Teaching Philosophy

As an educator, my goals for my students are quite similar to my goals for myself—to develop the tools to become engaged, critical, empathetic, and innovative members of their community. I practice and continually refine pedagogical strategies that reveal the ways in which theatre can empower, challenge, and provoke. Over the last several years, I have developed three main tenets of my personal teaching philosophy, based on both personal experience and the influence of educators who have had an indelible impact on my academic and artistic careers. These tenets are: (1) Discover the Hidden Voice, (2) Reevaluate Perspectives, and (3) Keep the Frog Alive. I make it clear to my students, regardless of the course being taught, that these are my goals for them, for me, and for the educational process as a whole.

 To briefly outline my approach to the above tenets, to Discover the Hidden Voice is to discover the voice that is absent within or because of the work or the society and culture surrounding the work. I also use the concept of The Hidden Voice to cultivate an environment of critical inquiry and dialogue, which leads me to ask my students and myself to Reevaluate Perspectives as we engage intellectually, artistically, and personally with the subject matter and with fellow classmates. Finally, as a scholar and practitioner of comedy, I value E. B. White’s oft-paraphrased dictum, “humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.” In short, in my research and my teaching, I strive to Keep the Frog Alive at all costs. To avoid a dead frog, I encourage a thriving atmosphere of intellectual exploration and critical dialogue through the use of humor—both as a focus of my scholarship as well as a fundamental pedagogical tool.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

MIRACOSTA COLLEGE - Oceanside, CA

Adjunct Professor (Spring 2020)

  • Introduction to Theatre: Survey course focusing on theatre history, play analysis, performance studies, and aesthetic analysis.

PLATT COLLEGE - San Diego, CA

Adjunct Professor (Fall 2014 – Present)

  • Film and Society: Film Studies course focusing on sociocultural film history and analysis.

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY - Boston, MA

Adjunct Instructor of Theatre (Fall 2013)

  • Theatre and Society: Multidisciplinary theatre class focusing on significant social and cultural movements.

  • Actors and Acting: Acting class with sections on improvisation, Shakespeare, Boal, and Meisner.

TUFTS UNIVERSITY - Medford, MA

Graduate Instructor (2011 - 2013)

  • Dark Comedy on the Page, Stage, and Screen: Multidisciplinary course focusing on humour noir in theatre, film, television, literature, and other media (Fall 2011 – Spring 2013).

  • Introduction to Acting: Acting class with sections on improvisation, Shakespeare, Boal, and Meisner (2010 – 2012)

  • Apocalyptic Narratives in Popular Culture: Exploration of apocalyptic themes in religious and secular texts, and throughout contemporary popular culture.

  • Teaching Assistant/Guest Instructor: Imagining the Holocaust on the Stage and Screen (Prof. Barbara Wallace Grossman)

  • Identified by Tufts outgoing seniors as embodying “what a truly excellent college course should be.”

  • Identified as a faculty member who has “contributed significantly to the intellectual and personal development of the undergraduate experience” (Graduate Student Awards, 2013).

INDEPENDENT                                                                                                                        

Guest Lectures                                                                                                                       

  • “Dionysus and Comedy in the Ancient World,” University of Massachusetts Amherst, Religion(s) of the Greek World, Prof. Cecelia Feldman Weiss, 2012.

  • “Speaking Shakespeare,” Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance, Voice & Movement, Prof. Barbara Wallace Grossman, 2012.

  • “Augusto Boal and Shakespeare,” Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance, Acting III, Prof. Sheriden Thomas, 2012.

Classes and Workshops                                                                                                                        

  • Clowning Workshops, 2019.

  • Acting & Audition Workshops, 2013 – Present.

  • Audition Preparation for the Camera, John Robert Powers Talent Agency, 2014 – 2015.

  • Playmaking Workshop, Point Loma Playhouse, 2014 – 2015.

  • Advanced Acting Workshop, Point Loma Playhouse, 2014.

  • Monologue & Audition Workshop, Actors Alliance of San Diego, 2014.

  • Games for the Theatre, Actors Alliance of San Diego, 2014.

TEACHING & RESEARCH AREAS

  • Theatre History, Literature, Criticism, & Dramaturgy

  • Comedy Studies and History

  • Greek and Roman Comedy

  • Black American Theatre

  • Theatre for Social Justice

  • Commedia dell’arte

  • Clowning and Physical Comedy

  • Musical Theatre

  • Shakespeare

  • Sexuality and Gender Studies

  • Theatrical Avant-Garde

  • Theatre of the Absurd

  • Acting Theory and Practice

  • Directing

  • Improvisation

  • Film, Television, and Media Studies