Teaching
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings somebody else pulls.”
– Dr. Howard Thurman, May 4, 1980.
– Dr. Howard Thurman, May 4, 1980.
Philosophy
Theatre asks us to be present together, in flesh and blood and bone, and in real time. It reveals our hopes, dreams, and fears: the very nature of what it means to be humans together, unmediated, is revealed through live theatre.
My goal is to prepare graduates who are authentically engaged collaborators, capable of thinking critically and constructively, adaptive, and aware of their agency in building the future. To this end, I equip students with tools for developing mindful presence and taking bold action. Specifically, I teach techniques for: listening deeply; responding with conviction; integrating body and imagination; telling clear stories; and generating original works. My approach offers opportunities for students’ self-discoveries and equips them with technical skills for sustainable careers.
My goal is to prepare graduates who are authentically engaged collaborators, capable of thinking critically and constructively, adaptive, and aware of their agency in building the future. To this end, I equip students with tools for developing mindful presence and taking bold action. Specifically, I teach techniques for: listening deeply; responding with conviction; integrating body and imagination; telling clear stories; and generating original works. My approach offers opportunities for students’ self-discoveries and equips them with technical skills for sustainable careers.
Methodologies
I draw on techniques that cultivate the performer's body as an artistic instrument, sensitive to its internal power, responsive to external energies, and prepared to take dynamic action.
Acting and Body Awareness:
Acting and Body Awareness:
- Physical Approaches to Performance (P3/East)
- Brown-Berry Vocal Technique
- Viewpoints
- Shogo Ohta’s Slow Tempo
- Suzuki Method of Actor Training
- Approaches to Intimacy for the Stage
- AdaptDevizing*
- Viewpoints
- Community-Engaged Theatre
- Solo Performance
Teaching Experience
Theatre Faculty - Virginia Tech ( 2017 - 2019)
- TA2024 Intro to Acting - School of Performing Arts
- TA2404 Intro to Applied Collaborative Techniques - Center for Communicating Science & SOPA
- AdaptDevizing: not your doll (2018)
- Shakespeare to Suzuki: Voice & Movement
- Performing the Greeks: Contemporary Choral Technique
- Devised and Site-Specific Theatre
- Scene Study
- Direction for the Showcase
- THEA170 Fundamentals of Acting
- ENGL103 - English Composition
- Physical Approaches to Performance, Virginia Thespians (2019)
- Fundamentals of Voice and Movement, Virginia Tech (2018)
- Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Virginia Tech (2017)
- Teaching Director, Sense and Sensibility, PCHEC High School (2007)
Curriculum Development
Applied Collaborative Techniques
At Virginia Tech, I created curriculum for Introduction to Applied Collaborative Techniques, teaching collaboration and creative action-taking through community engagement, devising, and principles of actor training.
*AdaptDevizing
I developed the AdaptDevizing process for teaching devising, creating the new not your doll with undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech University. During this process, guide students in critical thinking about a classic text before we generate material in response to the texts’ themes. An inclusive practice, AdaptDevizing draws on the engagement work of Cornerstone Theater Company, Augusto Boal, and my collaborator Devair Jeffries. I offer AdaptDevizing within courses in Collaborative Techniques, as three-week intensives, and for playbuilding.
At Virginia Tech, I created curriculum for Introduction to Applied Collaborative Techniques, teaching collaboration and creative action-taking through community engagement, devising, and principles of actor training.
*AdaptDevizing
I developed the AdaptDevizing process for teaching devising, creating the new not your doll with undergraduate and graduate students at Virginia Tech University. During this process, guide students in critical thinking about a classic text before we generate material in response to the texts’ themes. An inclusive practice, AdaptDevizing draws on the engagement work of Cornerstone Theater Company, Augusto Boal, and my collaborator Devair Jeffries. I offer AdaptDevizing within courses in Collaborative Techniques, as three-week intensives, and for playbuilding.
Experiential Teaching & Learning
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NOT YOUR DOLL
Inspired by Ibsen's A Doll's House, the AdaptDevized not your doll features original material generated by student artists, and examines gender relations and the creation of identity. During the process, I led students in critical thinking about Ibsen's classic text to generate material in response to A Doll's House themes. An inclusive practice, AdaptDevizing draws on the work of Cornerstone Theater Company, Augusto Boal, and Devair Jeffries. Conceived and co-directed by Nicole Dietze in collaboration with Devair Jeffries. |
THE KIKLēSE PROJECT for Indigenizing Cinema (formerly Virginia Dares)
What began as the Virginia Dares project examined white mythology and indigenous erasure by exploring the myth of Virginia's "Lost Colony." Student film-makers considered: What if the "lost" colony wasn't lost at all? What if the English settlers had intentionally assimilated with Native American tribes? And what if the writers of history erased their union? Produced through affiliation with Virginia Tech’s Cinema and American Indian Studies programs, the project developed into a semi-annual online film festival, a Nearly-Carbon-Neutral Conference: Towards Making and Teaching Decolonizing/Re-Indigenizing Media, and will one day be a Web Series. For more info: DYE WORKS FILM. |