Engage & Learn

 

Education Programs and Public Engagement

Two women sitting on chairs in a room.

T’Keyah Crystal Keymah, (In Living Color, That’s So Raven, Cosby) discusses with Avena Jackson, PhD and audience her journey as caretaker during her grandmother’s bout with Alzheimer’s Disease. Presented in partnership with Alzheimer’s Association, NCA and Howard University Hospital as part of Washington, DC premiere of The CARER, by Alan Hopgood. Photo by Silvia Hanjoo Lee (C) 2007

The Essential Theatre’s education programs exists as a vehicle for long-term public engagement. Every effort represents our  heart-centered desire to actively remain in pursuit of public enlightenment through use of our mission critical programming.

Our institutional objectives of creating new theatre audiences and to provide all people in our community an outlet for creative expression are integral to this activity.

Whether through partnerships with like minded institutions to more ably connect with scholarly research by thought leaders of the day or moderated post-performance discussions, we endeavor for our  public engagement activities to somehow facilitate transformation by inspiring participants to consider other vantage points as they appreciate society through a broader cultural lens.

More important, these public engagement programs often bring patrons together in a space who otherwise might not have encountered each other under other circumstances to engage in civil discourse.

Three people sitting at a table with microphones.

“The CARER,” Post-Performance Discussion with Walter Bland, MD, Avena Jackson, PhD., and the Honorable Judge Archie B. Hayward

It’s Essential!