TEAM Overview
Who We Are
In consortium with ASSITEJ/USA, TCG has launched an education initiative—Building a National TEAM: Theatre Education Assessment Models. The project was carried out with the guidance and expertise of a national Working Group of education directors and an assessment expert.
Organizational Background
Project Consultant: Robert Southworth
Working Group: Andrea Allen, Peter Avery, Carol Jones, Kati Koerner, Milfordean Luster, Nancy Marcy, Dawn McAndrews, Daniel Renner, David Shookhoff, Dan Welch
Project Coordinator: Laurie Baskin
Project Advisor: Kim Peter Kovac
Project Facilitator: Liz Maestri
Theatre Communications Group
TCG is the national organization for the American theatre, offers a wide array of services in line with its mission: to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. Through its artistic, management, and international programs, advocacy and education activities, and publications, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of and appreciation for the theatre field. TCG has over 445 member theatres nationwide. Since 1999, our education department has offered teleconferences for theatre educators, publications focusing on education as part of our Centerpiece series, ongoing research and the enhancement of the education pages of our website. Our annual Education Survey is now entirely online, and member theatres can access each other’s profiles and study guides.
ASSITEJ/USA
The United States Center for the International Association of Theater for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ/USA) is the national service organization promoting the power of professional theatre for young audiences through excellence, collaboration and innovation across cultural and international boundaries. Founded in 1965, ASSITEJ/USA is the only theater organization in the U.S. which has the development of professional theater for young audiences and international exchange as its primary mandates.
Robert A. Southworth, Jr., Ed.D., Project Consultant, The SchoolWorks Lab, Inc.
Robert Southworth (President and Principal Investigator of the SchoolWorks Lab, Inc.) is a teacher, scholar and leader with expertise in evaluation and research, specializing in research strategies. After teaching theater in K-12 schools, conducting a professional career in theater as an Assistant Director at the Denver Center Theatre Company and The American Conservatory Theater, he returned to higher education and worked at the National Center for Restructuring, Education and Schools while attaining his doctorate in the Curriculum and Teaching Department at Teachers College Columbia University. Rob has taught at Adelphi University, Bank Street College of Education and Teachers College, where he taught courses on school reform and change employing assessment of instructional learning goals. Dr. Southworth is the founder and president of The SchoolWorks Lab, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to school reform research, assessment and dissemination. Rob has been successful by supporting schools, districts, cultural organizations and educational leaders in evaluating the effect of their organization's efforts on the improvement of student achievement. Rob designed and constructed a diagnostic exam based on California State Standards that is administered to every ninth grader in San Diego, CA. Dr. Southworth has launched a series of studies to examine the impact of the arts on academic achievement. Starting with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Rob is employing scientifically based research strategies to understanding student achievement as it relates to the arts. Rob is looking at national models for assessment in theatre, alignment of standards across the arts, the transfer of learning from the arts to other subjects, the assessment of all four arts in NYC, and the replication research for his earlier work. Rob has launched two divisions inside of The SchoolWorks Lab: The Center for Arts Based Learning (CABLe) and EduCrate, a mobile classroom for emergency education relief.
Working Group
Andrea Allen, Director of Education, Seattle Repertory Theatre
Ms. Allen has created numerous programs for Seattle Repertory Theatre including the TeenSpeak residencies, which develop original theatre with young people; a teacher professional development workshop, Bringing Theatre into the Classroom; summer high school internships; and the School Membership Program. She also runs the nationally recognized Professional Arts Training Program for post-college interns. Ms. Allen has been actively involved in the creation and development of the Center School, a public high school on the Seattle Center campus. A graduate of Yale University, she has an M.A. in Education from Antioch University. Andrea was the artistic director of Annex Theatre, a founding board member of House of Dames and currently serves as the president of the Washington Alliance for Arts Education board, and as a member of the board of the Washington Alliance for Theatre Education.
