Lavine Learning Lab

Built around A.R.T.’s groundbreaking theatrical programming, the Lavine Learning Lab fosters intergenerational dialogue, community, and lasting relationships between the theater and public high schools in the greater Boston area through season-based engagement. Rooted in our core values of inquiry and collaboration, the Lavine Learning Lab uses our productions as the foundation for student workshops that bridge the arts, humanities, and social and emotional learning.

The Learning Lab exemplifies the type of community-centered, accessible programming A.R.T. will offer from its new home, the David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Creativity & Performance. Currently under construction at 175 N. Harvard Street in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, the Center is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.

Thanks to the Crimson Lion / Lavine Family Foundation, the Lavine Learning Lab will be a gymnasium where high school students will come to exercise their humanity so they can become the most impactful citizens and participants in our society.

Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus

Actor Alex Ross in a sweatshirt and chain speaks to students sitting on either side of him taking notes. — Romeo and Juliet actor Alex Ross speaks with students from two Learning Lab schools at a pre-show workshop. Photo: A Priori Photography.

Two students in jackets stand on a darkened stage and read from a page into hand-held mics. — *Lavine Learning Lab students welcome audiences at the Loeb Drama Center on the nights they attend A.R.T. performances. Photo: Lauren Miller.*

The Learning Lab Model

For each production, the creative team, company, and Engagement team develop an Essential Question to guide work in the rehearsal room, onstage, and for engaging with audiences. The Lavine Learning Lab centers the Essential Question in three workshops around every show:

An introductory in-school workshop
A pre-show workshop at A.R.T. with another Learning Lab school, followed by dinner and a performance
A post-show, in-school, workshop led by students for them to unpack their own perspectives and those of others

Learning Lab students see every show in our season at evening performances and sit alongside the general audience, instead of attending a morning matinee designated for school groups. This builds their familiarity with theatergoing and their sense of belonging at the theater. To increase accessibility, A.R.T. provides a pre-show dinner onsite and transportation between the schools and the theater.

When we attend a performance, we aren’t impacted only by what we see onstage, but also by our fellow audience members. The Lab’s students will diversify A.R.T.’s audience in multiple dimensions, turning our theater into a space for intergenerational dialogue among people with different lived experiences and perspectives. Empathy is a necessary tool for responsible democratic participation, and that’s what we can cultivate with this model.

Associate Artistic Director Dayron J. Miles

Four students in a dimly lit room gather around a podium with sticky notes spread across it. — *The Lavine Learning Lab uses each A.R.T. production as the foundation for three student workshops that bridge the arts, humanities, and social and emotional learning. Photo: A Priori Photography.*

A teacher sitting at table in a glass-walled room gestures as she speaks with another teacher. Two more teachers stand behind them speaking. — *Teachers from participating schools take part in the Professional Learning Community. Photo: A Priori Photography.*

In addition to the student experience, two educators from each participating school join the Professional Learning Community (PLC) for ongoing collaborative learning and professional development.

A.R.T. facilitated a pilot with six public high schools during the 2023/24 school year to develop the current model; six schools are part of the 2024/25 Learning Lab.

I feel like a lot of my analytical skills have been reinforced and retaught in the Learning Lab, but I’ve also taken the vulnerability that I feel when I’m in the Lab and applied it to other parts of my life. This experience has provided me with opportunities to speak up for myself and to share my opinion, which has made me a stronger and more confident person.

Malden High School student Addison McWayne