"We must all do theatre to find out who we are and to discover who we could become." -Augusto Boal
Theatre and education have always been very important parts of my life. Every job I have ever loved has had some sort of teaching or mentoring component, so when I graduated with a Bachelor's in Spanish, pursuing my teaching license and becoming a Spanish teacher seemed like the best way to follow my passion. It wasn't until I began directing a small, after-school drama club at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School that I realized that my love of theatre and my love of teaching could work together. I didn't have to relegate myself to the world of community theatre alone, I could mentor and encourage young people using the very powerful tool of Theatre Arts. Once I started exploring theatre in that context, I knew I had found my true passion. It was then that I left the World Languages to pursue a Master's in Theatre from the University of South Carolina.
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My theatre work has always been about education. One of the main attractions that theatre holds for me is its ability to teach. When you see something performed it has a greater, more lasting impact than when you merely read it on a page. Additionally, when students perform theatrical works, the lessons are life-long. Theatre as an educational tool for empathy was the subject of my Master's thesis, and I am passionate about directing works that center the marginalized and give the privileged a new perspective.
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My first teaching job at New Hope Tutorials (Danvers/Boxford, MA) in 2010.
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June Adgett in "Outlaw Song" by Ryan Stevens (photo: Jane Hearn)
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As a teacher of theatre, I believe it is important to always be seeking growth as an artist. Whenever possible, I audition and perform, in an effort to expose myself to new theatrical collaborators and glean from them ideas to take back to my classroom and to my own directing. I have had the opportunity to both perform and direct in the community theatre scene in the past few years. In 2015, I played Kathy in Sondheim's Company at Stage284 in Wenham. While in graduate school in South Carolina, I worked on a new work by playwright Ryan Stevens (Outlaw Song) and performed with Columbia Children's Theater in Cinderella. I also had the privilege of directing one of the first "post-pandemic" live theatre productions in the North Shore area in 2021, when I directed Much Ado About Nothing for Theatre Company of Saugus. Production photos and reviews for these shows can be found in the menu to the left.
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