Teaching Portfolio
Teaching Philosophy:
Theatre is first and foremost about taking risks. Performance puts bodies on the line. Unlike most disciplines, theatre requires teacher and student to understand the world through embodied enactment. Our students are often living primarily in their heads, serving the mind and neglecting the body. Engaging students in performative learning can lead to greater risks and revelations. In my course, “Crossing Global Stages: Gender, Drag, and Performance in the Contemporary World”, over two assignments during the semester designed to interrogate gender performance I observed one student bravely take the risk of wearing her hair down; I was moved to tears.
Our students come to us from all different types of backgrounds and experiences, and it is our job to create an environment that safely supports them to take risks and grow. The first assignment of the course was a “Gender Reflection Project.” Designed to allow students to explore how theory relates to embodied practice, the assignment required students to either examine their own lived experience of gender or create a new character, and then write a first-person introductory essay and take a selfie as the character. Some students created drag versions of themselves, while others emphasized specific aspects of their everyday performance of gender. One student explained that she wore her hair in a constant ponytail, a habit she developed to keep herself safe after a series of sexual assaults when she was a girl. She felt her long hair, worn down, was a temptation, and her ponytail was an armor to keep her safe. Her hair played deeply into her own gender identity. I followed up with her after the assignment, to make sure she had the support and resources she needed. When the environment is right, students will take large risks and share important truths about themselves in both performance and in written work.
Later on in the semester, there was a blog assignment that asked students to queer an aspect of their lives for a short period of a time during a day and then reflect on it and share it with the rest of the class. This same student wore her hair down to a club formal function, and she reflected that perhaps her armor wasn’t always needed. Her reflection showed the influence of the class material and the gender theory at play, helping her to question and grow in the way she engaged with the world. Her classmates’ responses were overwhelmingly supportive. Training artists to be responsive to the world around them and to create from that perspective is a method of public scholarship. It also means that as a teacher, I must support them and teach them how to engage ethically, responsibly, and empathetically with their public.
While I do not frame my classes as therapy, we do learn so much about ourselves and the world through the performative nature of the stories we tell. Whether it is new work, or classical greek plays, embodying those stories teaches us about human nature. I ask students to mix performative work with theoretical and historical writing in projects across the range of courses I teach. This incorporation of the body can turn theory and history into practice, and, I hope, teach students to engage critically and thoughtfully with the world.
Click here for Examples of Student Work.
Theatre is first and foremost about taking risks. Performance puts bodies on the line. Unlike most disciplines, theatre requires teacher and student to understand the world through embodied enactment. Our students are often living primarily in their heads, serving the mind and neglecting the body. Engaging students in performative learning can lead to greater risks and revelations. In my course, “Crossing Global Stages: Gender, Drag, and Performance in the Contemporary World”, over two assignments during the semester designed to interrogate gender performance I observed one student bravely take the risk of wearing her hair down; I was moved to tears.
Our students come to us from all different types of backgrounds and experiences, and it is our job to create an environment that safely supports them to take risks and grow. The first assignment of the course was a “Gender Reflection Project.” Designed to allow students to explore how theory relates to embodied practice, the assignment required students to either examine their own lived experience of gender or create a new character, and then write a first-person introductory essay and take a selfie as the character. Some students created drag versions of themselves, while others emphasized specific aspects of their everyday performance of gender. One student explained that she wore her hair in a constant ponytail, a habit she developed to keep herself safe after a series of sexual assaults when she was a girl. She felt her long hair, worn down, was a temptation, and her ponytail was an armor to keep her safe. Her hair played deeply into her own gender identity. I followed up with her after the assignment, to make sure she had the support and resources she needed. When the environment is right, students will take large risks and share important truths about themselves in both performance and in written work.
Later on in the semester, there was a blog assignment that asked students to queer an aspect of their lives for a short period of a time during a day and then reflect on it and share it with the rest of the class. This same student wore her hair down to a club formal function, and she reflected that perhaps her armor wasn’t always needed. Her reflection showed the influence of the class material and the gender theory at play, helping her to question and grow in the way she engaged with the world. Her classmates’ responses were overwhelmingly supportive. Training artists to be responsive to the world around them and to create from that perspective is a method of public scholarship. It also means that as a teacher, I must support them and teach them how to engage ethically, responsibly, and empathetically with their public.
While I do not frame my classes as therapy, we do learn so much about ourselves and the world through the performative nature of the stories we tell. Whether it is new work, or classical greek plays, embodying those stories teaches us about human nature. I ask students to mix performative work with theoretical and historical writing in projects across the range of courses I teach. This incorporation of the body can turn theory and history into practice, and, I hope, teach students to engage critically and thoughtfully with the world.
Click here for Examples of Student Work.
Syllabi and Courses Taught.
I've had the pleasure of teaching a variety of courses at the University of Pittsburgh. I developed and taught a course on global contemporary drag and gender performance in Spring 2015. I've taught the first section of our theatre history sequence: World Theatre I: 500 BCE to 1640; as well as our Introduction to Dramatic Art Course, which is a combination of dramatic literature and script analysis. I've also taught our general introductory course on acting, Introduction to Performance, several times. Click below to see sample syllabi.
I've had the pleasure of teaching a variety of courses at the University of Pittsburgh. I developed and taught a course on global contemporary drag and gender performance in Spring 2015. I've taught the first section of our theatre history sequence: World Theatre I: 500 BCE to 1640; as well as our Introduction to Dramatic Art Course, which is a combination of dramatic literature and script analysis. I've also taught our general introductory course on acting, Introduction to Performance, several times. Click below to see sample syllabi.
| sample_syllabi-cmh.pdf |
