why go girls!?
DESCRIPTION
The Go Girls! Theater Project is igniting compassion by supporting the social/emotional heath of girls through theater & expressive arts. Go Girls! is a project of Glitter & Razz Productions, a small, social venture co-founded by Lynn Johnson and Allison and based in Oakland, CA. Go Girls! has been selected as a finalist in the Ashoka Changemaker’s Activating Empathy, an international competition to find the most promising innovations that will work to “transform schools to teach what matters”. Go Girls! is one of 15 finalists selected from 628 innovations received from 74 countries around the world.TRANSCRIPT
Igniting Compassion through Supporting the Social/Emotional Health of Girls
By Lynn Johnson, Co-Founder/CEOGlitter & Razz Productions
www.glitterandazz.com/go-girls
These are Go Girls!
This is why Go Girls! exists
Go Girls! are facing:
Bullying, relational aggression, other incidents of power imbalance and misuse
Paralyzing perfectionism and a fear of making mistakes
Isolation from their feelings & extreme self-focus
Intolerance and misunderstanding others from different cultures and communities
A serious compassion deficit
A Serious Compassion Deficit
“The most important problem our world faces is a lack of
compassion. Compassion is a prerequisite for building a happy
individual, a happy society.“
- Dalai Lama
The Compassion Revolution
“The seeds for compassion were
sown by my mother.”
-Dalai Lama
The Go Girls! Logic ModelCompassion Deficit = Poverty, Abuse,
Neglect, Entitlement, Violence, etc.
Compassion Revolution =
Empathy, Gratitude,
Generosity, Honor, Peace
We must practice compassion
intentionally at an individual &
community level
Intentional Community =
Creative Exploration
Theater as Creative
Community = Multidisciplinary,
Interactive
Women = Greater proclivities towards
Compassion
Women in Theater Will Lead the Compassion Revolution
Why Girls?“The evidence for a female advantage in empathizing comes from many different areas. For example, given a free choice of which toys to play with, more girls than boys will play with dolls, enacting social and emotional themes….if you leave out those big plastic cars that children can ride on, what you see is that more little boys play the ‘ramming’ game. They deliberately drive the vehicle into another child. The little girls ride around more carefully, avoiding the other children more often. This suggests the girls are being more sensitive to others.”
- Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University, “The Essential Difference: The Male & Female Brain”
Why Girls?“Here's where women differ from men. If the other person is upset, or the emotions are disturbing, women's brains tend to stay with those feelings. But men's brains do something else: they sense the feelings for a moment, then tune out of the emotions and switch to other brain areas that try to solve the problem that's creating the disturbance. Thus women's complaint that men are tuned out emotionally, and men's that women are too emotional - it's a brain difference. Neither is better - both have advantages.”
- Daniel Goleman, author of “Emotional Intelligence” and “The Brain and Emotional Intelligence”
Why Theater?
“Through spontaneity we are re-formed into ourselves. It creates an explosion that for the moment frees us from handed-down frames of reference, memory choked with old facts and information and undigested theories and techniques of other people's findings. Spontaneity is the moment of personal freedom when we are faced with reality, and see it, explore it and act accordingly. In this reality the bits and pieces of ourselves function as an organic whole. It is the time of discovery, of experiencing, of creative expression.”
– Viola Spolin, innovator, teacher, director & author of “Improvisation for the Theater”
Why Theater?
“Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it.”
– Augusto Boal, innovator, politician, director & founder of Theatre of the Oppressed
This is how Go Girls! works to Ignite a Compassion Revolution
Make
a P
lay Be Anyone You Want to
Be
Take in the “good stuff”
Share Your Creative Ideas
Put Your Ideas Together
Practice
Perform for Others
Change Y
ours
elf NOTICE
•Get Quiet & Present•Active Listening, Active Sharing
•Identify & Accept Your Feelings (The Ones that Feel Good & The Ones that Don’t)
•Say Yes to Yourself
CONNECT•Collaboration•Peaceful Conflict Resolution•Looking Out & Standing Up For Each Other
•Contributing your Personal , Positive Power
CELEBRATE•Share Your Work with Others and Be Witnessed
•Reflect on your Work•Share your Feedback with Others
•Set New Goals and Intentions•
Change t
he W
orl
d Motivated, Passionate & Empathetic Leaders
Compassion in Action
Peaceful Places & Spaces
The Contagion of Happiness
What We DoA hybrid social venture igniting Compassion & Connection through creative play
Building Connections Within & Across Communities
School-Based Partnerships
Summer Camps
Regional Retreats
Afterschool Clubs
Books & Products
Want to learn more?
Contact Lynn Johnson at:
510.654.7166 [email protected]
And visitwww.glitterandrazz.com/go-
girls