Tallahassee Democrat - 07/29/2020 Page : C01

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Tallahassee Democrat | WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020 | 1C

TLHLIFE

If there’s anything we can count on right now, it’s change. The ability to adapt to rapidly shifting

situations has become critical as the world grapples with the pandemic. Leon High School thea-

ter students have an advantage in coping with life’s current unanticipated reality, thanks to their

theater teacher Lea Marshall. h Improvisational theater celebrates all things unplanned and

unscripted. When school shut down, Marshall designed distance learning offerings that focused

on improv. The activities she presented encouraged her students to respond quickly to change,

creatively integrate new directions, and seize unexpected opportunities. h Taking things mo-

ment-by-moment and accepting the current situation are essential to improv. Not only are these

helpful skills for theater, they’re handy in a real-world crisis too.

Cecilia, John, and Theresa Malley play Five Item Improv along with their guinea pig. SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

Eleventh-graders Trevor Lee and Tyler Barringer create improvised scenes from two different locations while Lea Marshall looks on.SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

IMPROV FOR LIFE

Leon teacher’s unscripted theater serves as lesson in coping

Amanda Karioth Thompson Council on Culture & Arts

See COPING, Page 2C

Leon County Schools is set to receive$100,000 from the United States De-partment of Agriculture for what iscalled a Farm to School program.

In 2019, the district received $20,000from the USDA to supplement the pro-gram. This year, the local school districtwas one of six agencies in Floridaawarded the grant.

The program focuses on helpingcommunities – in this case, schools –gain access to fresh, nutritious foods.The initiative also offers wider econom-ic opportunities within a community forlocal farmers.

In addition, the initiative emphasizesthe nourishment and agricultural edu-cation of school-aged children whilepromoting school gardening activities.

With the $100,000 grant, the LeonCounty public school district plans tocontinue and possibly expand its cur-rent Farm to School program at theWoodville K-8 School off Woodville

Highway, officials say. Woodville Assistant Principal Eliza-

beth Rudd said the school hopes to ex-pand their current program by extend-ing the school’s gardening beds andplanting citrus trees. She said the schoolmay possibly get goats.

“We’re so thankful for this funding,but the grant won’t be around forever, sowe want our program to be as sustain-able as possible,” Rudd told the Talla-hassee Democrat.

The school’s program currently haschickens, aquaponic tanks, a green-house, and an orchard with blueberryand fig plants. Rudd said she was raisedon a dairy farm, which has helped withthe program’s operations.

“We haven’t had a chance to workwith any local farmers, yet, but the re-sponse from the community has beenincredible…so many people in the areasupport us,” Rudd said.

Rudd explained that local businessesincluding Esposito Garden Center andAce Hardware have contributed to theschool.

“We’ve had seeds, herbs, and fertil-ized chicken eggs donated to us,” shesaid. “Country Feed Store and GardenSupply even brought their tractor outand helped us plow our field.”

Rudd added that by expanding theFarm to School program, any of theschool’s on-site harvest could be imple-mented into cafeteria menus.

Florida-grown products are servedthroughout all 40 schools in the county,according to the school district’s Nutri-tion Services Department.

“If we grow products schoolwide,they go straight back into our cafeteria,”Rudd said. “If a student grows some-thing individually, though – like through

Woodville K-8 to get grant for outdoor learningRachel BiangelSpecial to Tallahassee Democrat

USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA

See WOODVILLE, Page 6C

Woodville K-9 School administratorsand students work to raise babychicks. SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT

Tallahassee Democrat - 07/29/2020 Page : C02

Copyright � 2020 Tallahassee Democrat. All rights reserved. Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights , updated March2007. 07/29/2020July 29, 2020 9:25 am (GMT -4:00) Powered by TECNAVIA

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2C | WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020 | TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

SU | DO | KU Dave Green

Enter a numeralfrom 1 through 9 ineach cell of thegrid. Each row,column and regionmust contain onlyone instance ofeach numeral.

