Student Voices
Student Voices offers both in-school residency opportunities for teachers as well as after school programming.
Community Partners | Portland Public, David Douglas, and Reynold school districts ~ SUN Community Schools ~ Latino Network ~ Portland Parks and Recreation ~
Founded in 2016, Student Voices offers free theatre workshops to underserved public middle and high school students in the Portland Metro area. The program is shaped around H2M’s unique Dialogue and Differences model of collaborative theatre-making. This curriculum of healing-centered, culturally-responsive practices is rooted in the tenets of social/emotional learning, to help youth identify their own strengths, needs, and values in the communities where they live. The collaborative process helps uplift diverse perspectives in the group setting as students work as an ensemble to generate an original theatrical work of their own devising, in their own voices. Under the guidance of professional teaching artists, participants move through a series of exercises, from physical exploration and improvisation, to research and development, to writing, and finally to the construction of a unique performance piece. We encourage youth to utilize their thinking and inquiry skills in the world, ask deep questions, explore multiple perspectives and ideas, engage in thoughtful decision-making, and make connections between their own lives and the world around them.
“Hand2Mouth’s educational program Student Voices welcomes students to embark on a unique narrative experience utilizing the tools that fostered H2M’s unique theatrical identity in Portland and beyond.”