It is a very simple principle often taken for granted: teach to your students. In my 13-year career as a credentialed theater teacher I have had the privilege of working alongside some of the finest theater educators and teaching artists in the country. I have also witnessed many unsuccessful classes led by teachers moving through their curriculum, issuing information with no regard to for their student’s engagement or their retention of the concept. I refer to this as teaching at, not to, your students.

 

There are many factors that must be considered to maximize the rigor and success of a theater course. Chief among them is that curriculum must be designed to cater to the unique and diverse group of students in the space. I evaluate the experience levels of each student, their backgrounds, as well as each of their goals for the process in order to cater my work to every individual young artist. It is the responsibility of a teacher to educate, embolden and inspire each of their students. Every young person has the right to arts education to experience the incredible gifts ranging from self-awareness, reflection, and communication skills, to teamwork, empathy and self-confidence. Each lesson I present is reinforced to identify real-world applications and skills.

 

Similar to the theory of Seven Learning Styles, no one approach to theater will work for every student. I do not teach a specific school of theater, rather I expose student-actors to a variety of techniques and schools of thought to allow them to personally choose what works best for their process. It is important to approach a character or text from many directions to explore what methods work best and to fully uncover the work. This encourages my students to utilize their own self-awareness to take ownership over their work and process. As we move more toward standardizing education, the value of theater and its emphasis on process-over-product has never been more vital to our younger generation.  

 

Within a theater classroom I strive to create an environment of mutual respect, vulnerability, truth and exploration. If theater is “finding truth in unrealistic circumstances,” then to be a three-dimensional actor you must be willing to live your life truthfully on and off stage. We create this honest environment using a mutual language of respect between teacher-to-student as well as student-to-student. All students, regardless of age are held to a professional standard. If you set the bar high, your students will always rise to meet it; this belief is a tenant of each class or production I lead. I challenge each of my students to push themselves beyond the boundaries they experience and encourage them to gain empathy for others while also exploring an understanding of themselves through acting, song and dance.