This is transformation that happens in the moment.

Khuram Hussain, Middlebury College VP of Equity & Inclusion; Assoc. Professor of Education Studies

Evolving out of the work of the Acting Ensemble at the Bread Loaf School of English, Beyond the Page (BtP) is a cohort of teaching artists using the tools of theater to transform learning in Middlebury’s communities. Through custom-built workshops, we engage participants in oral storytelling, movement, writing, and performance to foster belonging, generate new points of access, and establish personal connections to academic texts and ideas. Our work aligns with social justice practices that use embodied approaches for activating creativity and making change. We employ techniques of theater, teaching artistry, and conflict transformation as practiced by scholar-practitioners such as John Paul Lederach, Eric Booth, Augusto Boal, and Adrienne Maree Brown.

At its core, BtP —

Invites learners to awaken their artistry. Through an innovative program at the intersection of academia and creativity, we equip students and teachers with the creative tools to make learning personal, fun, immediate, and profound

Transforms how we build community. Now more than ever, we need to be adept in communicating across difference and division. Each BtP workshop demands that learners navigate differences in experience and background in order to solve problems and make meaning through collaboration.

Imagines into what is possible. Through our work, we unite the pursuit of knowledge and the enrichment of the imagination – fulfilling the very mission of a liberal arts degree. We cultivate curiosity, creativity, and collaborative problem solving in the changemakers of tomorrow.

The act of making theater is an act of engaging your body, heart, gut, voice, intellect, and emotional life – all in order to make something live. To bring to life. To be happening here and now, rather than simply on the page. We can’t wait to collaborate!

The bulk of our work occurs under the umbrella of Middlebury College which includes the undergraduate college in VT, MIIS, Midd BLSE, and The Bread Loaf Teachers Network in K-12 classrooms.  For more information on how BtP might work in your classroom or organization, please reach out to us at beyondthepage@middlebury.edu or directly to our program director Craig Maravich at cmaravich@middlebury.edu. Below is a partial list of spaces we’ve worked in –

Classrooms

• Anthropology
• Education Studies
• Luso-Hispanic Studies
• History
• Gender Studies
• English Literature

• Economics
• Biology
• French
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Theatre

• Film and Media Studies
• First Year Seminar
• Sophomore Seminar
• K-12 through BLTN

Professional Development

• Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (OIDEI)
• Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research (CTLR)
• Bread Loaf Teachers Network (BLTN)

Community

• Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) – Conflict Transformation Fellows
• Residential Life at Middlebury College
• Climate Action Fellows
• Digital Learning and Inquiry (DLINQ)