tl;dr: My passions are theatre, youth, and education. I've explored their intersection in various ways throughout my career. In everything I've done, one fact holds constant: I see no end to the power and possibility of Theatre to help young people (and adults!) become more confident and compassionate human beings.
Hi! I am an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Central Florida. My creative interests include Theatre for Youth and Young Audiences; Personal Narrative and Devised Theatre; Applied Theatre; and Arts and Wellness.
I teach in the Theatre for Young Audiences MFA program in partnership with Orlando Family Stage (formerly Orlando Repertory Theatre), and teach undergraduate courses in Script Analysis, Creative Drama, and Theatre for Young Audiences. From 2021-2022, I worked on the university level to support faculty integrating High Impact Practices into courses as the HIP Faculty Fellow of the Division of Student Learning and Academic Success. In 2023, I received the inaugural Barbara Truman Award in Blended Teaching from the UCF Center for Distributed Learning in recognition of my achievements as a mixed mode course instructor. UCF College of Arts and Humanities recognized my teaching with the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award (2020), Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (2022), and a Teaching Incentive Program award (2023).
My credits as a director, applied theatre artist, teaching artist, and facilitator of devised theatre include First Stage Academy (Milwaukee, WI), Alliance Theatre Education (Atlanta, GA), Adventure Theatre and ATMTC Academy (Glen Echo, MD), The Coterie (Kansas City, MO), Orlando Family Stage, Dr Phillips Center for the Arts (Orlando, FL), and Orange County Public Schools (Orlando, FL). My current applied theatre focuses on arts and wellness, and includes: "Mind Matters," a new plays and curriculum initiative about mental health for high school students; and the "Jeanette M. Gould Traveling Theater," a theatre-based program facilitated by UCF students with pediatric hospital patients. My most recent directing credits include the Theatre for the Very Young productions Dinosaur Dance Party, The Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Yo, Ho, Ho! Let’s Go!, all with Orlando Family Stage. As a playwright, I'm published with YouthPLAYS (Elektra; Medea), along with the plays in development Pitter Patter; Antigone and Ismene; and Swallowed (an existential crisis).
I've shared research about applied theatre, devising, diversity, and body image and the young actor in over forty presentations at national and international conferences, professional theatres, and universities. I'm published with Theatre Topics; Research in Drama and Education; TYA Today; Youth Theatre Journal; Reflective Practice; Storytelling, Self, Society; Teaching Artist Journal; and Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. My first book, Activated Script Analysis (Routledge, 2023), explores ensemble-based play, devised theatre strategies, and creative expression in the script analysis classroom. UCF acknowledged my research and creative activity with a Research Incentive Award in 2021.
Prior to my appointment at UCF, I taught high school Theatre for six years, where I built a multi-award winning program from the ground up. There, my directing credits included Metamorphoses, Doubt, Oedipus Rex, Elektra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Servant of Two Masters, Rabbit Hole, Urinetown, Legally Blonde, Chicago, Anything Goes, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Shop of Horrors. I also mentored over twenty student-directed productions during my tenure with Timber Creek Thespians, and my students performed by invitation at Florida Thespian Festival and the Orlando International Fringe Festival.
I've served on the boards of TYA/USA and Florida Theatre Conference (Theatre for Youth division chair). I was awarded the Johnny Saldaña Outstanding Professor of Theatre Education by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (2021) and the Tom Behm Award in Theatre for Youth by Southeastern Theatre Conference (2020). I hold an MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences from UCF and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Brenau University with the Gainesville Theatre Alliance.
My personal passions include camping, karaoke, crocheting, and cookies. I live in Orlando with my husband and our two children, along our bouncy puppy and lazy cat.
Hi! I am an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Central Florida. My creative interests include Theatre for Youth and Young Audiences; Personal Narrative and Devised Theatre; Applied Theatre; and Arts and Wellness.
I teach in the Theatre for Young Audiences MFA program in partnership with Orlando Family Stage (formerly Orlando Repertory Theatre), and teach undergraduate courses in Script Analysis, Creative Drama, and Theatre for Young Audiences. From 2021-2022, I worked on the university level to support faculty integrating High Impact Practices into courses as the HIP Faculty Fellow of the Division of Student Learning and Academic Success. In 2023, I received the inaugural Barbara Truman Award in Blended Teaching from the UCF Center for Distributed Learning in recognition of my achievements as a mixed mode course instructor. UCF College of Arts and Humanities recognized my teaching with the Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award (2020), Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (2022), and a Teaching Incentive Program award (2023).
My credits as a director, applied theatre artist, teaching artist, and facilitator of devised theatre include First Stage Academy (Milwaukee, WI), Alliance Theatre Education (Atlanta, GA), Adventure Theatre and ATMTC Academy (Glen Echo, MD), The Coterie (Kansas City, MO), Orlando Family Stage, Dr Phillips Center for the Arts (Orlando, FL), and Orange County Public Schools (Orlando, FL). My current applied theatre focuses on arts and wellness, and includes: "Mind Matters," a new plays and curriculum initiative about mental health for high school students; and the "Jeanette M. Gould Traveling Theater," a theatre-based program facilitated by UCF students with pediatric hospital patients. My most recent directing credits include the Theatre for the Very Young productions Dinosaur Dance Party, The Teddy Bears’ Picnic and Yo, Ho, Ho! Let’s Go!, all with Orlando Family Stage. As a playwright, I'm published with YouthPLAYS (Elektra; Medea), along with the plays in development Pitter Patter; Antigone and Ismene; and Swallowed (an existential crisis).
I've shared research about applied theatre, devising, diversity, and body image and the young actor in over forty presentations at national and international conferences, professional theatres, and universities. I'm published with Theatre Topics; Research in Drama and Education; TYA Today; Youth Theatre Journal; Reflective Practice; Storytelling, Self, Society; Teaching Artist Journal; and Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. My first book, Activated Script Analysis (Routledge, 2023), explores ensemble-based play, devised theatre strategies, and creative expression in the script analysis classroom. UCF acknowledged my research and creative activity with a Research Incentive Award in 2021.
Prior to my appointment at UCF, I taught high school Theatre for six years, where I built a multi-award winning program from the ground up. There, my directing credits included Metamorphoses, Doubt, Oedipus Rex, Elektra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Servant of Two Masters, Rabbit Hole, Urinetown, Legally Blonde, Chicago, Anything Goes, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Shop of Horrors. I also mentored over twenty student-directed productions during my tenure with Timber Creek Thespians, and my students performed by invitation at Florida Thespian Festival and the Orlando International Fringe Festival.
I've served on the boards of TYA/USA and Florida Theatre Conference (Theatre for Youth division chair). I was awarded the Johnny Saldaña Outstanding Professor of Theatre Education by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (2021) and the Tom Behm Award in Theatre for Youth by Southeastern Theatre Conference (2020). I hold an MFA in Theatre for Young Audiences from UCF and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Brenau University with the Gainesville Theatre Alliance.
My personal passions include camping, karaoke, crocheting, and cookies. I live in Orlando with my husband and our two children, along our bouncy puppy and lazy cat.