What is UX and What Does It Do?

Transforming Education in Brazil

Nearly sixty students packed the Castillo Theatre at the All Stars Project’s headquarters on Wednesday, July 7 to hear Dr. Fernanda Liberali and two of her students report on their work of bringing a performance-based approach to learning into schools in Brazil. Liberali, a professor at the Pontific Catholic University of Sao Paulo, is an activist scholar who has organized undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, educators and administrators into working groups all over Brazil that are developing innovations for school organization and classroom curricula. Dr. Liberali shared slides and videos of their work and held a lively conversation with the UX students, who included a number of teachers and a sprinkling of Brazilian immigrants. Dr. Liberali was introduced and hosted by Dr. Lois Holzman, the chairperson of the Global Outreach Department of UX, and the director of the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy.

Dr. Lois Holzman (left) and Dr. Fernanda Liberali.

 Photo Credit: Kim Ferguson

Youth Onstage!   

Summer Theatre Intensive   

Youth Onstage! students on the first day of voice class learn how the diaphragm works by simulating  its work with a sheet.  Photo Credit: Dan Friedman

UX’s summer semester, “The Summer of Pretending,” started with a blast of energy on Tuesday, July 5^th with the first day of classes for the Youth Onstage! Community Performance School.  Twenty-five students, aged 14 to 21, will be participating all month, four days a week, Tuesday through Friday, in the Youth Onstage! summer intensive, which is lead by Youth Onstage! program manager Craig Pattison. The free UX acting conservatory includes classes taught by theatre professionals in movement, voice, improvisation, and character, as well as an introduction to theatre taught by the Castillo Theatre’s artistic director Dan Friedman.  

Youth Onstage! voice teachers Suanne Darrell, a professional opera singer and graduate of the Actors Studio, and Sam Tsoutsouvas, a professional actor and a graduate of the first class of the Julliard Drama Division. Photo Credit: Dan Friedman

Why Baseball Matters

Peanuts, Cracker Jacks and baseball caps were given out to all participants.                 Photo Credit: Paul Li

Twenty students, most attending their first UX class, turned out for “Why Baseball Matters” on Saturday, July 9^th.   The workshop was led by Ed Brady a life-long baseball devotee.  The first half of the class consisted of the students talking about why baseball mattered to them.  Comments ranged from, “I love being outside with friends in the summer.  It’s a happy, upbeat game,” to “I like it because you can’t celebrate too much or be bummed out too much.  If you win today, you’re bound to lose tomorrow and vice versa.  It gives you perspective,” to “It’s a way for adults to still act like kids.”  Brady touched on a wide range of topics from the Negro Leagues to baseball labor relations to baseball movies. Jeannine Hahn, the All Stars’ senior vice president of finance and human resources (and, like Brady, a baseball fanatic) provided the class with peanuts, Cracker Jacks and Yankee caps.  Everyone (even Mets fans) acknowledged the accomplishment of Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit, which he knocked over the fence at Yankee Stadium right before class began.

UX students discuss baseball with Ed Brady.  Photo Credit: Paul Li

For UX weekly Schedule, click here