Andre Rodriguez joined the faculty of as the theater instructor five years ago.
But Rodriguez isn’t just in the business of putting on shows. His ultimate goal is to use theater to mold his students into valuable contributors to society after high school.
“I think at the end of the day I’m trying to use theater to teach kids about kindness, empathy and how to treat people, and hopefully prepare them with skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives,” said Rodriguez, who teaches acting classes and technical theater.
This year he is getting a little extra help in his mission.
, in collaboration with , an organization dedicated to promoting theater and access to it across the nation, has chosen the Westminster High School theater program to participate in a two-year evaluation that will monitor and analyze the impact that theater has on a studentap behavior, attendance and engagement.
“We know that being involved in arts programming is impactful for student growth. Itap just really hard to track,” said Allison Watrous, director of education at the Denver Center. Theater can teach students 21st century skills including team collaboration, problem solving and working in high pressure situations, she said.
“I’m really passionate about using theater beyond just putting on a play. My heart is about using theater to empower students,” Rodriguez said. “You go to work each day and you hope you’re doing the right things and you hope you’re making a difference, but I don’t know if you ever really know.”
In two years, Rodriguez will know exactly how much of a difference he is making.
Theatre Forward, with financial support from AT&T, launched Staging Success, a project that intends to demonstrate the importance of theater in a school’s curriculum by providing four theaters in different parts of the nation with the tools to supply a school of their choice with workshops, performances and more, while tracking student progress. Outside researchers will monitor and analyze the attendance and engagement data for tangible results over the next several semesters. The goal is to use the evidence found to generate additional money for theater education programs across the country.
“Staging Success is exciting for us because we are able to look at four different education programs in four unique cities and compare individual results to see the impact that theater has not only on students at Westminster High School, but nationally and have an idea of how arts education in various applications is impacting students,” said Emily Miller, director of strategic partnerships and programs with Theatre Forward.
The other three cities chosen for Staging Success were San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas.
Denver Center for the Performing Arts began making appearances at Westminster High School in fall 2016 to work with Rodriguez to create the best possible classes for students. Teaching artists from the Denver Center provide guest lectures and take the students to live productions.
“I really think this is a great opportunity for us as artists,” said D’Artagnan Devereux, a junior in Rodriguez’s advanced theater class. “This is something I want to do as a career and having different Denver Center people come teach us new things and take us to shows — itap one of the best experiences I could ever think of. I’m excited to see how this program goes not only for the school but for the world of theater.”
The Denver Center is working primarily with Rodriguez’s intermediate and advanced classes, but he believes this initiative can impact the entire school.
“Itap been an incredible partnership that has shaped the landscape of our school,” Rodriguez said. “For the students at Westy itap become invaluable. They are getting exposed to different ideas and teaching methods.”
Westminster High School was chosen for Staging Success thanks in part to Rodriguez’s dedication to the art.
“Great collaboration starts with a great teacher,” Watrous said. “And we’ve been really lucky to work with Andre before through his involvement with the Thespian Convention.”
And “great” is a modest compliment for the theater instructor, according to his students.
“I hope one day I can work even half as hard as Mr. Rodriguez does and be an inspiring teacher just like him, because he’s been a very, very positive influence in my life,” said Kendrick Trujillo, a senior in the advanced theater class.
“Mr. Rodriguez is the person who encouraged me to pursue my dreams of going to Broadway, and he’s always been there to push me that extra step forward when I’m not willing to take it yet, and I’m really grateful for that,” said Taylor Lewis, another senior in the class.
At the end of the two-year evaluation, Theatre Forward plans to share portions of the results with the public.
“Itap all about amazing artists and educators working together for the importance of art education in Colorado,” Watrous said.