Directing for Youth 

I possess over a decade of experience teaching theatre to K-12. I specialize in arts integration, devised theatre, playwriting, and improvisational acting for youth. I am committed to inclusion, equity, representation, integrity, as well as attention to technique and professional development.

 Theatre holds transformation powers in the practice of empathy, confidence building, and interpersonal communication. My time as a teaching artist taught me everything I know about creating a safe and inclusive space for students to thrive in. As I create curriculum, I focus on how to infuse drama work with transferable skills. I subscribe to the practices of Augusto Boal, Michael Rohd, Jonathan Neeland, and Viola Spolin in my technique when structuring theatre exercises designed for the classroom and rehearsal space. 

 I most recently served Stages Bloomington Youth Theatre as Education and Curriculum Specialist. I have worked as a teaching artist for La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Playwrights Project, Art for Learning SD, Childsplay Tempe, Scottsdale Arts, and Arts for Lawrence. With Arts for Learning San Diego, I led as their resident theatre mentor for two seasons of cohorts, training five emerging teaching artists in practice and pedagogy through a curriculum system that focused on improvisational acting. This 11-week experience mirrored the kind of teacher-training I facilitated while teaching undergraduates at San Diego State University, through classroom observations, feedback sessions, evaluations, planning meetings, and resource sharing. 

I have extensive experience with National Core Arts Standards. In 2016, I presented an interactive workshop entitled Problem Solving through Theatre: Learning 21st Century Skills via the Dramatic Arts through the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association. I collaborated with the Education Director of La Jolla Playhouse to bring our codified practices to the state’s large-scale collaboration. I was able to connect with many classroom teachers hungry to incorporate the arts into their daily curriculum and with theatre teachers looking to expand their breadth of knowledge.

I am fortunate to have created theatrical productions from page to stage as well as published musicals such as The Lightning Thief, Seussical Jr., etc. I love adapting children's literature into one-act plays! Directing youth requires the skills of a teaching artist, first and foremost, paired with directorial methods necessary to prepare these young actors for live performance.

 Where I thrive is in connecting with and impacting youth and aspiring educators.