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Last September, I attended a journalism conference in Los Angeles hosted by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. I've been teaching journalism for more than 15 years and this seemed just the ticket to add something new to an old bag of tricks.
 I was fascinated with the ability to combine theater and journalism to create a program of sensitivity training for student reporters. It was a high concept in a time of low media respect.
When I returned to Pierce College, a two-year community college, I contacted the theater instructor, Patrick Daugherty, and described the presentation. He too was fascinated and so we arranged a meeting with Jim Boggs, owner of EffectiveArts in Seattle, a for-profit acting troupe that has worked closely with the University of Washington and the Dart Center.
The three of us hammered out a plan and then Patrick and I dug deep into our respective budgets to hire EffectiveArts to spearhead the program.
 On Jan. 13, Jim drove down to Lakewood and met with the acting students, while Roger Simpson and Migael Scherer of the Dart Center met with my class of 22 newswriting students.
I had been just a little apprehensive about launching this plan. This program is something used by the advanced reporting students at the UW; how would it impact my little band of remedial reporters at the community college level?
It could not have gone better. The students absolutely drank in the Dart Center presentation by Roger and Migael, and pummeled them with questions (and commentary) about how reporters should approach victims of a traumatic event. Over in the theater, Jim had Patrick's students revved up and eager to play out their parts.
The next day, we talked about what we had learned from the Dart Center, and so were well prepared for the events of Jan. 15.
On that day, the acting and newswriting students assembled in the theater and were introduced to the primary players: Jim and four other actors from EffectiveArts, and one of Patrick's students.
We started with a quick briefing of the scenario: an apartment house fire. Then the students were divided into four teams of four or five students each. The newswriting students interviewed "victims" of the fire while the acting students observed the professional actors.
 At the whistle, one reporting student had five minutes to conduct an interview with a different victim. At the next whistle, they stopped the interview and the reporters had two minutes to talk about what had happened with a coach. Then the whistle blew again and they were off to the next station, with another reporting student interviewing another victim.
Each station brought a new challenge. For example, a building manager had a secret about missed fire inspections. At another the student met a woman whose husband had been killed while trying to rescue someone in the burning building; at another was a young man (affectionately nicknamed "psycho guy" by the student reporters) who kept interrupting the interview with a story about government cover-ups.
At the end of this exercise, everyone met with the actors to get their feedback on how the reporters had done. The actors had an educational component built into their gig: they responded in different ways to different reporters, based on how that reporter treated them or what kinds of questions were asked. It was improv in both directions, with the actors reacting to the reporters, and the reporters thinking fast on their feet with each new interview.
The last segment was a kind of free-for-all. The acting students now had a chance to play the roles of additional victims or witnesses, while the reporters roamed around the theater, seeking out information.
 "We got to see what it would be like to be there and try to sort through the info, and the acting class got a little feedback on their ability to act in these roles," one of my students said of the event.
"I must say that it was a nerve-racking, thumb-biting, edge-of-your-seat experience, and I completely enjoyed every minute," another commented. "It was an excellent learning tool to view things in action first-hand. I enjoyed myself immensely."
I must add that, from a selfish point of view, this was a goal I had, for members of the media-bashing public to see first-hand what reporters face on a daily basis to fulfill the promise of a democratic society.
"Learning how to interview people that have been in a life-altering event has really opened my eyes on how hard it is to be a good investigative reporter," one student said. "Thank you for the chance to see what an investigative reporter can go through in doing a story of this type."
Another student added, "The exercise we did with the Dart Center helped me understand the difficulties faced in a trauma for both the victim and the journalist."
It was a phenomenal experience for both groups, and one Patrick and I hope to continue each quarter. Our goal will be reach out to the local community, bringing in crisis counselors, for example, to help facilitate the sensitivity training, while perhaps training local actors to carry on the great work of the EffectiveArts actors.
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