Palace Hosts Teacher Professional Development Workshop

WATERBURY — The Palace Theater is hosting a middle and high school Teacher Professional Development Workshop dedicated to the literary and historical importance of memoir writing on Wednesday, January 14, from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm, in the theater’s Poli Club.

The program will integrate social studies lessons from the Holocaust with language arts lessons based on the ShopRite Education Series presentation of The Last, The Very Last Butterfly, a Holocaust remembrance piece adapted for the stage by Pushcart Players. Light refreshments will be served.

 Facilitated by Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism Master Teaching Artist Bessy Rena, the workshop, titled “From Their Lives to Yours: Memoir Writing Into Poetry,” introduces memoir writing as a means of personal expression, as well as a record of one’s history. The class will explore how students can extract everyday moments from their lives and create written documents that influence and inspire future readers. The work of several writers, including poetry written by children who passed through the Terezin Concentration Camp during the 1940s, will be presented as a catalyst for the workshop’s writing exercises.

 The workshop, which is sponsored by the Waterbury Teachers Federal Credit Union, is $25 and free for teachers who booked tickets to the ShopRite Education Series presentation of The Last, The Very Last Butterfly, at the Palace Theater on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 20. In the case of inclement weather, the workshop will be rescheduled for Wednesday, January 21.

 Preregistration for the workshop is required and can be done by calling the Palace Theater Box Office at 203-755-8483, extension 134.