THE CIRCLE

written, directed and performed by students of Bard Early College New Orleans
produced in collaboration with Beaubourg and No Dream Deferred

In spring 2020 we collaborated with the theatre professor and Beaubourg School instructor Rachel Nelson of Bard Early College as well as the performers and educators of No Dream Deferred to develop a semester long course that gave BECNO students opportunities to explore the creative and performing arts as a way of deepening their academic journeys. Over the spring semester and into the months of quarantine, this unique group wrote, directed, and starred in an original performance piece titled “The Circle.”

The process was a celebration of the artistic and academic work of BECNO students, and a chance to share their work with their educators, peers, family, friends, and the larger community. Using written and performing arts, this project celebrated and explored student’s individual identities as well as their critical engagement with their academic work.

Although the project was originally intended to culminate in a public showing at Beaubourg Theatre in April 2020, the COVID-19 crisis required creative adaptation and the work was rewritten so that students could perform the piece remotely using the Zoom webinar platform on May 6, 2020.

We believe the creative and the academic are deeply linked. Our performance work gives our students opportunities to seamlessly tie together their academic work with their own socio-emotional development and reflection, and chances for their community to celebrate this work.

We are honored to have been a part of this process and to have collaborated with No Dream Deferred, Rachel Nelson and the entire Bard Early College team. We also want to thank the Tulane Mellon Graduate Program in Community-Engaged Scholarship for sponsoring this program.

In this brief documentary, students share their experiences of the process and reflect on what the piece meant to them.