Theatre Education Experience
Professional Experience
Multilingual Theatre Project
Performed at the Student Festival at Fukuyama University
August - October 2023
A multilingual, international variety show with students speaking many languages: English, Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, Nepali, Bulgarian, Greek, and more! Students were allowed to choose whatever language they wanted to perform each role in, and multilingual subtitles were projected on the wall above the stage. For example, one Japanese student decided to perform all three of her roles in Korean, while a Chinese student performed one of her roles in English and the other in Japanese.
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Welcome in Many Languages - students introduce themselves and say a greeting in a language, the audience repeats after them.
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Momotaro, the Peach Boy - a popular Japanese folktale about a boy born from a peach who goes on to save his village from the demons in the nearby castle.
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Mulan's Reflection (Disney) - solo performance in Greek, accompanied by a karaoke track and the original Disney animation on the screen.
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The Legend of Mulan - an adaptation of the Disney movie and the Chinese international students' ideas about how the story can be abridged.
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A Halloween Puppet Show - based on the popular Japanese television act, Puppet Muppet, two students advertised their club activities and introduced the character map of Romeo and Juliet.
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Romeo & Juliet, Top Speed - a very casual adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, with 10 characters, mostly in modern speech but with some Shakespeare lines.
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Goodbye in Many Languages - students return to the stage and say a goodbye in a language, the audience repeats after them.
Field Experience at New York University
ETHNOACTOR; VERBATIM
Winter 2019
One of ten actors in the premiere cast of Making Gay History: Before Stonewall, written and directed by Professor Joe Salvatore, based on audio recordings of interviews by Eric Marcus in the 80's for his book on early LGBTQ+ activists, Making History. Verbatim Theatre attempts to recreate the speech patterns of original recorded materials, word-for-word, even breathing patterns, stutters, and filler words. The ensemble of actors become responsible for the real person they inhabit, asking the audience to see beyond the typical forms of caricature or parody.
Read More: NYU Article, Feb 2020
THEATRE CAMP COUNSELOR
May - August 2020
Worked with NYU Educational Theatre program, Looking for Shakespeare, under the direction of Professor Amy Cordileone, to create a Zoom- and green-screen-based film of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The program is made of a diverse group of high school performers from all five boroughs of New York City. Shakespeare's original text is performed with pop songs interspersed throughout, to help students and audiences connect in multiple ways to the story. Counselors worked with students in small groups to create a Zoom film adaptation and music videos.
PUPPET SHOW
September - October 2020
Returned to Indiana and collaborated with Indiana University theatre education projects during the pandemic. Co-wrote a diversity-themed halloween puppet show for young audiences. Designed and hand-made two Muppet-style puppets. Performed with undergraduate acting and theatre education students wearing masks, with an outdoor interactive audience as well as an indoor production.
FILM EDITOR
February - August 2021
When vaccinations became possible for Covid-19, it was hoped that this youth-devised theatrical production could be rehearsed on Zoom and then transition to in-person by summertime. Students created music and scenes about anti-racism, social protests, cancel-culture, and bullying. The film editing was intended to be documentary-style for the researchers and to help recreate the project in the future, but it ultimately became a pandemic theatre project-turned-film.
Field Experience at Indiana University
STUDENT TEACHING
Fall 2018
Taught five courses in Grant Steckbeck's drama classroom at Bloomington High School North, where I was lucky enough to direct a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged, Revised after school. Projects in the classes I taught included: a world theatre unit for the Advanced Theatre class, examining Shakespeare, Greek theatre, and Japanese Kabuki theatre, as well as major Shakespeare monologue projects for the advanced acting and theatre production students, and a final contemporary play dramaturgical project for theatre production.
THEATRE CAMP COUNSELOR
January 2017 - May 2017
Working with Stages of Bloomington, under Director Joshua Robinson and Assistant Director Joseph D'Ambrosi. Producing the show Wizard of Oz with two casts of elementary schoolers, about 70 children in total. Day Camp on Saturdays throughout the school year and then after-school camp in the last week before the show goes up. Supervising children in rehearsal, leading rehearsals with one cast while directors work with alternate cast.
ASSISTANT TEACHER
February 2017 - April 2017
Worked with Francesca Sobrer in her Theatre classroom, through a course at IU that gives Theatre majors who are interested in getting a Teacher Certification the opportunity to have Early Field Experience in a theatre classroom. Assisted Intro to Theatre class and Theatre Production class, and directed two 15-minute plays for the end of year gala: Cannibals by Heather Dundas, and three scenes from Fortinbras by Lee Blessing.
DRAMATURGE(RESEARCH)
December 2016 - January 2017
Production of the Michael John LaChiusa musical, See What I Wanna See, done by graduate students in the MFA/PhD program in the Theatre Department. Worked with Director Joshua Robinson on the research behind the show, combining 12th/13th century Japanese folklore with famous early 20th century Japanese short stories, mid-century Kurosawa movies, and how those inspired the musical we were working on.