Theatre Lecturer Sybil St. Claire is a recipient of the 2014 Life @ UCF Award for UCF Women Faculty Excellence in Academic Partnerships. She was awarded for the creation of interACTionZ: a queer youth theatre for social change. interACTionZ is a partnership between Theatre UCF, the Zebra Coalition, the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and the Orange County Public School system and is one of only a handful of theatres like it in the nation. The population served consists of Zebra youth (many of whom are homeless), UCF students from multiple majors, and Orange County public high school students.
“Blending these population together we explore bullying, community and peace-building, internalized oppression, conflict resolution, consent, vertical hostility, and LBGTQ+ issues using theatre for social change techniques,” says St. Claire. “This kind of validation and celebration of the community engagement work we are doing will help the program to prosper so that we may empower ever more youth through theatre for social change.”
interACTionZ is being run by Jonathan Jackson, a recent graduate from the MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences. Working with St. Claire, the creation of interACTionZ became both Jackson’s thesis and his residency.