TEACHING STATEMENT
Since 2011, I have worked professionally as a teaching artist and educator in a large range of settings with a wide range of students.
A few highlights:
I spent six years as a professional teaching artist in Chicago working with Lookingglass Theatre, Adventure Stage Chicago, and Northlight Theatre.
I have taught residencies of ten weeks or more at nine K-12 schools in Chicago and Phoenix.
I have taught multi-week residencies with over fifty unique classrooms of K-12 students including thirty public school classrooms.
I have developed tailored, original curriculum in acting, character development, playwriting, adaptation, and devising for each of my residencies, specializing in arts integration.
For Global Voices Initiative, I taught in three different high schools and two different languages (French and Spanish) connecting high schoolers in the United States to their high school collaborators in Casablanca, Morocco, and Bogotá, Columbia.
I have also taught at the collegiate level through Arizona State University, Wilbur Wright College (City Colleges of Chicago) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) at their Chicago campus.
As a director, teacher, and community-engaged artist my work draws strength from the following core values:
Collaboration. I believe that the best answer lies not with individuals but in the group. In the theatre, where we are all painting on one big canvas, you have to let go of your own ego in able to become part of a greater and more beautiful whole, a process that can feel both glorious and challenging.
Listening. The more I work the more I see how much of my task is deep listening, not just to what people are saying but to what is left unsaid. Listening at this level allows me (and those around me) to understand when to move on, when to take time, and what everyone in the room needs to thrive in the moment.
Community. I affirm that diversity in many forms is a strength. My collaborations strive to celebrate differences, while holding interconnectedness, believing that complexity of identity in all forms is an asset, and that people are valuable. I actively think about how to help artists feel empowered and valued throughout every stage of our collective investigation on any project, whether in a private classroom or on a public stage.
Immersion. I believe that one of the strengths of art making is to awaken more fully to the present moment, and that ultimately our work as artists is to uncover what is lying dormant, ready to be born. Uncovering can only happen when we celebrate our embodied experience and practice mindful awareness and loving kindness with both ourselves and others.
A few highlights:
I spent six years as a professional teaching artist in Chicago working with Lookingglass Theatre, Adventure Stage Chicago, and Northlight Theatre.
I have taught residencies of ten weeks or more at nine K-12 schools in Chicago and Phoenix.
I have taught multi-week residencies with over fifty unique classrooms of K-12 students including thirty public school classrooms.
I have developed tailored, original curriculum in acting, character development, playwriting, adaptation, and devising for each of my residencies, specializing in arts integration.
For Global Voices Initiative, I taught in three different high schools and two different languages (French and Spanish) connecting high schoolers in the United States to their high school collaborators in Casablanca, Morocco, and Bogotá, Columbia.
I have also taught at the collegiate level through Arizona State University, Wilbur Wright College (City Colleges of Chicago) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) at their Chicago campus.
As a director, teacher, and community-engaged artist my work draws strength from the following core values:
Collaboration. I believe that the best answer lies not with individuals but in the group. In the theatre, where we are all painting on one big canvas, you have to let go of your own ego in able to become part of a greater and more beautiful whole, a process that can feel both glorious and challenging.
Listening. The more I work the more I see how much of my task is deep listening, not just to what people are saying but to what is left unsaid. Listening at this level allows me (and those around me) to understand when to move on, when to take time, and what everyone in the room needs to thrive in the moment.
Community. I affirm that diversity in many forms is a strength. My collaborations strive to celebrate differences, while holding interconnectedness, believing that complexity of identity in all forms is an asset, and that people are valuable. I actively think about how to help artists feel empowered and valued throughout every stage of our collective investigation on any project, whether in a private classroom or on a public stage.
Immersion. I believe that one of the strengths of art making is to awaken more fully to the present moment, and that ultimately our work as artists is to uncover what is lying dormant, ready to be born. Uncovering can only happen when we celebrate our embodied experience and practice mindful awareness and loving kindness with both ourselves and others.
