TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Understanding Theatre -- Theatre 101, Prairie State College (Fall 2014 - Fall 2018)
This course is a survey of theatre arts including a study of aesthetic and dramatic principles in selected plays, analysis of representative theatrical forms for callout and social significance, critiques of theatre performances, and an overview of stage formats and technology.
Research Writing In the Social Sciences -- WRIT 102, Benedictine University (Spring 2014 - Fall 2018)
A course that introduces students to writing in the discipline of social science. Students study types of writing in the discipline, use advanced library research techniques, write brief literature reviews, and develop and write significant research papers.
Playwriting -- Chicago Academy for the Arts (Fall 2017)
This writing course allows students to workshop and complete two short scripts, a five-minute and a ten-minute play. Students study the elements of dramatic structure, and apply those tools to their own storytelling technique. The course culminates in a public presentation of the students' short work.
Director, Antigone -- National High School Institute (Summer 2017)
Through the rehearsal process, students involved in the National High School Institute develop their craft via acting exercises, theatre games, and heightened text work to produce a dramatic story using devised movement, an understanding of dramatic structure, and considered acting choices.
The Secrets To Shakespeare -- Elective Course, National High School Institute (Summer 2017)
This course will reveal the textual clues and staging techniques that help actors understand Shakespeare's language. Students will play a variety of speeches and scenes in order to bring the Bard's work to life.
Write Short Plays In a Short Amount of Time -- Elective Course, National High School Institute (Summer 2017)
How do playwrights create character-based conflict using dialogue and plot? How does a story onstage differ from film or literature? This class is centered on the development of students' own short plays, allowing them to discover their own theatrical voices.
Person In Community: Writing Colloquium -- WRIT 101, Benedictine University (Fall 2014 - Spring 2016)
A first-year writing-intensive skills course whose content focuses on Benedictine University and its mission of higher learning grounded in the liberal arts and guided by its Benedictine Heritage and Catholic tradition. Students will be introduced to the theme of “Person in Community,” which unites the Cultural Heritage sequence of courses. Readings will encourage students to understand, discuss, and write about issues of contemporary relevance. Emphasis on writing and revising argumentative essays, grammar review, basic library research skills, and textual analysis.
The Mediterranean World -- Humanities 220, Benedictine University (Fall 2014)
Studies the ancient cultures located around the Mediterranean Sea and the contributions they made to the development of western civilizations to about 500 A.D. Drawing upon the resources of the Catholic and Benedictine traditions, the course explores the theme of "person in community" as reflected in religion, art, philosophy, and social, political, and economic institutions.
Theatre History -- THE 3600 WI, Aurora University (Fall 2013)
This course will provide an overview of theatre history from Antiquity through the Renaissance, exploring the highlights of different periods of history through the study of plays and their playwrights, acting styles, staging conventions, architecture and costuming.
Empathetic Playwriting Intensive Course -- Silk Road Rising (Winter - Spring 2013)
EPIC is a sixteen-week arts residency program designed to bridge the gap between students' imagination and the act of articulating that vision as a complete story in a ten-minute play. Based on Common Core Learning Standards, EPIC is designed to improve students' capacity to read, write, listen, and speak. Additionally, EPIC has a strong focus on cultivating and heightening the attribute of empathy in students.
Fundamentals of Playwriting -- THAR 151, Ohio University (Spring 2012)
This class serves as an introduction to theories of playwriting in particular, and dramatic writing in general. Students will be expected to complete one ten-minute play in addition to several shorter writing projects. All writing projects are assigned so that you can work towards a mastery of the playwriting theories presented in this class.
Theatre History -- THAR 271, Ohio University (Winter 2012)
_Development of theater and drama from the Early Modern period through the emergence of Realism in the 19th Century. Lecture and discussion.
The Theatrical Experience -- THAR 170, Ohio University (Fall 2010)
Exploration of the nature and function of theater as art form through
exploration of performer/space/audience interrelationship. Attendance
at selected rehearsals and performances of Ohio University Theater
productions in tandem with lectures, discussion sessions and guest speakers.
Musical Theatre Camp Performance Workshops, Assistant Director -- Northlight Theatre (Summer 2006)
Camp highlights include: core classes that advance the skills of campers in acting, singing, and movement; electives that introduce campers to playwriting and improvisation; and meetings with teaching artists that give students insight into the professional theatre world.
Assistant Director, A Midsummer Night's Dream -- Walking the Dog Theatre (Spring 2006)
Through acting exercises, speech/voice work, and theater games, as well as through the rehearsal process itself, the students involved in the Shakespeare in Schools Program acquire skills that enable them to communicate constructively, take responsibility for their actions and reactions in a larger context, and celebrate the uniquely human ability to create.
GUEST LECTURER/EDUCATOR EXPERIENCE
Play Respondent, Big Muddy New Plays Festival -- Southern Illinois University (Spring 2013)
A play festival comprised of an evening of shorts, several full-length readings, and talk-backs with the guest respondent after each performance.