Peter Avery, Education and Outreach Director, Disney Theatrical Productions
Peter Avery is the Education and Outreach Director for Disney Theatrical Productions (DTP). Disney Theatricals hired Peter in January 2007 to develop and direct an education department based on its Broadway productions and related materials. Previously, Peter was the Director of Education for TADA! Youth Theater, where he designed and managed the theatre education programs for youth in NY schools, the community and at the theatre. His background includes education, teaching, management, performance and arts advocacy. Avery serves on the Executive Committee for the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and has co-chaired the FACE-TO-FACE Arts in Education Conference for the past five years. Avery was elected to the Board of Directors for The American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) where he served as Co-chair of the Youth Theatre Network for four years. He has served as a grants panelist for the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Arts Education and the Maryland State Arts Council, among others. Before moving to New York in 2001, Avery served as the director of education for Imagination Stage, a children’s theater in Maryland, as well as The Shakespeare Theatre. While with Imagination Stage, he co-designed and directed Imagination Quest, an experiential arts education teaching and learning model for Washington, DC area schools. He has taught acting and theatre studies at New York University and The American University in Washington, DC. Avery also founded and was the artistic director for Atsa Mattah You, a commedia dell’arte street theatre troupe in the Washington, DC and Maryland areas. He received his M.F.A. in Theatre with a concentration in theatre education from the University of Maryland.
Carol Jones, Director of Institute for Educators, Alliance Theatre
Carol Jones is the director of education partnerships and teacher training at the Alliance Theatre Company where she designs and implements programs for educators and students grades Pre-K-12. Ms. Jones is the regional director of Georgia Wolf Trap/Alliance Theatre, an affiliate program of the National Wolf Trap Institute in Virginia. As a youth drama specialist for over thirty-five years, Ms. Jones has developed programs for numerous organizations in five states, including the Groton Youth Theatre and the Jewish Community Center in Baltimore, MD. She was founder/artistic director of the Alamance Children’s Theatre and Theatre for Little Kids. She served as the state representative for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education for five years and as a board member for two years, and two three-year terms on the board of ASSITEJ/USA (International Children’s Theatre Association). She chaired both the Children’s Theatre Committee and the Professional Theatre Division of the Georgia Theatre Conference. She is on the advisory boards if Theatre Gael (Atlanta), and the Georgia Coalition for Arts Education, serves on the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and is a charter member of the Spring Hill Education Director’s Conference. Ms. Jones is currently the lead guest instructor for the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts in Montgomery. She holds an M.S. in Recreation Administration from the University of North Carolina and an M.Ed. from Coppin State College. She completed requirements for a teaching certificate in theatre and English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and has over 30 additional graduate hours in theatre education from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Washington, Loyola College, the University of Durham, England and the University of Minnesota. Her B.A. in English and Spanish was earned at Elon College. Ms. Jones is currently pursuing advanced graduate studies in Arts Leadership at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire.
Kati Koerner, Director of Education, Lincoln Center Theater
Kati Koerner is the Director of Education at Lincoln Center Theater (LCT) where she designs and manages programs serving students and teachers in New York City’s public middle and high schools. At LCT she founded the LEAD (Learning English & Drama) Project, an extended in-school theater residency for English language learners, as well as a Songwriting in the Schools Project. Prior to LCT, Kati taught acting at the Commonwealth School, an independent high school in Boston. From 1998-2000 she was Education Partnerships Coordinator at the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. She has served on the writing committee for the New York City Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching & Learning in the Arts for Theater and as a grants panelist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council, TCG, the League of American Theater Producers and the Minneapolis Arts Commission. She holds a B.A. in Government from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth from the University of Texas at Austin. Kati has also worked extensively as a director, translator and teaching artist in the U.S., England and Germany.
