Teaching Artist and Administrator

For ten years I worked at CLIMB Theatre, an award-winning theatre for youth in the Twin Cities—first as a teaching artist, and then making my way to the position of Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education. CLIMB uses applied theatre practice and works collaboratively with partners to create age-appropriate theatrical experiences. I designed the educational programming and assisted in the development of eight to ten new works annually. I served as the primary grant writer and oversaw the evaluation of all programs and services, and was directly tasked with helping to shape the company's vision.

As Education Director I was tasked with hiring, training, and mentoring a diverse team of teaching artists. I created and facilitated a broad range of curriculum from traditional theatre skills courses (such as improv classes) to devising new work with students to even using theatre to help teach about water conservation. I worked with a broad range of student populations from preschool to elders and persons of all abilities.

Outside of CLIMB, I interned at Children's Theatre Company and worked as a freelance teaching artist for Constellation Stage and Screen. At the collegiate level, I have taught multiple courses at Indiana University for the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance.

CLIMB instilled in me a philosophy of radical play that shapes all that I do. This idea asserts that through playful acts tangible change can be made. I believe theatre, by its very nature, encourages a sense of curiosity and empathy that creates better, more engaged individuals. It is not a privilege of a select few, but rather a craft anyone can learn and develop to explore humanity, bring joy, and create change.

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Experience

2021-2024

Indiana University

Bloomington, IN

Graduate Assistant

Graduate Assistants are assigned various work supporting IU’s Department of Theatre and Contemporary Dance, but primarily serving as teaching assistants and associate instructors. I served as Professor of Record for the following courses:

Fundamentals of Acting (three sections): instruct non-majors on the basics of Stanislavski’s system and introduce students to the craft of acting
Acting 1 for Majors (one section): instruct majors on the basics of Stanislavski’s systems, introduce majors to various western theatre teachings (Strasberg, Meisner, Adler, Hendricks), and expand each student's physical, vocal, and imaginative resources
Acting II: Scene study course rooted in Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting and delving deeply in acting for contemporary realism

2022-2023

Constellation Stage and Screen

Bloomington, IN

Lead Instructor

Hired as a Lead Instructor to run weeklong summer camps including: Improv and Comedy for Teens, Theatre for Teens, Comedy for Kids, Theatre for Kids, and Theatre for Littles. Responsibilities included:

Writing lesson plans
Creating final sharing
Supervising one-two assistants/interns
Childcare and supervision
Communicating with parents

Additionally hired as a teaching artist for the The Indiana Educator Fellowship for Creative Teaching, a collaboration between Constellation and Teacher at White River Valley Middle School to use theatre to support her Language Arts lessons. Duties included:

Attending trainings provided by the state in creative teaching
Creating curriculum in collaboration between Constellation and White River Valley Middle School
Writing and leading lesson plans in support of the teacher's classroom learning outcomes and activities

2011-2021

CLIMB Theatre

Inver Grove Heights, MN

Associate Artistic Director and

Director of Education

The Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education (May 2013-August 2021) is responsible for the overall educational quality of CLIMB’s interactive plays and classes. Central to this work is recruiting, managing, and growing a skilled team of actor-educators, and developing and overseeing CLIMB’s curriculum. Additional duties include:

Researching, designing, and writing arts and applied arts curriculum and support materials
Collaborating with partner organizations to create programming to meet their specific goals
Producing between ten-fourteen plays
Directing a minimum of four plays annually
Developing evaluation tools and analyze data
Managing and design grant activities and report on accomplishments

As an Outreach Coordinator (May 2012-May 2013), my responsibilities included:

Providing excellent customer service
Meeting and exceeding team sales goals
Creating and nurturing strategic partnerships
Communicating residency information to the artistic department
Participating in creation and execution of marketing strategies

As a Team Lead Actor-Educator (August 2011-May 2012), my responsibilities included writing and leading applied theatre lessons for students in grades PK-12 and adults on topics from bullying prevention to theatre skills to character development topics, like empathy. For this position I received 16 days of training in teacher persona, classroom management, questioning technique, direction giving, improvisation, customer service, and theatre in non-traditional spaces.

2010-2011

Children's Theatre Company

Minneapolis, MN

Interim Teaching Arts Training Education Manager

As the Interim Teaching Arts Training Education Manager (January-May 2011) I assisted in the administration of the Children’s Theatre Theatre Arts Training program by submitting payroll for 10 teaching artists, coordinating rehearsal spaces for 15 CTC classes, created daily reports, communicating to parents, and ensuring the safety of 200 children.

As the Theatre Arts Training Intern (September 2010-January 2011) I served as teaching assistant for various theatre arts classes, including: beginning theatre, musical theatre, dance, improvisation, early childhood theatre, and advanced theatre courses. Led warm ups and facilitated exercises with CTC teaching artists in team-teaching approach.