RESPECT Stays Interactive

As the pandemic continues and situations seem to change on a daily basis, you might be wondering how it is possible for RESPECT to offer programs at this time.  The good news is that we have adapted in so many ways and our interactive educational theatre programs are more accessible than ever with both in-person and remote opportunities.  Scholarships to offset the cost of programs are available so that schools and organizations can incorporate RESPECT into their lesson planning without cost being a barrier.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?  So, how do we make it work?

• All of our actor-educators are fully vaccinated.  We are able to do live in-person programs in locations where there is a mask mandate for the audience.  Our cast unmasks during the program and stays a minimum of 20 feet away from the audience.
• For schools who are not able to have us in-person, we also provide programs virtually via distance learning.  Each play is followed by an interactive session with actor-educators over the distance-learning platform. We have great flexibility with ways to communicate, take questions, do exercises etc. via our virtual format. Students have been very engaged through this process.
• For virtual programs, we use whichever virtual platform a school prefers.  We can do large groups or individual classrooms simultaneously or any other breakdown that works for each school.
• Our entire catalog for the year can be found at www.respect2all.org/programs.  We’ve updated existing plays and added new ones based on feedback and topics of concern raised by counselors.  Some new programs focus on the impact COVID has had on the lives of students, considering gender and racism more strongly in our discussion of identity based bullying and discussion about the impact of poverty.
• Additionally, we have workshops that are entirely role play based and can be as individualized as the hosting school would like.  We also have multi-session workshops such as “Hold That Thought.”  This is a favorite of mine and gets rave reviews from kids each time we do it. In this small group program, done in conjunction with a school based counselor or teacher, the same small group of students work on the same set of individually selected skills over 8 sessions.
• Finally, we have developed “Continuing Conversations,” a set of several short videos that accompany the programs that teachers and counselors can use, featuring our actor educators, to reinforce the objectives in the plays.  “RESPECT READS” is an additional video series featuring specially selected children’s books read aloud by RESPECT’s actor-educators to compliment the learning objectives of our shows.
• You can get a glimpse of all that we have to offer at www.respect2all.org/glimpse.  Note that the clips there are done as remote recordings completed last year.  As of this year, thanks to vaccinations, the programs that we offer are done with our actor-educators all in one place with sophisticated lighting and backgrounds making them more realistic for the audience – as close to in person as you could possibly imagine!  We are happy to do a live demonstration of that for you.

If you’d like more information or would like to book a program contact us at info@respect2all.org or 402-965-1425.