Hmong National Conference
Under Bob’s leadership, Social Action Theater has presented at the International Third World Conference twice, Kappa Delta Pi (Education Honorary Convocation once, National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Education three times, and the Hmong National Conference (2009) once, making a total of seven (inter)national conferences in which SAT performed workshops and presented skits.
The April 2009 Hmong Conference workshop has perhaps been the most exciting. Although our time slot was the last of multiple presentations for the weekend, except for a speech or two at a Sunday brunch, and our room assignment was quite far from the others, and our room capacity was 57, we were inundated by almost 80 students and adults, and completed the workshop with 75 students—several from middle school, and the rest from high schools and universities throughout the country. We had to bring in benches from the hallway to accommodate all 75—and that’s when the adults seemed to leave because there was no more room. Logistically, the conference venue suited us. Wisconsin is the third most Hmong populated state and the Hmong population in Wisconsin is spread throughout the state rather than in just one or two urban areas.
Our audience was very enthusiastic, replete with cameras and cell phone recorders. There was ample and insightful audience participation. We began with a short power point we prepared for the conference workshop. It presented in lay terms the foundation of SAT and how we train students to develop and present skits. User friendly, the power point gave a precise, concise, yet complete picture of the SAT process.
Then three SAT students and I performed a skit and audience members asked questions of the actors afterward as they stayed in their roles. We then had members of the audience perform 4 skits—each with different audience members. That turned out quite well as the actor/presenters spoke in English—but also some Hmong—and the audience really was captured.
After those skits and interactions with the actors, I asked the audience what skits they would like to do. They gave me 4 topics. I then separated the audience into 4 groups of 15-20 in each group, and allowed them 20 minutes to develop a skit on their respective topics.
After the 20 minutes, they performed their skit, some of it in English, some of it in Hmong—and the audience was ever attentive. The interaction with audience and actors for each skit was super—and lots of learning occurred.
I then summarized our session and everyone left happy after they gave us a resounding ovation.
Shauna and Liz with Kong & Shu Project, a national acoustic duo from North Carolina
