In education today, play and improvisation are often regarded as frivolous, fluff, a waste of time. In reality, they hold the key to learning and understanding the world around us.

By creating an environment and simulating a situation to explore our opera theme of judgment, students bring to life an imaginary world by improvising a scenario. They are completely uninhibited because they are merely playing. What this “play” yields astounds me every time I witness it. From what appears to be total chaos, comes profound revelation.

The Island of Judgment and Criticism has a river that runs through it. One side of the river is inhabited by compassionate, empathetic beings. On the other side of the river live those who are judgmental and critical.
No one has ever crossed the river . . . until now.