Theatre is a site for building interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. It also engenders what educator Paul Freire called “thinking that is concerned about reality.” Coming to these realizations over the course of my graduate education, my passion shifted from undergraduate teaching to the education of children. The end of a theatre education should be much more than a mere appreciation of the performing arts. It should be the application of essential life skills, from literacy to the sciences, from safe, constructive emotional expression to critical thinking. Theatre is a rehearsal for reality, the development of strategies for lifelong success.

 

I have worked closely with area teachers and principals in forming goals and lesson plans for the Kokomo Summer Drama Camp, a program I have run for 17 years. These educators, who shared their time, concerns, and passions, imparted in me a love for diverse learning environments, in which students with unique problems or challenges work alongside gifted or academically successful students. As someone who grew up with unique challenges, I am especially devoted to telling stories that demystify the learning process in a way that children can understand and come to own. Diverse environments such as these have required me to adapt and compose theatrical works geared directly to my students. Borrowing from recent advancements in drama therapy and outreach theatre has led me to believe the best educational theatre is “of, by, and for” the students creating it.

 

Of great concern has been the development of multiple literacies through theatre. The basis of this is writing and reading literacy, one of the most essential life. Theatre also develops emotional literacy, in which the safe, constructive expression of feelings is rehearsed and applied. Theatre also fosters social literacy, the building of team skills, leadership, conflict resolution, and a foundation for successful, interpersonal relationships.

 

Much of this vision was realized during my tenure with the Kokomo Summer Drama Camp, 27 years of work in children's theatre, Ivy Tech Community College, and countless workshops with inner city students in the eastern US. I seek to realize this vision on a larger scale, reaching out to teachers of the sciences, math, and history to make theatre a richer interdisciplinary site. Theatre is the best positioned of the art forms to find and nurture new learning modes, thereby fostering a love of learning, improvement in standardized test scores, and a cooperative educational plan, built with student and parental input.  An educator’s ongoing resolution is to learn, and only in so doing, teach others. I seek an environment where perceptions such as mine are celebrated values. I use the stage to close the gap between knowledge and application.

 

A theatre educator constantly performs both the process and result of learning. Rather than simply making a subject of passing interest, I work to engender lifelong passion and model a finely-tuned, expeditious method of applying what is learned in the classroom. This allows me to show that skills developed through theatre are transferable to all venues of life. One does not just teach theatre; theatre itself teaches. It teaches essential technical, creative, and trade skills key to successful adult life. I believe the venue of formal education is the next logical step in realizing my goals as a theatre educator.