
Students performing staged reading of "Dry Land."

Student presentations in Grad Studio.

Students working with Karen Finley in Devising Performance.

Students performing staged reading of "Dry Land."
TEACHING
DIRECTING
I teach in a program founded on the integration of theory and practice, and my pedagogy sits at that intersection. In my classes, we engage in acts of making and analysis; doing and observing, experimenting, contemplating, and questioning. Some of those classes are hybrid studio-and-seminar courses, where critical study meets laboratory-style experimentation with performance, but in all my courses students are asked to experiment with learning through creating some aspect of performance, even if only in brief exercises. My commitment to the integration of theory and practice was recognized by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region II) with their Innovative Teaching Award in 2018.
At the University at Buffalo, I teach classes in the performance of diverse American identities on stage, in devising collaboratively created performance, seminars in media and performance and feminist theatre. I also teach the Graduate Studio course that is the capstone of our MA program and a vital component of our PhD, in which students explore their intellectual and artistic curiosities through performance. All my classes train students to read and analyze challenging texts and performances alike. Because written expression is a vital skill that spans all disciplines, I draw on my past work as a teaching fellow in English Composition at UCLA to make critical and analytical writing a part of all my classes. I also make great effort to bring other artists and their perspectives into the classroom. To date, I have worked to organize artist visits, talks, and residencies from Blast Theory, Karen Finley, Big Art Group, micha cardenas, and Dr. Amma Y. Gartey-Tagoe Kootin and the creative team of the new musical At Buffalo. Last year I worked with Professor Bruce Jackson to bring Kate Valk, Eric Berryman, and Elizabeth LeCompte to campus to work with students as while presenting their new work The B-Side.
I consider my directing work with students an extension of our learning together in coursework. In 2017 I inaugurated a Contemporary Play Reading Series in order to expand student opportunities to engage with new theatrical work; the 2017-18 year culminated in a staged reading of Ruby Rae Spiegel's Dry Land. In fall 2018, I will direct the Neo-Futurists' 45 Plays for 45 Presidents on UB's mainstage, and in spring 2019 another CRS series staged reading (title TBA).