenderness, love, and hope are all prevalent themes in both the production and the zeitgeist of the pandemic. This has created a unique opportunity for students to process the life-altering, and ongoing changes of the last two years in the pre-scripted drama of their own production. “Where else will I find a safe space to feel all of this?” one student remarked after character work with the director, while another expressed her interest in “learning more about how to express sadness and grief.”

Students also appear invested in their character’s ability to be strong while also fully experiencing deep feeling. Aubrie Ofner and Kaylie Camacho, our cast Fantine and Eponine respectively, shared that their most interesting challenges lie in finding the strength and bravery within characters that experience so much sadness. Sebastian and Simon Khan, our Val Jean and Marius respectively, also expressed similar eagerness to understand the examples of strength and intense emotion that both of their characters exhibit.

This production also represents the first time in several years that many students can perform together more directly. Through rigorous weekly testing and masking, the Conservatory sufficiently reduced risk to remove social distancing from the blocking, allowing the many poignant moments of the show to fully engage both students and audiences together. This has created a new comradery among student who have quickly become a tight-knit community, invested in each other’s growth and well-being. A lesson on stage consent from the director led to a chorus of “is this okay with you?” from cast members tousling in a dramatic scene. Older students have also begun to “adopt” the few younger cast members, eager to help them with direction, providing a strong community of support around a new generation of young actors.

Throughout the pandemic, life has not slowed enough to allow many the opportunity to process losses and struggles endured during this tumultuous time. This show highlights some of these challenges and even members of the production team have found themselves moved by simple staging choices and the readiness of students to fully commit to scenes even in early rehearsals. Perhaps what we needed, as a community, was a safe space to be, well, miserable, with the hope that in processing these emotions together, we may emerge from this time stronger than before.?

Dates: March 24-27th

Location: Loara High School

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE!