THED Talks

This week Jimmy speaks with the 2017 Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award winner Rachel Harry!  She shares some of her favorite stories from her career, the importance of being a lifelong learner, taking risks and breaking rules, and her experience with the Tony Awards!

This week Jimmy speaks with Krista Carson Elhai.  She talks about her involvement with the International Thespian Honor Society, her Theatre Teacher Bootcamp with Gai Jones, and fundraising!

This week Jimmy talks to educational theatre veteran, Gai Jones!  She speaks about her long and wonderful career in theatre education, her published books, and her work as the current President of the Educational Theatre Association!

This week Jimmy talks with Drama Teacher Academy contributor Christa Vogt.  She talks about her career, how she got started with Drama Teacher Academy, and her very passionate advice for teachers!

This week Jimmy talks with playwright, educator, workshop leader, resident playwright of Theatrefolk, and co-founder of The Drama Teacher Academy Lindsay Price!  She shares about her journey in educational theatre, being a successful playwright, and her work creating one of the most widely used resources for theatre teachers out there.  

This week Jimmy talks with Monticello High School in Charlottesville, VA drama teacher and the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education TONY Award winner Madeline Michel!  She shares her experiences working with diverse students, her non-traditional approach to how her classes are offered, and some no nonsense pearls of wisdom!  

This week Jimmy talks with middle school teacher Julian Lazarus in Montgomery County Maryland!  He has taught for 18 years at various levels and brings a great perspective on theatre education as a whole!  Specific topics he talks about are process over product, feeling trapped by our choices, and tech theatre tips and tricks!  

This week Jimmy talks to James Madison University tech director Brian Smallwood.  he shares lots of tips and tricks for tech theatre, how to communicate with your tech director so they are part of your storytelling, and teacher burnout!

This week Jimmy talks to theatre educator Dana Taylor.  Dana brings 30 years of experience teaching high school technical theatre to our conversation.  He is currently a theatre education professor at The University of Evansville in Indiana,  He shares words of wisdom and lots of great technical theatre resources from his long and wonderful career as a theatre educator.  Jimmy also checks in with...

This week Jimmy talks to Texas technical theatre teacher Mel Edwards!  She discusses her journey to teaching theatre, engaging lessons, and her experiences being a woman in a male dominated field.  He also catches up with his student teacher Emma and how things are going in her placement!

This week Jimmy continues the technical theatre unit as he speaks to technical theatre teacher Kevin Holly from Libertyville, Illinois!  He speaks about some of his experiences from his career, a high school production of Starlight Express, and he offers technical theatre tips and tricks we can all use in our classroom.  He also checks in with his student teacher, Kelli!

This week Jimmy talks to Texas theatre teacher, Blake Minor about his journey to teaching theatre, technical theatre, and his own theatre education podcast, Minor Wisdom!  He also checks in with his student teacher Emma on how her first full class teaching experience went last week!

This week Jimmy chats with four of his former students who have completed their first year of teaching. They share their successes and challenges, lessons learned, and pearls of wisdom for student teachers and first year teachers!  Additionally, a new segment checking in with student teachers in the field, Kelli Lawrence and Emma Harmon share their reflections on student teaching so far!

Welcome back to Season 2 of THED Talks!  In this first episode of the season Jimmy talks with the 2016 Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award winner, Marilyn McCormick about her long and wonderful career in Detroit, Michigan. 

This week the script is flipped!  Educator, colleague, and personal friend Miriam Kuykendall takes over the podcast to talk to Jimmy and reflect on the first season.  Reflective practice is essential to good teaching, good theatre, and good podcasting!  This is the final episode for the first season.  THED Talks will return in mid-August with new episodes to get your academic year off to a great s...

This week Jimmy talks with his husband Dr. Adam Carter.  He is a professor of counseling at Northern Illinois University, a licensed counselor, and a specialist in children's grief counseling.  They discuss the importance of representation in the work we do in the classroom and on stage, strategies to support queer students and teachers, and the meaning of being an ally.  This is part 3 of a...

This week Jimmy talks with teacher and playwright Briandaniel Oglesby and BFA Acting major Alex Faulkner about their experiences being an out queer teacher and out gender non-binary student.  They discuss original works that deal with LGBTQIA  topics with middle school students and new works that challenge the norm.  This is part 2 of a 3-part series for PRIDE month.

This week Jimmy chats with out queer theatre teachers Harry Culpepper and Annaliisa Ahlman about their experiences as out queer teachers, professional organizations, and representation in the work they do with their students.  This is part 1 of a 3-part series for PRDE month!

This week Jimmy talks with his mentor Matt Webster.  Matt has been a touring artist for children, a theatre education professor, a high school teacher, a consultant for Drama Teacher Academy at Theatrefolk, an actor, a director, a playwright, and a dad!  He brings lots of great advice and food for thought for theatre teachers and theatre education majors this week from his years of experience!

In this episode Jimmy talks to the inaugural Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education winner Corey Mitchell.  Corey shares his stories, experiences, and words of hope for theatre educators and the profession as a whole!  

This week Jimmy talks with Marisa Brady, a middle school theatre teacher in Chandler, Arizona.  She talks about her love for middle schoolers, student travel, parent booster clubs, and much more!  

This week Jimmy talks with progressive alt-ed teacher from Texas, Briandaniel Oglesby.  Listen in to hear about how this playwright and teacher uses devised theatre to create cutting edge and relevant work with his middle and high school students at Skybridge Academy.

This week Jimmy speaks to Cyndi Bringer, a middle school theatre teacher in Illinois AND Ashleigh Worley, Director of Education at Luther Burbank Center of the Arts in California.  These teachers bring us stories and experiences about special needs, exploratory rotations, and working in non-traditional theatre education careers and working with teaching artists.

This week Jimmy talks with one of his theatre education students about his experiences so far as a transfer student, involvement on campus, self-care, and diversity in the classroom.  

This week Jimmy talks to North Carolina theatre teacher Ruthie Tutterow.  She discusses her work in K12 and university teaching, working with community organizations, musical theatre, and a unique experience she and her students participate in with Lincoln Center.