Education:

MFA    Alabama Shakespeare Festival/ Acting             

BA       Wesleyan University Theatre/Acting

Areas of Expertise:

Shakespeare: Scansion, Text Analysis, Shakespeare’s England, Performing Shakespeare, Shakespeare and his Contemporaries

Acting: Method Fusion: Based on Stanislavski

Audition Techniques: Classical and Contemporary, Sides, Singing

Movement: Laban Movement Analysis, Modified Viewpoints, Ensemble Exploration, Basic Stage Combat

Voice and Speech: Linklater Based Curriculum,  Proficient in IPA and Dialects, Basic Singing Techniques, Public Speaking

Period Acting Styles: Shakespeare, Chekhov & Ibsen, 20th Century Masters

Devised Work: Ensemble Driven, Text Based, Social Justice

Workshops:

Developed a series of unique workshops available to both practicing professionals, as well as universities and education programs.  Education partners have included Reed College, Portland State University, ARTemis and From the Ground Up.  More information about these workshops can be found here.

Selected Teaching Experience:

2017 Portland State University Portland OR
Adjunct Professor: Understanding Theater, Script Analysis
Understanding Theater: Created a ten week curriculum that began with leading students through major flash points of transformation in the Western Theatre tradition, reading definitive works from each period and discussing the ways in which the historical and social contexts in which they were written influenced each play.  We then attended multiple local productions and examined the ways in which each piece was both a product of this present moment in society as well as if and how it was influenced by earlier traditions in Western Theater.
Script Analysis: Explored fundamental principles and different theories of script analysis, that were then applied to four major plays from the past forty years.  With each play, the curriculum approached analysis from a different perspective – director, designer, actor and dramaturg – providing students with the opportunity to experience the various ways in which different members of a creative team approach realizing the story the playwright is telling.

2016 Staged! Portland, OR
Instructor: Voice and Diction
Linklater based workshop with conservatory students.  Focused on vocal production and relaxation, freeing the voice and diction, and connecting them all to the performance of complex text.

2013-2014 Profile Theatre Portland, OR
Instructor: Hands On Residencies
Led multiple long term residencies with both high school and middle school students, focused on text analysis and basic performance and design techniques, culminating in fully produced productions open to the public.

2010-2013 San Francisco Shakespeare Festival San Francisco, CA
Instructor: Midnight Shakespeare, Shakespeare Summer Camp, Tailor-Made Residencies
Worked with at-risk youth through the Midnight Shakespeare Program, using Shakespeare as a tool for empowerment, confidence, ensemble building and public speaking skills.  The program culminated in a public performance of a shortened Shakespeare play, open to the public.  With the Shakespeare Summer Camp Program, taught small groups of children 7-13 years old the basics of Shakespeare text analysis, performance and design, then rehearsed and performed a shortened version of a Shakespeare play on the final day of each two week program.  In the Tailor-Made Residency Program, collaborated with education partners to create a curriculum that would achieve their specific education goals, then taught that curriculum to students ranging in age from six to eighteen.  Curriculum for each residency was based in accessing Shakespeare’s language in a meaningful way, employing the mind/imagination, body and voice

2010-2013 Marin Theatre Company Mill Valley, CA
Instructor: Scene Study Class (Summer Camp)
Instructor: Residencies
As part of the Summer Camp Program, created and taught a two week curriculum built on introducing the fundamentals of acting.  The class culminated in a sharing of scenes from classic American plays.  Served as one of the company’s teaching artists in the Residency Program, and was placed in semester long academic classes in charter schools for at-risk youth.  Developed unique lesson progressions for each class, all rooted in integrated learning techniques that engaged students who struggled with traditional learning environments, while also fulfilling state education standards in language arts.

2012-2013 ForWords Literacy Lab/Canal Alliance San Rafael, CA
Consultant/Instructor: Afterschool Youth Scholarship Program with Canal Alliance
Collaborating with other guest artists, worked with over 30 high school students – many of whom spoke English as a second language – on presentation skills, team building, public speaking, creative and analytical writing, interview skills and more.  As a team, we helped the students apply these skills to the creation of their own documentary, I Want to Be Myself exploring issues of gender in their community.  The film premiered at the Rafael Theatre in November of 2013.

2012 Marin Shakespeare Company San Rafael, CA
Instructor: Home School Student Residency
Taught home school students, ranging in age from 7 to 12 years old, covering the fundamentals of Shakespeare and heightened language, as well as basic performance skills.  The course culminated in a fully produced performance of scenes from Shakespeare plays.

2012 Pacific Union College Angwin, CA
Guest Instructor: Shakespearean Scansion and Performance
Led a two day workshop with theatre students and theatre and language arts faculty exploring higher level Shakespearean textual analysis, and the application of this analysis to character development and performance.

2011-2012 Ross School Ross, CA
Guest Instructor: Intro to Shakespeare Unit
Supported the fifth grade teachers as they introduced their students to Shakespeare, putting on a shortened production of Macbeth.  Curriculum included very basic Shakespeare performance skills, performance and storytelling techniques, as well as public speaking and confidence building exercises.

2007-2009 Shakespeare Society New York, NY
Instructor: Shakespeare in Schools
Travelled to public high schools in all five boroughs of New York to visit English classes that were studying Shakespeare as part of their required curriculum.  The work focused on bringing Shakespeare to life by getting the students out of their seats, and encouraging them to physically and emotionally engage with the texts as actors, rather than just as students.

2006 Alabama Shakespeare Festival Montgomery, AL
Actor/Teaching Artist: School Matinee Program
Led students through an efficient and interactive curriculum aimed at familiarizing them with the plot and characters of Twelfth Night.  The workshops were taught for the duration of the season on the set of ASF’s main stage production, immediately prior to the students seeing special school day matinee performances.

2001-2002 San Domenico High School San Anselmo, CA
Assistant to the Director of the Theatre Arts Program
Instructor of Presentation Skills in the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program
Assisted on all of the full-scale productions produced by the Theatre Arts Department.  In addition, assisted with class work, was available for tutorial coaching and served as a substitute teacher when needed.  In the ESL program, worked with students mainly from South East Asia, using a curriculum focused primarily upon improving the student’s verbal communication skills in English.  Projects included both solo and group work, performing poetry, monologues and fairy tales.

For complete Curriculum Vitae, click here.