Teaching and Mentoring

I teach a wide range of courses for Mason’s undergraduate population. I teach the lower division courses THR 201: Stage Management, THR 230: Fundamentals of Production and THR 240: Introduction to Theatrical Design. These classes are geared towards students who are just starting their studies at Mason and serve to expose those students to a broader scope of theatre than they may have previously experienced. Most students come to us with an interest in performance, knowing little-to-nothing about other areas, and these classes exist to show them the full breadth of the field, while simultaneously building a shared foundation for all theatre students. There are so many different career paths and concentrations a student can pursue in the study of theatre, and in these classes, my goal is to help students discover what path might be of interest to them. The 300-level courses I teach allow students to focus on their individual disciplines, and my 400-level courses focus on collaboration and communication skills, which are fundamental to our industry. 

Theatre is an inherently collaborative art form. My classes always include a unit or exercise designed to help students practice and hone their skills of collaboration. I have made the process integral and scaffolded in three of the courses I teach — THR 240: Introduction to Theatrical Design introduces basic collaboration skills, THR339: Principles of Design builds to an intermediate level, and THR 496: Text in Production stresses advanced collaboration skills. 

Part of my charge is to be the mentor for all student lighting designers on Mason Players productions. Since arriving in 2017 I have mentored 12 undergraduate students on 14 separate productions. This mentorship involves meeting with the student and tracking their progress, observing and advising them during technical rehearsals, and providing feedback after the production closes. In addition to this, I mentored the student director on a production in spring of 2022.