Milfordean Luster, Education Director, Detroit Repertory Theatre
Milfordean Luster is director of arts in education and audience development at the Detroit Repertory Theatre, a nationally recognized professional theatre that is marking its 50th anniversary season in 2007. The DRT has served as the anchor organization for the Learning Via Arts ACE (Arts Centered Education) Partnership since its inception nine years ago, and Milfordean has been the coordinator/administrator of the Learning Via Arts ACE Partnership since the partnership was formed. The Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Arts in Education Program also implements after-school and summer programming, which includes drama, dance, storytelling and visual arts at schools within the Detroit Metropolitan area. Milfordean serves as administrator of the theatre’s in-school, after-school and summer programs. She is also a founding member of the Marygrove College (located in Detroit, MI) Institute for Arts Infused Education Steering Committee. The Institute was formally launched in 2006, and provides undergraduate and graduate level teacher training in Arts Infused Education, professional AIE development and training of practicing teachers and artists, arts integrated curriculum units, and rigorous research and compilation of assessment and evaluation tools for AIE, as well as providing direct arts infused education services to public and charter schools in the Detroit Metropolitan area. Milfordean is a professional actor, director and drama instructor. She has been a drama instructor for the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Actors Workshop since 1992. She also teaches drama in public and private schools, and in after-school, summer and Headstart programs. Milfordean is also a writer, and has won awards for playwriting and fiction writing. She received an M.A. in English from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Nancy Marcy, Education Director, The Coterie Theatre
Nancy Marcy is the Education Director for The Coterie, Inc., located in Kansas City’s Crown Center. As the first education director for the Coterie, Nancy has been integral in creating a strong educational arm over the past nine years for this nationally recognized theatre for young audiences. The Coterie now offers summer theatre classes at four satellite sites in the Kansas City area and year-round classes in the Coterie Theatre Lab, including a Comedy Improvisation Troupe and Acting Master Classes (invitation-only classes which she created and now teaches). Nancy has been actively involved in the development of after school drama programs at the Pembroke Hill School and the Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation Community Center. Nancy is responsible for creating teacher resource guides for each of the seven main stage productions and for teaching and supervising numerous educational outreach programs including the Reaching the Write Minds playwriting seminars and the Dramatic AIDS Education Project, a collaboration with the medical schools of the University of Missouri-KC and University of Kansas. Prior to joining the Coterie staff, Nancy taught in the public schools (K-12 music, theatre and gifted). She worked for the Nebraska Department of Education, writing 53 episodes for the nationally syndicated Nebraska Educational Television series Strawberry Square, and performed as the female lead in all 66 episodes. She also wrote the teacher resource materials for this innovative arts and humanities series for kindergarten through third grades. Nancy holds both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Education from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dawn McAndrews, Director of Education, The Shakespeare Theatre
Since 1989, Dawn McAndrews has been working as an educator, playwright, director and dramaturg at theatres across the country including Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Remains Theatre, Next Theatre, Arena Stage and Portland Stage Company. Ms. McAndrews has been the director of education at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC since 1999 where she is responsible for developing the vision and mission for all education programs. For six years prior, Dawn was director of education and outreach at Portland Stage Company in Maine where she developed comprehensive education, community outreach and humanities-based programming. She recently served as the educational consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Shakespeare in American Communities initiative. Since July 2004, she has been president of the board of the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative after serving as vice president and chair of the Professional Development Committee for three years. Before joining Portland Stage Company, Dawn worked at Arena Stage developing arts in education programming as part of that theatre’s NEH-funded Theatre as Discovery initiative. Prior to Arena, Ms. McAndrews was director of education at the Santa Clarita Repertory Theater, a touring children’s theatre that brings Shakespeare as well as original bilingual and living history plays to elementary school students throughout the greater Los Angeles area. From 1994-99, she was the director of training for the Maine Summer Dramatic Institute, a six-week performance intensive in Shakespeare for high school students. She has been an on-site observer for the Massachusetts Cultural Council since 1994. Since 1993 she has taught Creative Dramatics for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers at UCLA. Dawn has an M.F.A. in Directing from Western Illinois University and a B.F.A. in Performance from SUNY Fredonia.
Daniel Renner, Director of Education, Denver Center Theatre Company
Daniel Renner is the Dean of the National Theatre Conservatory and Director of Education for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Renner’s career has spanned acting, directing, producing, teaching and arts administration in regional theatres throughout the country. He co-created and developed the national Spring Hill Conference in Washington, D.C., for education directors in regional theatres. He is the recipient of a citation from the Kennedy Center for his contributions to arts education, received a TCG Observership Grant for work in diversity programming and new theatre education models and was honored by PBS and major Washington corporations for innovation in education. Mr. Renner has worked in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and many regional theatres including: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., and was an associate artist and director with Intiman Theatre in Seattle for ten years, where he was also a member of the acting company. Mr. Renner has been on numerous arts and education panels and advisory boards, was appointed by the Governor to the Washington State Commission of Student Learning, is a graduate of Leadership Tomorrow and continues to serve as a consultant for a variety of national arts organizations. He has been a guest lecturer at Stanford, the University of Washington, University of Maryland and Cornish College of the Arts. He is currently an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts’ theatre programs and has served as moderator for Theatre Communications Group’s national education teleconferences as well as curating Education Centerpieces for TCG’s national bulletin for the last four years. Mr. Renner has served on NEA education and access review panels in Washington, D.C, as well as the Shakespeare in America series. Mr. Renner currently serves on the board of TCG and as Vice President of ASSITEJ/USA, and the editorial boards of The Teaching Artist Journal and TYA Today.
