Tuesday, Nov. 15 – RBHS invited students to attend a performance workshop featuring the theme “Overcoming Bullying through Image Theatre” in room 408. The workshop included snacks and focused on students seeing how their actions affected others.
“I think the benefit of this is that you experience both being the bully and the person being bullied,” Ph.D. candidate and Assistant Director of the MU interactive Theatre, Noah Lelek, said. “Students get to experience all the emotions that come in contact with it, and I think it is a lot easier to see how you can overcome the bullying through physicalizing it and not just talking about ‘ok here are the five steps to help prevent it’ cause those things aren’t necessarily going to work for everything so it is kind of nice to try different things and work through it.”
Senior Sarah Henzel attended the workshop and said it was very helpful in realizing that she could be bullying someone without direct confrontation and her actions could help or hurt someone else.
“I learned a lot about the objectives of acting and also just what motivates movements as well as how we act affects people, like on a personal level, with speaking out against bullying and helping others,” Henzel said. “I don’t think I directly bully anyone but at the same time I think we are all in our own little worlds, like talking with our friends and we don’t notice the person sitting by themselves. Even if they are doing homework or what not you just can say hi or ask them how their day is going. Even if you don’t know them you can make a huge difference.”
By Parker Sutherland