Education
2021-2022
MFA Theatre Education, Emerson College
2019-2021
MA Theatre Education, Emerson College
I spent my time as a graduate student at Emerson developing my own educational philosophy and practice as an educator, as well as growing as an artist with an emphasis on performance, directing, and stage combat. I student taught in the spring of 2021 at Wayland High School.
2010-2014
BA English and Theatre & Dance, The College of Wooster
At Wooster I double majored in English and Theatre, culminating in an independent study thesis, "Voices From the Woods: Classic Fairytales Revisited and Revised". This project was a dual critical and creative project in which I studied the evolution of fairy tales and wrote my own retellings as a collection of short plays and short stories.
Workshops & Intensives
2023
Lenox Weekend Intensive
Areas of Study: Linklater voice, movement/physical awareness, text
2022
Philly Cheesesteak Stage Combat Workshop (Society of American Fight Directors)
Areas of Study: Archery, single sword, fight games, smallsword, weapon roulette, rapier & cloak, quarterstaff, Al Matreg
2022
Vermonster Mash (Society of American Fight Directors)
Areas of study: Unarmed, knife (recommended pass in knife from SAFD)
2021
National Stage Combat Workshop (Society of American Fight Directors)
Areas of study: Unarmed, rapier & dagger, broadsword, quarterstaff, knife, motion capture, theatre games, fighting multiple opponents
2019
Wildfire Retreat (Spinning Arts Foundation)
Areas of study: Hoop, poi, fans, contact juggling, bullwhip, fire spinning
2015
Summer Training Institute (Shakespeare & Company)
Areas of study: Alexander technique, Linklater voice, movement training/physical awareness, Shakespearean text, Elizabethan worldview, dance, improvisation, clown, actor/audience relationship
Master's Thesis
A Girl Worth Fighting For:
Stage Combat and the Adolescent Female Sense of Self
Abstract:
Following a stage combat workshop with a group of high school girls, I examine how stage
combat education is both similar to and different from generalized theatre education. Both offer
students the opportunity to develop community, grow their personal and social skills, express
themselves, and have fun. Additionally, I found that stage combat’s unique focus on consent and
boundaries makes it a promising tool to help adolescents (particularly young women) develop
their interpersonal communication skills when it comes to physical interactions, an especially
important skill as many teenagers start experimenting with their own sexuality. Furthermore,
stage combat’s simultaneous demand for emotional commitment and physical control offers
adolescents an opportunity to feel and express powerful emotions while still maintaining control
of their actions. This duality can help teenagers develop the ability to express and regulate
emotions in a manner that is constructive, creative, and safe.