Toys as Teachers | An Interview with Jonathan Alexandratos
By: Wyckham Avery
Tags: Art Education, Toys, Teachers, Art Educator, Theatre Education

by Laura Butchy

📷 by Jonathan Alexandratos.

Jonathan Alexandratos is a New York City-based playwright and educator who also happens to be a huge fan of toys — toys which they often incorporate into their teaching to create inspiration for imaginative storytelling. An instructor at Queensborough Community College, Alexandratos has had plays produced at the NY International Fringe Festival, the Pop Culture Association Conference, the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, the Ingram New Works Lab at Nashville Repertory Theatre, the Abingdon Theatre Company, and Truant Arts. A member of the Queens writers’ collective Mission to (dit)Mars, Alexandratos’s most recent play, “Toys 101: The Last Class,” is an interactive show that reveals how storytelling, toys, and dialogue can help us to build community and hope. Incite/Insight spoke with them about their work at the intersection of education and imaginative play, as well as the challenges of virtual teaching.

Laura Butchy: Describe for us how you incorporate storytelling and toys into your teaching practice.

Jonathan Alexandratos: Toys are a fantastic classroom tool because (a) everyone knows what they are, and (b) people are often pleasantly surprised that we’re actually going to take time out of our academic day to play with them. Of course, it’s not unstructured play (though nothing wrong with that either). I start off with a story, usually “Barbie-Q” by Sandra Cisneros, to demonstrate how an author might make toys into a very personal, emotional story. Then, we play with some toys I bring in (one per student), and the students write their own toy stories based on the toys they have. I get some wildly creative and wonderful responses. I find that when students are really excited about the writing they’re doing, the writing just blossoms.

LB: How do the use of theatre and toys help students to explore identity?

JA: Not all [students] internalize their storytelling like that, but, in some cases (and in my own case), there are hints (or more than hints) of identity in the stories students come up with. For example, when a student wrote a story about her action figure of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, she told the tale of a woman locked inside The Rock’s body, and she’s the “real good” wrestler, but The Rock gets all the credit. This might have had nothing to do with her identity in any way, but I could see how she might at least relate to the feeling of being incredibly good at something only to watch someone else take the credit.

LB: Tell us about your show “Toys 101: The Last Class.” What inspired you to create it?

JA: When I was 31, I was left with the realization that everything I had been reading about being Non-Binary and being Trans and being Queer in some way applied to me. That’s based on a deep, emotional response to what I had been reading about. Of course, the problem with deep, emotional responses is that they often leave you with less certainty, rather than more. Emotions don’t come with words. We assign words to the feelings, but that search for words can be really tough…. I felt strongly that I’m Non-Binary, but where do I find the words? Well, why not ask the things that have been with me my entire life: my toys.

So I basically did the same exercise I give my students…. Once I started looking at my own toy stories, I started to find the beginning of an answer. I’m still trying to find the right words, but “TOYS 101”brought me closer, and the toys supplied me with the vocabulary…. For instance, the heavily binary Barbie/Hot Wheels Happy Meal from McDonald’s (which was even more binary in the ’90s) gives me a toy, a Barbie, that was forbidden. When I talk to that Barbie, we talk about why that toy was forbidden, and how that [forbiddenness] constructed an identity in my mind that didn’t feel like it truly fit.

LB: Life has changed dramatically since we first spoke about this interview, and social distancing and stay-at-home orders have transformed teaching. How have you and your students adjusted to virtual learning?

JA: They have tackled it with every tool they have. I offer about an hour of empathic synchronous learning followed by an hour of individual work per section. I say “empathic synchronous learning” because it’s easy to assume synchronous learning means that, if you’re not there in the first five minutes, I mark you late or absent, and if your computer cuts out or you don’t have the needed tech, then you’re just out of luck, and that is absolutely NOT how I run my classroom….

Empathy is important, now more than ever. Without empathy, the students can’t open the pathways needed to learn because they’re just worried the whole time about meeting a set of strict rules that, at the end of the day, don’t connect to absorbing new knowledge, which is the ultimate goal. I want to make distance learning as open to actual learning as possible. They’re doing great with that.

LB: In March you livestreamed “Toys 101: The Last Class” on Facebook, keeping it interactive. Do you have more plans for offering elements of your theatre online?

JA: I’m thinking about it. I’ve been learning a lot by failing a lot. I think online presentations need to be–generally–short and direct about what they want their audience to do. The amount of relief I feel when someone tells me they just need me for 15 minutes is immeasurable after a day attached to my screen. When I figure out how best to work within that constraint in a way that is engaging, I’ll do more.

LB: Storytelling, imagination, and toys now seem even more important. What do they offer in the age of social distancing?

JA: The pandemic has left us all…tired. We may want to write, but we’re not motivated to. There are so many ideas, and so much going on, and it’s all draining. Well, pick up a toy you’ve had since you were a kid. Write the story of that toy. You never know what you’ll come up with. And beyond all of this, they’re just fun. Pure fun. It’s good to have objects whose purpose is fun, especially now.

Laura Butchy is an educator who has taught theatre and the arts to New York City students of all ages. A dramaturg for a variety of venues, she also serves as vice president of the New York College English Association and has written for American Theatre and other publications.

Jonathan Alexandratos

Learn more about Jonathan and their work on the New Play Exchange website.

The interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Now it’s your turn! What do you think? Comment, react, share.