Newsroom

Addressing Teen Issues Through Teen Theatre

The Teen Scene Youth Center is excited about a new partnership with Georgia Collge and State University's Nursing and Theatre Departments to educate teens about health and social issues through a series of short drama performances at the teen center.  The three partners are collaborating to educate and engage teens through non-traditional teaching regarding current teen issues like:  

·         Bullying

·         Sex

·         HIV/AIDS

·         Teen Pregnancy

·         Substance Abuse

The GCSU Nursing students, uder the leadership of Dr. Sallie Coke, explains the medical research pertaining to the subject matter while the Theatre Dept. students, under the leadership of Dr. Karen Berman, write and perform the skits.  The students are educated as the college students perform and integrate factual, social and medical information into their presentations.  The performing theatre students pause at intervals and discuss the scene the students just witnessed.  Once the college students complete their performance, they lead the Teen Scene students in a discussion about solutions to the problem.  The Teen Scene students are then allowed to perform the skit based on the solutions they have offered.  Afterwards, the nursing students follow up by distributing a fact sheet and discussing the medical and social risk factors.  The nursing students then lead the Teen Scene students in a game to reinforce their knowledge of the information. 

The teens have stated that they simply love this engaging form of "Edutainment":  education (facts), entertainment, exploring solutions, applying knowledge and solutions through acting. For more information, please contact 478-751-4009.  

On Tuesday, November 29, the Georgia College and State University Theatre Department, GCSU Nursing Department and the Teen Scene Youth Center will be presenting Teens:  What to Know and What to Do.  There will be a series of short performances on sex, bullying, body image, and teen pregnancy featuring 25 Macon teens, the GCSU Improv for Social Change class and the GCSU Pediatric Nursing class.  For more information on this event, please click here. 

**A few pictures from Teen Theatre are below.