About Theatre Espresso
Mission Statement
Theatre Espresso creates, produces, and performs interactive dramas that bring history to life for students, in order to foster a generation of critical thinkers and true citizens. Inspired by the highly successful Theatre in Education teams of Great Britain and by the belief that drama is a potent teaching tool, Theatre Espresso's work challenges students to make critical judgments, explore social relationships, reflect on the role of law and human rights in our society, and examine accepted truths about the history of America.
Wendy Lement, Artistic Director
Derek Nelson, Managing Director
Our History
Since 1992, Theatre Espresso [TE] has toured its educational dramas to schools, museums, libraries, and courthouses throughout New England. By asking students to consider themselves participants in the drama (inhabitants of 1706 Salem Village, concerned citizens in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, or Supreme Court Justices during WWII) the company engages students in reflecting on the course of history. Without advocating any one viewpoint, our actors compel students to relate historical events to contemporary issues.
TE provides approximately 150 performances a year and offers residencies, teacher development workshops, and curriculum study guides. From 1993 to 2000, TE collaborated with the Wang Center for the Performing Arts' Young at Arts program, leading their "Teaching Tolerance" workshops. TE was on the performance roster of Young Audiences of Massachusetts from 1994-2007; in 2007 TE began managing its own promotion and booking.
Since 1999, we have performed our plays at courthouses in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Portland, and Bangor in partnership with Discovering Justice [DJ]. In 2002, DJ commissioned us to write The Trial of Anthony Burns for a two-year residency at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston. The Trial of Anthony Burns also had a two-year residence at The Orchard House, Home of the Alcotts, in Concord. In 2003 an anonymous donor commissioned us to research and write Clear and Present Danger: The Palmer Raids (about the seizure and deportation of suspected radicals just after WWI) leading to a three year residency at the Moakley Courthouse.
In Fall 2006, TE launched Uprising on King Street: The Boston Massacre, in residence at the John Adams Courthouse, as the pilot project for The Boston Youth Initiative for Theatre and Civic Dialogue. Our goal is to create a sustainable learning model that engages Boston students and teachers in complex debates on history, social justice, and civic engagement. The initiative forged a long term partnership between TE, Boston Public Schools, the Supreme Judicial Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society. Our newest drama, The Nine Who Dared: Crisis in Little Rock, begins its 2nd year of residency in the fall of 2009 at both the John Adams Courthouse.
Our company has presented over a dozen panels, workshops, and performances at regional and national conventions sponsored by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and the New England Theatre Conference. Our drama Justice at War won a Moss Hart 'Outstanding Production' Award at the NETC Convention in 1996.
Waking Up to History
"Unless young people understand history, as Santayana said, they 'are doomed to repeat it.' I do not think that history teachers... get an opportunity to dramatize history the way it should be dramatized in teaching it to young people, to get them caught up in that story. Almost every major decision in history involves a duel of personalities. And that duel of personalities is fascinating stuff. It's the stuff of which much writing has been done. And if we taught that way, the kids would be caught up in the flow of history. We just don't get it like that, and I'd like to see it improved."
Walter Cronkite, interviewed by Dick Gordon, The Connection, WBUR Radio, October 10, 2002
Hon. Isaac Borenstein, Massachusetts Superior Court Justice
Kathleen Donohue, Associate Professor, Theatre, Emerson College
Cheryl McCallion, MD Anesthesiologist, Caritas Norwood Hospital
Dickens Mathieu, Senior Counsel, Tufts University
Linda Murphy Sutherland, Professional Studies, Emerson College
Susan Werbe, Special Projects Coordinator, Boston Arts Academy
Christopher Cook, Director Of Education & Outreach, Mayor's Office of Arts, Tourism & Special Events, Boston
Bethany Dunakin, (TE Educational Director), English/Language Arts Teacher, West Middle School, Andover
Francois Fils-Aime, Principal, Uphams Corner Charter School, Boston
Christine Hamel, Faculty Member, Boston University School of Theatre & Emerson College
Wendy Lement, (TE Artistic Director), Professor & Chair, Theatre Department, Regis College
Dermot Luddy, Philosophy Teacher, St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Derry, NH
Derek Nelson, (TE Managing Director), Assoc. Director, Arts All Day
Patricia Quint, Relationship Manager & Vice President, Commercial Business Group, Citibank
Paul Rivenberg, Communications And Outreach Coordinator, Plasma Science & Fusion Center, MIT
Teresa Rodriguez, Director of High School and Summer Placement, Roxbury Prep Charter School
Susan Zeiger, Associate Program Director, Primary Source