Teaching Philosophy
Photo by Leah Beane - Vox Magazine.
In the classroom I stress an inter-disciplinary approach to creating theatre and it is my goal to facilitate students’ acquisition of life-long skills in creating theatre in whatever form they chose. As a playwright, improviser, actor and director I have devoted my life to creating new work in a variety of forms. A focus on creation and creativity will prepare students to function in a theatre environment, whether they chose to pursue playwriting, acting, directing, design or education. Likewise, I stress the connections that theatre has to other fields. One way I do this is by stressing the improvisational concept of “yes, and.” By encouraging students to accept ideas, they learn how to work with others and how to create and generate a wealth of new ideas and experiences. Furthermore, in concert with more traditional exercises I also challenge students to stretch their accepted ideas. I accomplish this by challenging traditional notions of text and performance, and through exercises such as “world of the play.” In this exercise students are required to bring in scents, fabrics, music, images, textures, drawings and other things that represent the plays they are writing or studying. This exercise not only helps develop the necessary theatrical vocabulary to discuss plays with directors and designers, but also helps to expand the horizons of how one approaches, thinks about and writes/performs a play.
I stress the interdisciplinary nature of theatre because collaboration is at the very heart of making theatre, and it is a skill that translates to nearly every profession – both within the theatre and beyond. I achieve this interdisciplinary approach in the classroom in a number of ways. First, nearly every class that I teach is a closet dramatic literature and history course. I feel it is vital for students to read plays and understand the context of dramatic movements. I found that many budding young playwrights come to my class having read only a handful of plays and it is my goal to arm them with a wide array of structural examples, from award winning student plays found in The Kennedy Center Presents to master works like Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story, and playwrights experimenting with form like Sarah Ruhl, Itamar Moses and Eric Overmeyer. Likewise an acting student benefits greatly from studying the various ways a role like Iago has been performed over time.
Another way that I work to create theatre artists is to combine elements from my various courses. For example, I often will have my acting classes perform a ten minute play that has been written by one of my playwriting students. While it is important for acting students to work on established scenes and plays (which is what they do for their first two performances), I also believe it is essential for them to work on new plays. From the actors perspective they get to not only analyze a character, but they get to work with a playwright to actually create a character. The level of analysis and investment is almost always markedly higher for students than on their earlier scene work, and students routinely point to the experience as the high point of the class. These interactions are equally important for a playwright. Too often young playwrights toil on a play only to have it graded and then filed away. Since I preach to my playwrights that they are writing a play that is going to be seen, I try to find creative ways for them to see their work. Aside from public readings at The Missouri Playwrights Workshop, and concert readings in the Mizzou New Play Series, these collaborations with budding actors help teach playwrights how a work undergoes revision through a rehearsal process, but more importantly teaches them how various elements of the artistic team approach a play, and provides them with experience working in a collaborative environment. Outside of my own classrooms, I have also teamed up with the Dramaturgy course on campus to provide playwrights with a fresh and objective take on their work. I also am the co-founder and managing director of 23:59, Mizzou’s 24 hour new play festival, which provides production opportunities for student writers, directors and actors.
As someone with experience in public relations, I also bring to the classroom real world experience and examples of how training in theatre and creativity can reap rewards off-stage. For example, with MU Improv aside from regular performances, we also have done outreach and training throughout the university and community. By having students leading creativity and leadership workshops, they are learning more than just the theory of improvisational theatre – they are also learning how to apply it.
In the classroom I strive to get students working from the very beginning, both independently, in groups and through improvisation. Therefore it becomes vital that I create a safe environment for the students to risk failure. I see my job in the classroom as giving the students the freedom and safety to push their boundaries, to try new things, to stretch their skills in creating something new. It is important for students to explore their own creative process by challenging themselves in order to develop not only a body of work, but also to discover their most effective creative system. My classroom is not simply about failure though (I do give out a few C’s every now and then), most importantly it is about helping students to learn from both their successes and their failures. A good ten-minute play is only a great play if the student understands how they constructed the play and what elements make it work. A bad ten-minute play is only a bad play if a student cannot recognize the flaws in the play’s construction and execution.
While the goal of my courses is to create interdisciplinary artists, I also realize the benefits of specialization. In order to help connect the classroom to the stage, I always incorporate the university production schedule into my courses. Students read at least one play that will be staged during the semester so that they can see the play come to life – so they can learn to read and write like a playwright; to analyze a script like an actor, director, designer or dramaturg; to discover that a script on the page is only the beginning. Furthermore, students are required to read two other works by said playwright in order to develop a familiarity with the writer’s style and to better evaluate the production they do see.
Since a large theme of my class is to push students to explore their creativity, and stretch their boundaries, I grade students based on their dedication to craft. It takes more than talent to become a professional theatre artist. Students that put forth an earnest effort with the various exercises and assignments and push their boundaries as artists by taking risks, seriously revising work and trying out new ideas and techniques are rewarded with higher grades. Plays or performances are only one measure of a student’s progress and I use several methods to evaluate students (and my effectiveness). It is important to me that students walk away from my class with a basic understanding of the philosophy and theory of the discipline, dramatic structure and dramatic literature therefore conventional testing is an important part of my courses. Creativity, problem solving skills and collaboration are also a central aspect of student learning and projects and assignments are given in which students must utilize these skills – such as developing a buddy system of peer evaluation; a ten minute presentation on a professional playwright; and a group writing/devising theatre project.
