I am a playwright, director, and producer, graduating with my MFA in Playwriting from Columbia this spring, 2024. I think playwriting can be an incredible tool for self-reflection and discovery, and I'm passionate about creating accessible playwriting courses for all students.
In conjunction with my playwriting education, I have pursued pedagogical development in the Teaching Development Program of the Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning, practiced student-centered organizing and mentorship as a Lead Teaching Fellow and a Teaching Consultant, and gained invaluable wisdom shadowing Professor Martinez. My teaching values include rigorous pursuit of craft, experimentation, self-reflection, community-building, and collaboration.
Professionally, my plays have been produced at Homesick Plays Project, Northwestern University, LakehouseRanchDotPng, Harrisburg Fringe and Providence Fringe, and on various audio streaming services.
At Columbia, I taught workshops including "Best Practices for Facilitating New Work Readings Over Zoom" and "Playwriting as a Tool for Collaboration." I'm experienced teaching graduate playwriting students as well as students with limited playwriting experience. I am especially interested in making playwriting classes accessible and interesting to all.
As a Teaching Consultant for Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning, I worked one-on-one with graduate students with teaching assignments in their department. I interviewed them about their teaching goals, conducted classroom observations and student surveys, and met with them to strategize next steps for their teaching practice.
On behalf of the Center for Teaching and Learning, I facilitated practice teaching sessions: opportunities for graduate students to practice teaching a short lesson on a topic of their choice for a group of their peers, and receive feedback. I facilitated group discussion and synthesized the students' ideas into major takeaways.
As a Lead Teaching Fellow, I served as a liaison between Theatre MFA students in the School of the Arts, the department, and the Center for Teaching and Learning. I gauged the needs of arts students interested in pursuing teaching development opportunities and communicated their feedback with the department.
My final capstone was an innovative playwriting course that focuses on experimentation and community building. I am interested in incorporating multiple modalities to improve accessibility and help students achieve their learning goals. An example of this is offering both an interactive and traditional syllabus.