I am a teacher and an artist, and I am proud to be both. Since a young age, I have considered education to be my calling, and some of my most rewarding experiences over the past two decades have involved teaching and directing undergraduate students; I have even chosen professional directing projects like Dog Sees God as a means to continue to work with young actors in non-academic settings. I thoroughly enjoy the vast rewards of sharing my knowledge and experience with my students, by learning from them and growing with them, and I consider this to be the primary responsibility of a successful university educator.

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The best outcome of my career in academia would be to instill a lifelong love of learning in my students that crosses disciplines and encourages them to take charge of their own education in active, creative ways. Such empowerment and ownership of their learning process transforms the college/university experience into a springboard for the rest of their lives and provides them with valuable human context for the information they have studied. I am interested in teaching methods of thinking and habits of regular inquiry; encouraging students to ask more questions is far more valuable than training them to find the “right” answers.

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Students learn best by doing, and no discipline exemplifies this more clearly than the arts; therefore, I advocate a philosophy of activity-based, goal-oriented, collaborative hands-on learning, even in text-based literature and history courses. 

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I combine rigorous intellectual scholarship with professional production experience in my classroom, regardless of the course topic. While some critics continually lament the “death of the theatre,” I am perpetually surprised by its ever-evolving potential to enchant, educate, and edify both artists and audiences alike. I am always eager to share this passion with my students and can only hope that some of it passes on to them in their own lives. University instructors have a responsibility to be positive role models, and I welcome the opportunity to advise and mentor majors and non-majors in personalized one-on-one interactions as they explore a variety of career options in and beyond the performing arts.  

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I embrace a company model of performing arts education and am dedicated to the theatrical process as much as the finished product. The most important thing I can teach an emerging artist is how to recognize and nurture his/her own artistic method and technique. I am more concerned about my students discovering their own voices than mimicking mine; by doing so, I can bridge the gap between teaching theatre and making theatre. Further, this extends the study of the arts into their everyday lives, expanding their awareness of their own humanity and their place in the global community.

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Theatre Studies Courses
As an instructor of Theatre Studies courses like Introduction to Theatre, Dramatic Literature, and Theatre History, I concentrate on using theatre texts (both written and performed) to cultivate skills in critical thinking, textual analysis, formal and informal writing across the curriculum, spoken communication, and modes of creative interpretation that extend into students’ work as performers, directors, writers, and designers. By exposing students to the many literary, historical, cultural, and performative aspects of dramatic expression, they can become better suited to the study of the liberal arts and use theatre as a springboard for important discussions about politics, science, literature, philosophy, psychology, and sociology, among other disciplines.

 

Therefore, when developing my curricula and syllabi, I try to keep in mind that a significant percentage of students may have little to no previous experience as theatre artists or audience members, and I strive to develop an open dialogue with them about their conceptions and misconceptions.  

 

Also, in order to convey the active visual nature of theatre, I utilize a variety of traditional and emerging media resources and interactive class activities that introduce them to exciting, entertaining, and thought-provoking examples of the best (and even the worst) of theatre. In these courses, I am especially eager to consider the benefits of incorporating (and perhaps developing) interactive e-textbooks with expansive multimedia capabilities into class syllabi and departmental curricula.

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Performance Courses
As an instructor of acting and directing, I focus my attention on in-class exercises and scene assignments and always attempt to impart a spirit of learning by doing, which also means creating the classroom/rehearsal hall as a safe space in which students can take risks and are free to fail. In addition to teaching student actors a strong foundation of technique based in Stanislavskian “truth,” I encourage them to explore more abstract modes of expression and imagination through community and ensemble work derived from my Viewpoints and Composition training with Anne Bogart.

 

While Beginning Acting and Intermediate Acting courses are grounded in making strong, bold choices and being in the moment, whether by oneself or with a scene partner, my Advanced Acting courses explore stylistic versatility through the basics of classical forms like Shakespeare (derived from my own training with RSC actor Jane Lapotaire), commedia dell’arte, and Restoration comedy (among others). I also build practical skills like audition preparation, Equity rehearsal standards, choosing headshots into these courses so that students can compete realistically in the professional theatre once they have graduated.

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Beginning Directing courses incorporate exercises that instill the foundations of basic stage composition, dynamic blocking, rehearsal planning/management, and building strong directorial concepts through in-depth text analysis, research, and imagination. While scene work is an integral part of all of my directing courses, Advanced Directing is designed as a practical scene study workshop, with a variety of assigned styles, including musical theatre. I also like to share at least one assignment between my Advanced Directing and Intermediate Acting students so that the student actors audition for the student directors and their scene work together is a shared assignment. The best format for this is to create a final public showcase at the end of the semester, to which audience members are invited to see and support students’ work.