JustArts: Can you describe this project a little more in detail?Lynda Bachman '10: I am working with participants at the Waltham Boys and Girls Club to write a new play that comes from their lives, experiences, and imaginations. The plan is to work with these high school aged boys and girls twice a week from February to April. I guide them through the process, but all of the ideas, research, and writing is their own. We start with a specific theme, such as "home is where the heart is," or "small things have great effects," and we use this theme as the basis for our creative exploration and research. The play in the end may not look anything like the ideas we bring in at the beginning, but these ideas are the stepping stones for creative exploration. Through the creative process, the participants learn about the mechanics of writing and performing theater, in addition to gaining perspective on the art of collaboration and the trials of teamwork and communication. Hopefully, they will also walk away with a product they can be proud of, and a new work that the audience can enjoy.

JA: What are your majors or minors or other theater background?

LB: I am majoring in Theater Arts on the Theater Education track, and Sociology. This project is my Senior Project for my theater major, and the idea actually came from a similar project I've done two times previously, at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, where I am the head of the theater arts program. I'm extremely interested in the collaborative process, and the creation of new work through experimental and cooperative methods. The opportunity to do this with the Waltham Boys and Girls Club was an incredible bonus, because not only do I get to do what I love and create theater in an educational setting, but I get to provide arts programming to an incredible and appreciative organization while I'm at it.

JA: How did you get connected with the Waltham Boys and Girls Club? Did you already have a connection to them through Waltham Group or something?

LB: I connected with the Waltham Boys and Girls Club through Lucas Malo. When I was in the early stages of my project I was looking for a group of students to work with, and I reached out to various people around campus as resources, including Jen Cleary, my advisor, Audra Grady, who is the head of the Community and Experiential Learning program, and Lucas Malo, who runs Waltham Group. Lucas directed me towards the WBGC as an organization that has the student base I want to work with, and also has a need for additional programming. I emailed Jennifer Aldworth, the director of the WBGC, and she was really excited about my project proposal, so we met and it turned out to be a great match. I have never done any work with the WBGC before, I just sent them my idea, my résumé, and told them I wanted to help them out. They have fantastic facilities, they just needed somebody to come in with a project, and the time and energy to do it.

JA: Can you tell me more about the senior project for theater majors? Do all theater majors have to do one? Do many people do collaborative projects like this one?

LB: All theater majors have to do some sort of senior project or thesis as a requirement for the major. People do a whole range of things, and they usually reflect the individual's particular focus or interest within the field. Lots of people collaborate on projects. Theater is not something that a single person can do in isolation-it requires a lot of minds and a lots of hands to make it happen. So sometimes one student may write a play as their senior thesis, and another student may stage manage that play and use that experience as part of their senior project. My project, although it is about the collaborative process, does not actually collaborate with many other theater majors. Some people create an entirely new work, while others may direct/act/design/stage manage a preexisting work that somehow embodies or reflects their educational pursuits from the last four years. It's a very flexible system, and allows us, as majors, the opportunity to explore things we are interested in, in a deeper and more meaningful way.