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Orange-Ulster BOCES English as a Second (ESL) Students Enjoy "A Better Life"
Recently the division of Adult Education in Newburgh hosted an event called A Better Life presented by the Hudson River Playback Theatre whose members perform improvisations from stories the audience relates about their personal lives. An audience member tells a story and it is “played back” on stage by the actors and musicians. Anyone’s experience becomes a playback tale, and the stories can be funny, serious, imagined or real. In 2004, The Hudson River Playback Theatre began visiting local English as a Second Language (ESL) classes as part of a project called “Immigrant Stories” which are a series of bilingual performances about the lives of immigrants.
During the recent performance at the BOCES Adult Education Center in Newburgh, 100 students in the ESL classes enjoyed watching the anecdotes of their classmates being acted out. Laughter and tears were scattered throughout the audience as they watched the story of “Raymond” who came to the United States from Haiti to start a new life, only to get so very ill that he had to return to his homeland. He recovered however, and came back to the US and has now successfully assimilated into his new culture. Another woman from Guatemala told her story of loneliness and fear before she finally found success. Although many of the stories were heartrending, the bilingual actors injected some humor and portrayed the narratives beautifully. The audience absolutely loved the performances, and the improvisational theatre was an amazing and effective way to learn for the students at BOCES.