With some creative thinking, students of Montgomery County Community College’s 戏剧艺术 Program helped raise awareness for Laurel House.

On May 17, 的atre Assistant Professor Tim Gallagher, Galleries Director Patrick Rodgers and 12 students visited the King of Prussia Mall to participate in the Laurel House Works of heART community exhibition promoting healthy relationships and strong communities. 的 participants from Montco built a sculpture using donations of diapers, paper towels, and other hygiene products collected from members of the College community.

月桂屋是综合性的 家庭暴力 agency, providing support services, as well as dating violence and 家庭暴力 prevention education through Montgomery County. 的 Works of heART community 项目 brought local organizations, including Montco, together to support Laurel House’s mission to advocate for and empower those impacted by 家庭暴力.

Betsy Kilkenny, Director of Fund Development at Laurel House, was on hand to supervise the 项目, and she was proud to see groups participating in the advocacy event.

“It’s a different take on raising awareness,” 她说. “家庭暴力是典型的 only covered when tragedy happens. We are partnering with different organizations to promote advocacy and prevent occurrences of violence.”

Laurel House has worked with the College in the past. Faculty and staff have collected donations of hygiene products, clothes and non-perishable food items over the years, and students have collaborated on events such as 夺回夜晚, a protest event to raise awareness of sexual assault and 家庭暴力. 的 戏剧艺术 program recently donated proceeds from their spring show Failure: A Love 给组织的故事.

Gallagher organized student volunteers, who were eager to participate in the art 项目.

“的 students have been very excited about building the sculpture,” he said. “我知道 in classes they like to learn through performance and improvisation. 这很令人兴奋 for students to figure out solutions in a fun and creative way.”

Gallagher and Rodgers decided that a chair would be an easy, recognizable sculpture for the students to make, and the students built on that plan to make the sculpture 他们自己的. Using donated materials and their improvisation abilities, the students built a replica of the Iron Throne from HBO’s Game of Thrones complete with a person named “Tippie,” a dog named “Winnie” and a cat named “Trixie.”

Student Haley Simmonds of Lansdale enjoyed working on the 项目 and was excited to see the other groups involved.

“It was great seeing all the different groups,” 她说. “这是一种有趣的养育方式 awareness and I hope this will encourage 人 to donate to Laurel House.”

For student Mersha Wambua of Willowgrove, the Works of heART 项目 was a learning experience that she can take with her in the future.

“I wasn’t aware of Laurel House and this 项目 before we started collecting donations,” 她说. “Now that I know about Laurel House and their mission, I can tell other 人.”.

Others students involved in the 项目 were Madison Undercuffler of East Greenville, Ashley Sullivan of King of Prussia, Maya Davis-Goodstein of Collegeville, John Falcone of Pottstown, Emma Burrus of Pottstown, Trevor Long of Pottstown, Richard Ledig of Royersford, Amber Grier of East Norriton, Lydia Klementisz of Birdsboro and Michael 波茨敦的桑顿.

的 戏剧艺术课程 allows students to explore stage-craft and design with experienced theatre professionals. 学生 gain hands on experience in state-of-the-art facilities and have access to 在地区剧院实习.

Tim Gallagher and students Michael Thornton and Lydia Klementisz recently spoke about “心之工程”项目 MCCC广播，学院的播客.