teaching
My teaching work has two primary foci:
professional trainings via consultations, workshops and classes in the industry, and my work in academia as a professor of theatre.
“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”
― Paulo Freire, We Make The Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change
industry
stage combat and theatre movement
I offer skills proficiency classes and testing through the Society of American Fight Directors in all eight weapons disciplines: Unarmed, Rapier & Dagger, Broadsword, Single Sword, Quarterstaff, Sword & Shield, Smallsword, Knife. I also teach the SAFD Theatrical Firearms Safety course.
I also offer consultation and choreography for theatrical movement, whether that be composition work, "bit doctoring," slapstick/physical comedy, or period movement, deportment and style.
Engagements can be as quick as a 2 hour, one time workshop, or a 30+ hour course in the discipline of your choice.
Please contact me for details.
academia
willamette university theatre department
I am a tenured faculty member and chair of the Theatre Department at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
In addition to my administrative duties, I direct one production per year, and teach the following courses in rotation:
Theatre History 1 & 2
Directing 1
Senior Thesis/Solo Performance
Stage Combat
Devising
Theatre Literature
Introduction to Theatre
Introduction to Acting
College Colloquium
research interests
I am a multi-faceted theatre artist and scholar who specializes in trauma-responsive practices for approaching extreme violence.
Currently, my research is concerned with developing connections between industry-wide stage combat best practices and the vocabularies of intimacy direction, as well as policy-based tools for theatre administrators to support informed high risk theatre work.
teaching philosophy
I am a dedicated teacher with a diverse skillset and a commitment to continued learning. I believe in the power of curiosity, and I rely on my own to drive my approaches to the many different subjects I teach. I am committed to interrogating my own privilege, to re-imagining power dynamics in the classroom, and to driving students to develop critical thinking skills that can be used to investigate not only educational materials but their own positionality and the world around them.