ETC in NYC

             Wow! What a week it’s been for ETC! Monday, Elements was in NYC at the Manhattan campus of NYACK college leading workshops, doing a performance and hosting a panel discussion.

 In the afternoon, director Sr. Danielle Dwyer led a workshop in Opera Theater for the students of Dana Talley, former principal tenor of the Metropolitan Opera! Other members of Elements lead a workshop on Shakespeare for an English class that is currently studying Othello. The afternoon culminated in a no props- no costumes abbreviated presentation A.R. Gurney’s The Dining Room by ETC for the students of the college. The workshops and show were a smashing hit. The students were so actively participating and there was a palpable buzz of electricity between the students and ETC as they shared this time together.  It will be so cool to see what comes of this bond and mutual learning!

                Now of course I HAVE to talk about the evening! I feel so lucky to have been able to attend a panel hosted by Elements Monday night at NYACK Manhattan. The topic of the panel was “How Do the Arts Humanize Culture” and there were three fabulous and seasoned speakers there to discuss the matter, with ETC’s own Sr. Danielle Dwyer as the moderator. The speakers were:
Larisa Gelman, Director of the Educational Outreach department in the arts at 92^nd Street Y
Peter Filichia, acclaimed theater critic
Mauricio Salgado, Director of Domestic Programs for Artists Striving to End Poverty

This was such an interesting discussion, really proving  that the arts are SO critical in our society today! They can teach us empathy for one another, and have the power to reach and change us in ways that other things can’t.