In-School Program Description

Teatro de la Luna’s Experiencia Teatral/Experience Theater program began in 1996 out of a desire to reach out to the national capital area’s at risk Hispanic students.  By offering age-appropriate in-school Spanish language plays, we are able to support public school students academically, culturally and cross-culturally.

Program Objectives

1. Expose students to theater in Spanish.
2. Explore areas of cultural and ethnic heritages.
3. Provide positive Hispanic role models to students.
4. Develop cross-cultural understanding.
5. Provide students with a safe environment in which to explore self identity.
6. Engender a life-long interest in live theater.

Experiencia Teatral/The Experience Theater program is a four-part program:

•Prior to our in-school performance, we provide the school with a copy of the play we shall present in Spanish.  We also provide a study guide tailored to each specific play offered, with theatrical vocabularies in Spanish and English, and specific Spanish words that are integral to the play.  We suggest ways in which individual teachers can ready their classrooms for the upcoming theatrical experience.

•Also prior to performances, we offer schools short preparatory bilingual classroom workshops, where we go over the vocabulary quickly, and also give the students an age-appropriate theatrical exercise, to help them understand some of the skills involved with acting.  These preparatory workshops help facilitate the Spanish immersion of the upcoming play.  They can be held in as many classrooms as each school wishes.

•Our school-hour presentation is a 40 to 50 minute play, frequently the dramatization of a well-known story, for the entire school (or we can present two productions back-to-back if your student body is large).  Acted by three to five Hispanic actors, we specialize in larger than life characters and use audience participation.  Each play revolves around one or more lessons to be learned, while minimizing the moralization.

•Included in our Study Guide will be suggestions for post-show follow up activities tailored to specific grade levels.  Some things we have included in the past are the suggestion of writing letters to the characters of the play (in Spanish, if possible), drawing pictures, or talking with their teachers about the theme of the play.

Out-Of School Programs

Teatro de la Luna partners with various organizations to provide Spanish and bilingual workshops, camps and classes for young people of all ages in locations throughout the D.C. metropolitan area.

Teatro de la Luna has Study Guides available that can enrich a young person's theatrical experience.