Academic Theatre Lab on Audubon Street ~ ATLAS

At Neighborhood Music School, creative learning is at the center of everything that takes place. This was foremost in developing the Academic Theatre Lab on Audubon Street (ATLAS), a small progressive middle school for 7th and 8th graders that will be located right at NMS!

Created at the Harvard Graduate School of Education by Maria Giarrizzo-Bartz and Caroline Golschneider, ATLAS is intended to change the way we think about the middle school experience. This arts-based school will help children evolve into independent thinkers and active learners, promoting social, emotional, intellectual, creative and physical development along the way. It's middle school, re-imagined!

ATLAS, students will direct their own learning by running all aspects of a theatre company, including production, performance, budget and marketing, using the process to explore essential questions in literature, science, history, math, and beyond. 

By connecting academics to artistic production, students will be challenged to examine the human experience, so that they can shape their own. 
The program is now accepting inquiries for the 2017-18 School Year. Workshops will be held in September.

"ATLAS uses a collaborative, project-based approach to help students navigate the transition into independent thinkers and learners during the critical middle school years. We are inspired by the model that Maria and Caroline developed during their time at Harvard, and are excited to bring this progressive new middle school option to New Haven families," says NMS Executive Director Dan Gurvich.

The adolescent years are a crucial time of social and emotional growth, when students question the world and their place in it. The ATLAS philosophy is that theatre is the ideal medium for navigating the complexities of independence, self-discovery and the skills needed to work effectively as a group.  

Small cohorts of 12-18 students per class ensure a safe, supportive learning environment with room to question, experiment, change, and grow. ATLAS students develop a strong sense of community within the school, and their work has a meaningful impact on the greater community, too!

The school will cultivate students who embrace the 5 C's of ATLAS: curiosity about their world, commitment to their work, creativity in their thinking, confidence in themselves, and compassion toward all they encounter.

For more information about this exciting new program, visit the ATLAS website at www.atlasmiddleschool.org.

Maria Giarrizzo-Bartz, Founding Artistic Director of ATLAS (and a former Assistant Director of Audubon Arts!), says the concept for the school grew out of the positive theatre experiences she had as a young person, as well as her work as a middle school teacher: "When I reflect on my own middle school years and the years I've spent teaching middle school, I see that something transformative happens when a group of young people work together to produce a play," she says. "This work provides authentic learning pathways to traditional academic subjects, and ultimately guides and propels 7th and 8th graders on their journey into adolescence."

"The stage was a place where I could explore my identity safely surrounded by a community of similarly struggling peers," adds Caroline Golschneider, Founding Education Director of ATLAS, remembering her own theater experience. "Theatre is a place where diverse individuals come together as one. Working towards the same goal, we experienced a deep camaraderie that bonded us through our most difficult years."

She says that when she met Giarrizzo-Bartz at Harvard, the two realized they held the same philosophy regarding education: "We firmly believe that all students have the right to a safe, constructive learning environment where risk-taking is encouraged and humanity is tantamount. We believe that students have the right to be curious and creative, and should have the freedom to explore the world and their place in it. Theatre is the ideal home for this type of learning."

For more information about this exciting new program, visit the ATLAS website at www.atlasmiddleschool.org