Theatre education has always been more than the study of a methodology or the practice of a technique. While necessary, I believe these are simply tools for discovering the student's authentic self — an understanding and commitment to honoring their most vulnerable, intuitive inner life.

This discovery of self unlocks the student's ability to understand not only who they are individually but also their shared understanding of each other. To quote Oscar Wilde, “I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” Indeed, theatre scholars believe that performance comes from our human need to connect — to share stories, imagine, experience other people's experiences, learn, cry, and laugh together. While students approach this work believing they are training to create a character in pursuit of becoming someone else, they soon come to realize, through my approach to the art form, that this course of study is much more about dismantling a character (the version of themselves they project to the world) in pursuit of becoming their most authentic self.

As an artist who chooses to teach, I see myself first and foremost as a collaborator — a partner in exploring the process of discovering one’s authentic self through a multi-sensory experience of self-expression, self-discovery, and transformation. I first begin with demystifying the process of creating theater. Simultaneously, I take on the role of learner myself — a student of the student — in order to build a meaningful relationship with each member of the class, which allows me to discover the exceptional array of psychological, physical, and emotional responses to the work being explored. This, in turn, reveals where the student is in their process of uncovering their authentic selves. It also helps reveal the individualized critiques, feedback, encouragement, techniques, and exercises I must employ to advance their discovery. This process demands great vulnerability, and yet vulnerability is often avoided at all costs by adolescents. Through the celebration of curiosity, joy, and humor — oftentimes laughing at ourselves — I am able to disarm resistance and develop a relationship and educational environment founded on trust.

Once the student has bought in to this process of discovery, I have found that they yield not only increased ability in the art form (mistakenly considered the elusive development of “talent”), but more importantly increased cross-curricular skill development, retention, and integration. By nature, the performing arts liberate students from anxiety and fear — something too often experienced in an academic setting — by offering an environment where there is no right or wrong, and therefore no possibility of failure. This discovery process and sense of freedom invites students to engage with their artistic, personal, and academic worlds physically and creatively, resulting in newfound perspectives that become ingrained into the students’ beings. 


Engaging in this work through the highest standards in pursuit of artistic excellence allows students to realize the achievements and high cross-curricular returns that come from approaching theatre in this way. Although I emphasize project-based, experiential, and interdisciplinary learning, expanding the student’s capacity to think critically and solve problems creatively, it is not enough to simply try an exercise or attempt an activity; one must continually and actively be striving for excellence. Through this commitment, oftentimes meaningful struggle, and eventual success, students come to believe that they are capable with every fiber of their beings. Obtaining such success and then reflecting on how they arrived there is a process that becomes ingrained, transferable, and vital to their future achievement in any arena. Therefore, while this work may very well inspire students to continue this course of study in college, it will always produce a more authentic, empathetic, and connected human-being.