Cynthia Henderson, associate professor of theater arts, has won the 2008 CSPA-NYS Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice Award for her contribution to the lives of Ithaca high school students and the Ithaca community. This is the first time that this statewide organization of student educators has given this award.
Ithaca High School was rocked this year by a variety of racial conflicts. From controversy over the racial harassment of a young teenage girl, to controversies over whether punishments given to students were done in a racially biased manner, to a variety of incidents involving racial epithets and violence -- the year was a difficult one for the Ithaca area.
Professor Henderson chose to get involved in a way that would help students rise above the controversy, process their feelings and the issues happening around them, and help them believe in themselves when it appeared that few others were believing in their abilities. So Cynthia did was she does best -- she made theater happen.
Cynthia worked with a small group of students from Ithaca High School in collaboration with some from Ithaca College. The high school students then a piece entitled "Voice Suspended" that they presented throughout the Ithaca area, including at Ithaca College's 2008 MLK Day celebration.
The students used their words and their experiences to create a theater piece that brings the audience into their everyday life at Ithaca High School and fairly represents both the good and the challenging aspects.
These students had no prior writing or theater experience; Cynthia taught them about theater styles and techniques. The students learned to write, direct, rehearse, design stages and art, and how to work together as a team to produce an amazing piece of work that has been used to help the Ithaca community recognize its challenges and move toward social justice.
The students also learned about social justice events occurring outside the Ithaca community and used their work to support the Jena 6 -- a group of six black high school students in Louisiana who were the subject of race-related fights and arrests for beating up a white student after nooses were hung in a tree. (The white students who hung the nooses received a three-day school suspension, while the black students face 20 to 100 years in prison).
Probably the most important part of this project is that, in writing and performing this piece, the high school students had to examine their own feelings as well as the others they would be portraying, in order to develop an honest piece of theater. In doing so, the students began to recognize the inherent challenges in these situations, recognized their own strength in the face of adversity, and recognized the many talents that they possessed. Many of these students are now looking toward the future with a clearer vision of what they are able to do and to accomplish.
Ithaca College theater students were also involved in the development of "Voice Suspended" as support and guidance for the high school students, hence expanding the learning further across the community. As a result of their work, the teens involved were given the Tompkins County Distinguished Youth Award in January 2008 in recognition of their commitment to their community.
This work is just one recent aspect of Cynthia's activism. She has served as a Fulbright scholar in Cameroon, Africa, and continues to support AIDS education and activism in that country; she is a member of college committees on AIDS awareness, Black History Month planning, and diversity awareness; and serves as a mentor and confident to underrepresented students on the Ithaca College campus. Cynthia lives her life to ensure that voices that may have once traditionally been silenced can now be heard.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20081020111344763