From Script to Stage: Elementary Drama Camp for Ages 7-10

Hi and welcome! I'm Emily, a professional working actor and teaching artist from Washington, DC! I live with an extremely fluffy rescue cat/part time teaching assistant named Jocelyn. 

I've been teaching improv games and movement online since June 2020, and the best part has been the ability to provide kids a safe space to socialize and have a little normalcy during this weird time we're all living through. In November 2020, this lead to my being spotlighted as one of Outschool's leading EPIC Framework educators for my passion-driven drama classes with focused-based, collaborative intention. 

My background is in Theatre, English Lit, and Medieval Studies, in which I earned a BA (magna cum laude) at Purchase College, State University of New York. Postgrad, I studied acting at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory in Washington, DC, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA, and with the Shaw Festival in Ontario, Canada. 

Since 2016, as well as working as an actor, I've also worked as a dedicated substitute teacher in District of Columbia Public Schools, which is an AMAZING job! I love working with so many different teachers at different grade levels, while still having all the freedom to perform professionally; and being a regular means learners and teachers always knew they could trust me with their classes. Some of my favorite long-term assignments have been as an elementary visual arts teacher, a kindergarten partner teacher at a Spanish-English bilingual school, and as an elementary PE teacher.

As an actor, I love accent and dialect work, and am especially obsessed with historical period costume. I work professionally in stage, film, and voiceover, with theatre as my preferred medium for storytelling. As a theatre teaching artist, I work primarily at the early childhood and elementary level, with an emphasis on the importance of theatre as a time for play. If you take a playwriting class with me, your learners will also find lots of wonderful options for collaborative brainstorming while finding their writing style. 

Why I teach theatre: years of studies have shown that arts education benefits students in their academic learning in unaccountable ways - they are exposed to new cultures and languages, different parts of history, and people with stories that may be vastly different from their own. But the arts also use math, English, writing, and science. Students in arts classes can develop improved focus and concentration, empathy, and confidence in and out of school and beyond. For all these reasons and more, I've been a lifelong advocate of arts ed and the importance of making sure every child has access to it. 

My drama classes are a non-judgemental space. We aren't learning to audition or perform roles perfectly or at a professional level. This is a time for play, imagination, and exploratory voice and movement skills. I encourage my students to be free in their movement and with their voices as they embody different elements of character. In a traditional classroom setting, this would also include an emphasis on how to explore characterization and movement safely and respectfully when sharing a space with other people. 

Games and activities will vary with learners' age level, but I always begin my classes with a traditional physical and vocal warm-up and a stretch, exactly like I would before I go out on stage. (Kids love this because it's one of the few opportunities they get to yell inside.) Then we have lots of fun building on each other's ideas with improvisation and an exploration of the elements of story!

I've taught in many schools and camps throughout the DC-Baltimore area as a teaching artist, most recently as Master Teaching Artist for the Levine School of Music summer musical theatre program.

Any of my classes can be scheduled by request, so please reach out and we'll schedule something perfect for you. 

I am so excited to meet you!