Knapp School & Yeshiva students have increased their confidence along with their creativity through participation in a drama program called Build A Play, offered by Northlight Theatre in Skokie. For the second year, teaching artists from Northlight have visited the school during the spring semester to encourage and guide students in a wide variety of acting exercises.

Students learned to develop characters, work with classmates to tell stories, improvise various scenes, put on performances and more.

“By participating in this program, our students have an opportunity to practice these skills in a fun, engaging and hands-on way,” said School Social Worker Maggie Rose. “This program offers a space for our students to use their imaginations, express themselves, and practice active listening while others are performing.”

Northlight teaching artists Jay Donnan and Liam Collier led the enrichment program, which is funded by the Knapp Foundation, with each one teaching half the school’s classes once a week.

“They had a hard time at first with being creative, working together and expressing their ideas in a theatrical manner,” Jay said. “Then by the end of the year, the vast majority of students were happy to share their ideas and were eager to present what they've worked on.”

At the end of the school year, the students showed off their newfound acting chops during a presentation in the school gym. They created superhero and super villain characters and answered interview-style questions about them from their peers, improvised with storytelling and selling “products” in a nod to the tv show Shark Tank (their version was called Whale Tank), pretended to be in a wax museum and put on a full performance called “The Harrowing Heist for Walt Disney’s Head.”

Before the assembly started, student artwork of the characters they developed was shown on a large screen.

“Knapp School & Yeshiva is committed to offering dramatic arts to students as a form of cultural enrichment,” said Rabbi David Rosenberg, Director of Jewish Educational Studies and Orthodox Community Liaison. “Such opportunities are frequently available to students in mainstream schools, and the fact that a student requires a therapeutic day school placement should not preclude such opportunities for them.”

School Social Worker Liel Hagen said families shared positive feedback after the drama assembly, saying it was heartwarming to see their student successfully perform in this type of activity as it has historically been a challenge for some of them.

Liam said that as the students became more comfortable participating in drama activities, they also learned how to better express their own needs.

“It was incredible!” he said.

To show their appreciation, students and staff made cards for Jay and Liam which they presented to them after the assembly.

“This program has brought a sense of joy and creativity to our school community,” Maggie said.