PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Terry Greiss, Executive Director of Irondale Ensemble Project
2:53:15
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142 sec
Terry Greiss, Executive Director of Irondale Ensemble Project, presents testimony on two of their signature youth programs: TechTrack and STEM TO STEAM. These programs focus on teaching theater and communication skills to students involved in science and technology, as well as providing theater production training.
- STEM TO STEAM reaches over 700 students in 22 institutions, teaching improvisation to improve science communication skills.
- TechTrack is a free semester-long program teaching students about theater production and technology.
- Greiss shares a success story of a student named Howie who developed a passion for stage design through the TechTrack program.
Terry Greiss
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Name is Terry Grease.
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I'm the executive director of Irondale Ensemble Project, a theater ensemble based in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
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Our permanent ensemble of citizen artists has been making theater and passing on the legacy of theater making to students from 10 to 80 for over 42 years.
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Today, I'd like to feature 2 of our signature youth programs, Irondale's TechTrack program and our science communication program, STEM TO STEAM.
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STEM TO STEAM reaches over 700 students in science and technology programs at more than 20 of the city's most prestigious institutions.
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Each student receives approximately 10 hours of improvisation training to learn how to communicate their academic work with excitement and passion and without jargon and tailor their research for each audience they need to reach from peers and potential funders to academics and even their own families.
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About 20 years ago, we were working on a drama program at Fort Greene Prep found funded by CASA when a very visionary principal suggested we teach theater to her robotics students.
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The work we did with them catapulted them to taking 1st place in regional competitions and launched Irondale in a new direction.
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From that single program, the project has grown to reach 700 high school students throughout the city in 22 institutions through the science research mentoring program and an additional 100 plus at other labs and academic institutions.
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We also offer the same training to professional stem professionals in laboratories, hospitals, and universities.
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TechTrack is currently a semester long program offered free to all students that enable students to study and practice the craft and technologies of theater, production, and all the elements that make the on stage theatrical production come to to life.
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Here's an example.
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Howie is a 12 year old student who showed up one day looking like he'd been sent to TEC TREC as a punishment.
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He expressed no interest whatsoever, but at least he stayed.
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The next I heard about Howie, he was very vocally and very passionately expressing his vision of stage design and and letting others know that what they were doing wrong.
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He was heard to say about another student's design, I don't get it.
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That's dumb.
Tony Mazzocchi
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Your time is You're
Manuel Marroquin
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building
Terry Greiss
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a set with 4 walls, but there's an audience.
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Right?
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How can they possibly see through the 4th wall?
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Of course, he was right.
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He's still expressing himself and still thinking critically about the work he's creating.
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I clearly see his future as a professional theater craftsman.
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Thank you for your time.