About Me:
​       Growing up my parents threw me into any activity they could. I joined multiple sports teams and after school clubs, but it wasn't until the 7th grade that I found my passion.One fall evening I saw Phantom of the Opera at the Straz Center for Performing Arts. I could not believe my eyes. The beauty of the set, the magic of the theatre took my breath away.  I had to know how they created all the different effects. How could a boat float across stage like it was in water?  The next semester at school I signed up for a technical theatre class. I knew if I wanted to learn how the "magic" was created I had to first learn the basics of stage production. I dove head first into my class. Taking on any job, any role I could. After completing my middle school years I decided to major in technical theatre in high school at a conservatory program in St. Petersburg, Florida. I gain more skills and knew I had found my passion. My senior year I had the opportunity to work with my department head as her TA. I was able to instruct the freshman class all year. Towards the end of the year I was instructing the freshman through a scenic painting lesson, and one of the students came up to me and thanked me. She thanked me for teaching her the technique and working with her after school. She was so proud of herself. I immediately knew what I wanted in my life. I was born to be a teacher, but not just any teacher. I was made to be a technical theatre teacher and work with the next generation of theatre professionals, getting the ready for the industry and get them prepared for the workforce directly out of high school. 
I have a bachelors degree in Theatrical Design and am finishing up my Masters in Career and Technical Education. I have been a technical theatre teacher for the past 7 years and am continuing to reach students across all areas of the field through professional development all over the country and working at schools all over the eastern seaboard. 

About my position:
I am 1 of 5 Technical Directors for Yale College Arts working in the Undergraduate Production office. Our office is responsible for oversight of technical elements and safety policy and procedures of over 200 student organization productions each year. Performances range from comedy shows, music concerts, A Capella concerts, and fully produced dramatic productions. On top of this, I am the Technical Advisor for the Yale Dramatic Association. One of the oldest student organizations on campus producing 6 MainStage productions a year. 

Teaching Philosophy:
In theater education, the subject, ultimately, is the student. There is no “one-size-fits-all” technique to approaching theater – every actor, director, designer and technician has his or her own personal technique, either drawn largely (though almost never exclusively) from one school of thought, or cobbled together from many different schools of theater. Ideally, theater students spend their training encountering, engaging and testing various methods, tools and techniques – then identifying, embracing, and personalizing the approaches that best match their unique style.

As a teacher, I see myself first and foremost as a collaborator with each individual student in this process of self-discovery. As the student’s partner in exploring and constructing their own personal approach to the theater, I try to instill in the student the values that will serve them throughout their career.

In the collaborative art of theater, the first and most important lesson that student artists must learn is that – beyond becoming the kind of talent that people want to work with – they must also become the kind of person that people want to work with. At the age that most students pursue a theater education, they are still at that critical stage where they are becoming the people who will be behind the adult artists. The values that they develop during these years will stay with them for a lifetime. A successful instructor will help to instill in them those values that will serve them best in a lifetime spent in the theater, including:
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• Value a broad base of knowledge – Embrace the non-theater portion of the curriculum. Become a critical thinker. Its not about being in charge at a young age, or being the best at one thing if you can't contribute to the overall project. Get a head start. Know everything about something and something about everything.
• Value the skills for research and how it can enrich your work – No matter how broad your base of knowledge, there will always be more to learn about the particular world of a play. An actor, director, designer or technician can never have too much information to work with – they should know where to get it and why they should always want more.
• Value organization – Time and resources are always at a premium in the theater. A theater artist should know how to make the best use of both.
• Value clarity – Before beauty, style, and even substance, clarity is, above all else, the primary responsibility of any storyteller. While actors and directors may be the voice of the story, the designer and technicians make sure the audience has a clear understanding of where the action is taking place.
• Value dissent and failure – Embrace them as opportunities to learn. Remain the eternal student. There is no shame in making mistakes – only in repeating them.
• Value collaboration – Actors, directors, designers, and technicians are allies, not enemies. Artists thrive in an environment and culture of trust and creativity where everyone feels free and encouraged to make the product and the process better – and it is up to the artists involved to create and support that environment. The best shows are never “my show.” They are always “our show.
• Value exploration – There is never, ever one “right” way to approach a scene or execute a play. Play. Challenge. Experiment. Risk. Try the unexpected. Find the things in rehearsal that surprise even you. It is what makes doing theater worthwhile.