Teaching Artist Roster - Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council

THEATRE ARTS
Tikka Sears
c/o SE Asia Center UW
115 Prefontaine Place South #501
Seattle, WA 98104
206-484-6796
tikka_s@yahoo.com
Area of Study: Drama, Mask Dance & Puppet Theatres of South and Southeast Asia
Possible Curricular Ties: Social Studies, Language Arts
Grade(s): K-8
Classroom Requirements: Cleared space to move, Tape/CD Player, VCR and Monitor
Sample Residency Topics
Art and Dance: the dramatic horse dance of Java Indonesia
Indonesian Mask Dance and Puppet Theater Performance (School Assembly)
Introduction to Ramayana and Mahabharata Oral Epic Traditions
Oral History in Performance from the Local to the Global
Sample Residency Description
The Monkey Kings, Ogres, Queens and Princes of the Asian Stage
Physical Theater and Character Study Using the masks and character types of Southern Asia.
Performing artist Tikka Sears will lead students through the dance and movements of 5 major character
types of the Ramayana epic. Students will explore movement, masks, character and vocal qualities of
each of the principal characters. Focus is on experiential learning of oral transmission, dramatic forms,
storytelling, vocabularies and concepts. The final session will conclude with a performance
collaboration between the students and the artist. The artist will include a mask dance performance and
lecture demo with video footage of the character types in one of the sessions. EALRs implemented:
1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.3, 3.2. and 4.1-4.5.
Tikka Sears, Theater Director, Actor, Dancer and Choreographer has studied traditional and
contemporary performing arts of Indonesia, Javanese mask dance, theater and puppetry since she was
7 years old. She lived in Indonesia for over 5 years and between 2002-2004 had a Fulbright Artist
Grant to study with contemporary Indonesian theater artists. In addition to performing and directing,
Sears has been artist-in-residence at Franklin High School and director and coach for student projects
at the University of Washington. There, Sears is Outreach Coordinator for the Southeast Asia Center,
where she presents and organizes workshops, lectures and resources for K-12 educators.
Revised 2/28/12, 2:44 PM 18