Studying theatre has many benefits beyond writing a new play or acting in a scene. Students leave the classroom with a better understanding of their own creative process, enhanced analytical and critical thinking skills, the ability to collaborate on highly personal and subjective work, and many other skills that are applicable not only to the theatre, but to many other professions. As a teacher, I have tried to create artists that are aware of their place in the world and how their work speaks to society.
I stress the interdisciplinary nature of theatre because collaboration is at the very heart of making theatre, and it is a skill that translates to nearly every profession – both within the theatre and beyond. I achieve this interdisciplinary approach in the classroom in a number of ways. First, nearly every class that I teach is a closet dramatic literature and history course. I feel it is vital for students to read plays and understand the context of dramatic movements. I found that many budding young playwrights come to my class having read only a handful of plays and it is my goal to arm them with a wide array of structural examples, from award winning student plays found in The Kennedy Center Presents to master works like Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story, and playwrights experimenting with form like Sarah Ruhl, Itamar Moses and Eric Overmeyer. Likewise an acting student benefits greatly from studying the various ways a role like Iago has been performed over time.
Another way that I work to create theatre artists is to combine elements from my various courses. For example, I often will have my acting classes perform a ten minute play that has been written by one of my playwriting students. While it is important for acting students to work on established scenes and plays (which is what they do for their first two performances), I also believe it is essential for them to work on new plays. From the actors perspective they get to not only analyze a character, but they get to work with a playwright to actually create a character. The level of analysis and investment is almost always markedly higher for students than on their earlier scene work, and students routinely point to the experience as the high point of the class. These interactions are equally important for a playwright. Too often young playwrights toil on a play only to have it graded and then filed away. Since I preach to my playwrights that they are writing a play that is going to be seen, I try to find creative ways for them to see their work. Aside from public readings at The Missouri Playwrights Workshop, and concert readings in the Mizzou New Play Series, these collaborations with budding actors help teach playwrights how a work undergoes revision through a rehearsal process, but more importantly teaches them how various elements of the artistic team approach a play, and provides them with experience working in a collaborative environment. Outside of my own classrooms, I have also teamed up with the Dramaturgy course on campus to provide playwrights with a fresh and objective take on their work. I also am the co-founder and managing director of 23:59, Mizzou’s 24 hour new play festival, which provides production opportunities for student writers, directors and actors.
As someone with experience in public relations, I also bring to the classroom real world experience and examples of how training in theatre and creativity can reap rewards off-stage. For example, with MU Improv aside from regular performances, we also have done outreach and training throughout the university and community. By having students leading creativity and leadership workshops, they are learning more than just the theory of improvisational theatre – they are also learning how to apply it.
In the classroom I strive to get students working from the very beginning, both independently, in groups and through improvisation. Therefore it becomes vital that I create a safe environment for the students to risk failure. I see my job in the classroom as giving the students the freedom and safety to push their boundaries, to try new things, to stretch their skills in creating something new. It is important for students to explore their own creative process by challenging themselves in order to develop not only a body of work, but also to discover their most effective creative system. My classroom is not simply about failure though (I do give out a few C’s every now and then), most importantly it is about helping students to learn from both their successes and their failures. A good ten-minute play is only a great play if the student understands how they constructed the play and what elements make it work. A bad ten-minute play is only a bad play if a student cannot recognize the flaws in the play’s construction and execution.
While the goal of my courses is to create interdisciplinary artists, I also realize the benefits of specialization. In order to help connect the classroom to the stage, I always incorporate the university production schedule into my courses. Students read at least one play that will be staged during the semester so that they can see the play come to life – so they can learn to read and write like a playwright; to analyze a script like an actor, director, designer or dramaturg; to discover that a script on the page is only the beginning. Furthermore, students are required to read two other works by said playwright in order to develop a familiarity with the writer’s style and to better evaluate the production they do see.
Since a large theme of my class is to push students to explore their creativity, and stretch their boundaries, I grade students based on their dedication to craft. It takes more than talent to become a professional theatre artist. Students that put forth an earnest effort with the various exercises and assignments and push their boundaries as artists by taking risks, seriously revising work and trying out new ideas and techniques are rewarded with higher grades. Plays or performances are only one measure of a student’s progress and I use several methods to evaluate students (and my effectiveness). It is important to me that students walk away from my class with a basic understanding of the philosophy and theory of the discipline, dramatic structure and dramatic literature therefore conventional testing is an important part of my courses. Creativity, problem solving skills and collaboration are also a central aspect of student learning and projects and assignments are given in which students must utilize these skills – such as developing a buddy system of peer evaluation; a ten minute presentation on a professional playwright; and a group writing/devising theatre project.
Studying theatre has many benefits beyond writing a new play or acting in a scene. Students leave the classroom with a better understanding of their own creative process, enhanced analytical and critical thinking skills, the ability to collaborate on highly personal and subjective work, and many other skills that are applicable not only to the theatre, but to many other professions. As a teacher, I have tried to create artists that are aware of their place in the world and how their work speaks to society.