Yesterday’ssolution

Note: Puzzles in-crease in difficultyfrom Mondaythrough Sunday.

Documentary makerKen Burns is 67. TV per-sonality Tim Gunn (“Pro-ject Runway”) is 67.

CountrysingerMartinaMcBride is54. ActorTimOmund-son(“Psych”)

is 51. Actor Ato Essandoh(film’s “Django Un-chained,” TV’s “Elemen-tary”) is 48. Actor WilWheaton (“Star Trek:The Next Generation,”“Stand By Me”) is 48.

CELEBRITYBIRTHDAYS

Gunn

Aries (March 21-April19). When everyoneknows what to do on theirown, the whole team pro-gresses.

Taurus (April 20-May20). It happens today, aninstance of profundity,quick as a hand clap, jar-ring you into an experi-ence of all life as a sud-den, painful flash ofbeauty, and then it’s over.

Gemini (May 21-June21). One essential part ofknowing yourself well isknowing what triggersyour responses. It’s oftena minor cue that sets ma-jor events in motion.

Cancer (June 22-July22). Vague abstractionsand big explanations willget no traction. You’ll askfor, receive and delivercommunication that’s di-

rect and succinct.Leo (July 23-Aug. 22).

You’ll spend hours focus-ing on one aspect of thelarger picture. You’ll do itfast, do it slow, do it dif-ferently and when you doit wrong, you’ll stop andcorrect in small moves.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept.22). In this circular life,perhaps nothing is evercomplete. Today it will liftyour entire being to feelthat a matter of impor-tance has been resolved.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct.23). You will reconnectwith the reasons you aredoing a thing, and thiswill re-energize you.

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov.21). In an ideal relation-ship, it’s easy to see theconfluence of interests.In a less-than-ideal rela-

tionship, you can still fo-cus on what’s working.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You’ll be think-ing about the ways youbuild a lifestyle, and thenyour lifestyle builds you.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). The bad habityou want to lose is not go-ing to be tossed aside;rather, it will need to beejected with great force.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). It is dangerous tospend too much timeimagining an outcomebecause this could lead tofantasizing about apayoff.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March20). There is no need tostick to a joyless plan.Agreements can bechanged, appointmentsmoved around.

ASTROLOGY HOLIDAY MATHIS

Today is Wednesday, July 29, the 211th day of2020. There are 155 days left in the year.

On this date in: 1914: Transcontinental telephone service in the

U.S. became operational with the first test conver-sation between New York and San Francisco. Mas-sachusetts’ Cape Cod Canal, offering a shortcutacross the base of the peninsula, was officiallyopened to shipping traffic.

1958: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed theNational Aeronautics and Space Act, creatingNASA.

1965: The Beatles’ second feature film, “Help!,”had its world premiere in London.

1967: An accidental rocket launch on the deck ofthe supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkinresulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 ser-vicemen. (Among the survivors was future Arizonasenator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant com-mander who narrowly escaped with his life.)

TODAY IN HISTORY

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The Tallahassee PoliceDepartment will host itsannual “Pack the PatrolCar” event on Saturday,Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 3p.m. at West Marine, 2110Apalachee Parkway. Thisyear’s goal is to collectenough school supplies toprovide at least 200 stu-dents with the necessarymaterials to start the

school year. The community can

help by dropping off new,unused school supplies,such as backpacks, pa-per, pencils, pens, note-books, folders, protrac-tors and more. All dona-tions will be provided tolocal students in need.

To protect communityhealth, this event will be adrive-through drop offonly. Social distancingand masks will be used byevent staff.

“Pack the Patrol Car”2020 is hosted in part-nership with West Ma-rine, the Tallahassee FireDepartment, Leon Coun-ty Sheriff’s Office, FloridaHighway Patrol, 100 BlackMen of Tallahassee,MADD (Mothers AgainstDrunk Driving), South-side Rotary Club and NO-BLE (National Organiza-tion for Black Law En-forcement Executives).

