Toting a Tony
Toting a Tony
Madeline Topkins Michel Ĵý77
A drama teacher receives a top accolade for her unconventional and inclusive approach.
NO DRAMA, PLEASE: Michel says she prefers the wings to the spotlight when it comes to her role as a drama teacher at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. ĴýI like the kids to take control.Ĵý
When Madeline Topkins Michel Ĵý77 took the stage at the Tony Awards ceremony in June to receive the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education Award, she quickly asserted that the award wasnĴýt hers aloneĴýit also belonged to her diverse group of drama students at Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
ĴýThis award is for all of the students who have found their voice and who speak for themselves, their families, and their community through theater and playwriting,Ĵý she told the audience at Radio City Music Hall.
Michel heads MonticelloĴýs drama department, but she came to theater through a side door. An English major at Rochester, she later earned her teaching certification in math and English and as a reading specialist.
She took a job with the Baltimore school district and discovered that the classroom is an inherently theatrical place. When faced with skeptical or unmotivated students, she made her class dramatically compelling. ĴýReally early on, I realized the value of theater in teaching,Ĵý she says.
She also coached National History Day teams after joining the staff at Monticello. Students compete by carrying out historical research and presenting their conclusions in the format of their choice. MichelĴýs teams opted for play performanceĴýand when they brought home national gold medals two years in a row, MonticelloĴýs principal decided it was high time that Michel taught drama. Michel is modest and wry about where her career has taken her. ĴýIĴým really not a theater personĴýdespite the Tony Award,Ĵý she laughs.
But sheĴýs ardent about inclusive theater. A drama program should reflect the makeup of a schoolĴýs student body, but thatĴýs not what often happens, she says. ĴýIf you have a group of kids who represent the entire school, then what you get on stage is an energy thatĴýs completely different from what you find at most schools. EverybodyĴýs got a backstoryĴýan interesting backstoryĴý and then everybody learns from everyone else.Ĵý
As a teacher, she prefers the wings to the spotlight. ĴýI like the kids to take control,Ĵý she says. She helps them stage, choreograph, and direct works that speak to them. And they craft new plays, too. This summer, Michel was working with two groups, each writing a play that they were aiming to have in production this August.
In the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the Monticello drama program staged student Josh St. HillĴýs one-act, rap-narrative play, A KingĴýs Story, which examines a communityĴýs response to violence. Student Courtney Grooms wrote the play Necessary Trouble in 2016, about responses to a high school student attending history class dressed in a shirt printed with the Confederate flag. Last fall, the program performed student Kayla ScottĴýs play #WhileBlack, about gentrification and the racial profiling she experienced in her hometown. Monticello brought home awards for the production from the Virginia Theatre Association.
ĴýWhen my kids do a show that really has an effect on an audience, people come up afterwards to hug the actors and the playwright,Ĵý says Michel. ĴýThese were issues they were thinking about and were disturbed by, but they hadnĴýt seen them dramatized.Ĵý
The key to creating an inclusive theater program is patience, she says. In her classroom, Ĵýall thatĴýs expected of you is to do what youĴýre comfortable with. And sometimes it takes a while for people to get comfortable. I have to be willing to let somebody sit in my class and observe for as long as they feel necessary.Ĵý
Michel says that taking part in drama builds studentsĴý confidence and presentation skills, something they can carry with them in any endeavor. But itĴýs not skill building that really motivates Michel or her students.
ĴýItĴýs that sense of meeting people who are different and building community,Ĵý she says. ĴýNinth graders are there with 12th graders, and I donĴýt distinguish you by your experience or your reading level or the classes youĴýve had before, or anything like that.Ĵý
The stage is somewhere everyone belongs, Michel says. In her drama department, ĴýthereĴýs no gatekeeping.Ĵý
Ĵý Kathleen McGarvey
This article originally appeared in the summer 2019 issue of Rochester Review magazine.