Tag Archives: instruction

Reflection on the 2023-24 School Year

I have been teaching theatre to students since 2017, which is when I worked with Youth N.O.W in Watsonville, California at a summer camp for at-risk youth. I remember an adult checking in on my class that summer to “make sure everything’s OK” and later finding out that a boy had put a “HELP US” sign in the window that she could see in the recess yard. I was so embarrassed and felt such shame. I’ve come a long way since then…

On a scale of 1-10, how are you feeling today?

Mental health and its role in theatre instruction | An acting teacher in college gave my class an assignment one time to prepare and perform a eulogy about a loved one. The instructor asked us to imagine that our loved one had died suddenly and traumatically, encouraging us to use this as fuel in our eulogies. Not yet understanding that this assignment was not normal (to say the least), my peers and I dove into our projects. We performed for each other a few weeks later, blowing snot bubbles and weeping as we imagined ourselves at our dear family and friends’ funerals. It was after I performed my eulogy (written about my then boyfriend, who is very much still alive), I realized this acting assignment didn’t feel like acting at all.