Educator
Winner - Graduate Student Teaching Award, Kent State University
Improvisation
Along with being a performer for many years, I have been teaching improvisation informally since my time in undergrad and formally since 2008. I have taught adults in classes offered by comedy theatres, high schoolers in after school programs and a 15-week academic course at Kent State University. In addition to teaching improvisation as a performance skill, I have also taught and developed many workshops that use improvisation as a problem-solving, conflict management, team-building and even interviewing skill. Check out this video of a lesson I taught to my class at Kent State University for an idea of how I teach improv.
“I left every class with a better understanding of the material, on top of a better understanding of life in general.”
— Student Evaluation Comment, The Art of Theatre, Fall 2020, Kent State University
Acting
Although my prime focus through out my teaching career has been improvisation, in my own practice as a performer my acting has influenced my improv and my improv has influenced my acting. These videos show points of intersection in my practice and how I use them while teaching.
For more information on my interests and how they intersect please read my Research Statement
Using suggestions from an ‘audience’ to build given circumstances in an open/contentless scene.
Why I believe improvisation is an essential part of an acting program.
“Improvisation was very helpful.”
A brief lecture on the development of Expressionism and Expressionist Theatre.
Lectures
I am a self-confessed nerd about history, and in particular art history. Art is a reflection of life, history and the world at large. To truly understand an art movement or a piece of art, it is essential to understand the world which gave birth to that movement. This is just a brief lecture on Expressionism and Expressionist Theatre, but I really could go on and on about history and art and how they have both shaped our current world immeasurably.
“The depth of each different style of theatre was clearly brought out in this course and we were made to think deeply about each one.”
— Student Evaluation, The Art of Theatre, Kent State University, Spring 2021
