Sitting in a circle in a nondescript classroom, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) students are introduced to Aunt Ester, Citizen Barlow and the City of Bones.
The 16 students are reading scenes from the famous playwright August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean under the direction and animation of Kathryn Bentley, associate professor in the Department of Theater and Dance, and artistic director of SIUE’s Black Theater Workshop (BTW).
The CHS theater class is being offered through Sankofa Residency: A Black Theater Program, which began Feb. 19 and ends April 13. The eight-week residency includes a near-peer mentorship model where Bentley is assisted by two of her theater performance students, Justin Truman and Michael Watkins.
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Targeted Funding Initiative (TFI) funds the program. CAS Dean Greg Budzban, PhD, first created TFI grants in 2016. The program offers a way to continuously innovate and find novel ways of doing things. It utilizes funding acquired through the College’s Winter Session courses and is supplemented with other internal CAS funds.
“I want to participate in acting,” said Jessie Bady, a CHS sophomore, who wants to be a therapist. “Acting allows me to express myself in different ways. It allows me to be in different situations, though while they are not real, I would not 
have found myself in otherwise.”
CHS senior Seth Luster wants to act as a hobby. “I enjoy reading August Wilson’s work,” he said. “I’ve read Gem of the Ocean before. It is a moving play. It’s good to be exposed to the theater and performing.”
Bentley agrees, which is why she wrote the Sankofa Residency proposal. “All students can learn and be enriched by the theater regardless of what they plan to study or pursue as a career.”
Some of the residency’s objectives include:
- Introduce students to Black Playwrights
- Introduce fundamental concepts of acting
- Teach participants to better appreciate theatrical performance events as an audience member
- To communicate creative ideas clearly
- To improve a student’s concentration, focus and confidence as a performer and an individual
- To introduce a holistic approach to learning that engages the body and mind
The SIUE Charter High School is a school-of-choice for families in the East St. Louis School District 189. The mission of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School is to prepare students who are career- and college-ready upon graduation. To achieve this mission, the school and its staff will positively impact the educational and economic lives of East St. Louis, Illinois youth through individualized instruction in core academic subjects, exploration of career interests and aptitudes, assistance in realizing students’ talents, high academic goals, and expectations that graduates will become competitive employees for the 21st century.
Photos:
Kathryn Bentley, associate professor in the Department of Theater and Dance and artistic director of SIUE’s Black Theater Workshop (BTW), listens to students read as part of her Sankofa Residency: A Black Theater Program at the SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School. In the background is the theater performance student Justin Truman.
Charter High School sophomore Jessie Bady answers in the affirmative to a question of who enjoys going to the theater.