With support from AOK!, Word for Word’s Youth Arts Program will conduct its 11th, 12th, and 13th annual in-depth public school residency for two classes of 6th
grade English language arts (ELA) students at Life Academy of Health and Bioscience in Oakland. Our 10-week residency will focus on the multi-award winning young adult novel, “The Only Road,” the story of Guatemalan cousins on a perilous journey, risking everything for safety. Five professional actors will kick off the residency by performing the first chapter of the book in the signature Word for Word style, then our team of two Word for Word teaching artists and two visual artists will visit students twice/thrice a week for 10 weeks (23 one-hour visits per classroom) to lead them in devising scripts, staging and rehearsing chapters, and creating mural backdrops inspired by the novel, culminating in a public performance in the school’s auditorium for family, classmates, staff, and the wider community.