For more information,contact TPD’s Communi-

ty Relations Unit at 850-891-4251. Learn moreabout TPD at Talgov.com,Facebook.com/TallyPDor Twitter.com/TallyPD.

Pack the TPD patrol car with school suppliesSpecial to Tallahassee Democrat

USA TODAY NETWORK –

FLORIDA

Marshall offered a variety of games to keep her stu-dents nimble. Using the online platform Zoom, she in-vited students and special guests to participate in“Five Item Improv.” With five random items fromaround the house, actors were asked to improvise adramatic scene.

Special guests included local theater professionalsand spouses Naomi Rose-Mock and Mike Mock. Theydevised creative murder mysteries, killing each otherwith weapons as unlikely as a bottle of mustard. “Itwas great for a married couple in quarantine to givethem ideas,” quipped Marshall. In several instances,students’ parents and siblings got in on the improv ac-tion and created scenes using items like a bobble-headdoll, a flashlight, and even the family guinea pig.

After realizing that many of her students were rele-gated to their rooms, Marshall created a scavengerhunt improv game. “Some of them had to be in theirrooms because so much was going on in their homeand their parents are working from the dining room.”

To get them up and moving, students were given atime limit to retrieve a specific item. When they wereback on camera, they were asked to tell a compellingstory about it. One challenge was to find a holidayitem. “They were grabbing entire Christmas trees thatwere still out,” laughed Marshall.

Marshall’s costume challenge required students touse items close at hand to recreate famous artworkslike Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and Munch’s“The Scream.”

They had just one minute to gather materials andput things on themselves, their pet, or a stuffed ani-mal. “Somebody dressed up a lamp every time,” Mar-shall recalled. These challenges started simply and gotmore complex. “We ended with Mondrian’s painting‘Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow’ and one stu-dent held up a Dorito’s bag because it was red and rect-angular.”

In addition to the improv games, Marshall’s stu-dents gathered on Zoom to study the play “Our Town”by Thornton Wilder. Marshall selected the play for itstimely theme of appreciating the ordinary. Over thecourse of three weeks, students thought criticallyabout the play, answered questions and compared it totheir own lives.

In response to the play’s premise, “we all talkedabout what would we have done differently if we had

known that last day be-fore Spring Breakwould be our last day ofschool. Would we havewanted to know?”

Theater is storytell-ing and Marshall said,“I love a story because Ilove an ending. Wedon’t have an endingfor what we’re current-ly experiencing. It’s likesome absurdist piece,where the isn’t a properdenouement.”

Though resolution iselusive, Marshall is in-spired by her studentswho have used thistime to create.

Eleventh graderAlexa Schoffel took ad-vantage of several on-line playwriting classes

and wrote three plays while in quarantine. One has todo with racial injustice and others deal with gun vio-lence. “She has done what artists do,” said Marshall.“She’s used what’s happening around her and put itinto these beautiful pieces of art.”

Marshall too has used her time wisely. She learnednew technologies and took a virtual class about Broad-way in America. “Now I’m taking a sketch comedywriting class. I’ve gotten hilarious.” She also wrote,workshopped, and published an original play while inquarantine.

Whether it’s wringing the most out of each mo-ment, improvising to adapt to new challenges or re-flecting on shared experiences, Marshall and her thea-ter students are prepared to meet the world head onand with empathy.

“Kids have big feelings,” said Marshall. “They needtheater to express themselves in a safe way. They needit to understand other people and their feelings. Theyneed the arts now more than ever. The arts are howkids are going to process this.”

As part of COCA’s Creativity Persists collection, thisarticle highlights how area arts educators have useddistance learning to teach and inspire during the CO-VID-19 pandemic. Amanda Karioth Thompson is theAssistant Director for the Council on Culture & Arts.COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts andculture (www.tallahasseearts.org).

CopingContinued from Page 1C

Leon 10th-grader PiperGreisl, costumed asVermeer’s Girl With a PearlEarring. SPECIAL TO THE

DEMOCRAT