David Shookhoff, Education Director, Manhattan Theatre Club
As education director of Manhattan Theatre Club since 1988, David Shookhoff has designed and implemented a range of programs that annually serve more than 4,000 students and hundreds of teachers and parents from approximately 60 schools in the New York City area and around the nation. A leader in the field of arts education, Mr. Shookhoff chairs the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, serves on the board of directors of the Center for Arts Education and Opus 118—Harlem Center for Music, has chaired the Arts-in-Education Panel of the New York State Council on the Arts and has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been a consultant to the Lincoln Center Institute, the Theatre Development Fund and many other arts organizations in New York and around the country. He has directed numerous theatre and opera productions at theatres in New York City and nationwide, and has taught acting and directing at Carnegie Mellon University, Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University Teachers College, the University of Pennsylvania and the Mannes School of Music. Mr. Shookhoff holds a B.A. cum laude from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Directing from the Yale School of Drama.
Dan Welch, Outreach Director, Walden Theatre
Dan Welch has been the outreach director at Walden Theatre since the fall of 2000. He has developed a number of innovative offerings for the school-based outreach program including co-authoring Walden Theatre’s touring production Nation in Crisis. Under his leadership the outreach program has served over 50,000 students in 365 schools and community centers in ten states. Dan has directed over 40 plays, including Walden Theatre's touring productions Flood!, Eternal Love, The Wings of Heroes, and Nation in Crisis as well as works in the 2001-2007 Young Playwrights Festivals. Some of his other directing credits include: Bang Bang You’re Dead, 60’s Mania, When Bullfrogs Sing Opera, This Property is Condemned, The Dark Room, Mooney's Kid Don't Cry, Durang, Durang, Laundry and Bourbon, Talking With, The Glass Menagerie, All in the Timing and Serving Time in a Dixie Diner. He is a member of the Kentuckiana Cultural Consortium and has contributed to Theatre Communications Group's Centerpiece publication. Dan was a member of the 1993-94 apprentice/intern company at Actors Theatre of Louisville and received a B.A. in theatre from the University of Louisville.
Laurie Baskin, Project Coordinator, TCG
Laurie Baskin joined TCG in 1997 as executive assistant to the executive director and special projects coordinator. In 1999, she was named director of government and education programs. In this capacity, she oversees all of TCG’s education programs, including the teleconference series, the education Centerpiece series, the education sections of the monthly TCG Bulletin, the annual education survey, and helps plan the Crossing Paths: A Performing Arts Educators Forum, a cross-disciplinary conference for performing arts educators. She also serves as TCG’s liaison to the American Arts Alliance, writes the advocacy portion of the TCG Bulletin, sends Action Alerts to the field when prompt action is necessary for pending legislation and writes testimony and provides witnesses for hearings. Prior to joining TCG, Ms. Baskin served for 15 years as executive assistant to the Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts, working for then-Chairman, Kitty Carlisle Hart. She attended Mount Holyoke College, earned her BA from Colgate University, and a degree in arts administration from Adelphi University.
Kim Peter Kovac, Project Advisor, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Kim Peter Kovac is Director of Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences in Washington, DC, which commissions, produces, tours and presents performances for children, young people and families. He’s helped develop some seventy new plays, operas and dances for young audiences and is a major architect of New Visions/New Voices, the Center’s award-winning program to develop new TYA plays. He is President of ASSITEJ/USA, the national service organization for TYA theaters, and on the board of ASSITEJ International, the international association of theaters for children and young people; and has taught seminars and participated in symposia on theater design, arts education and theater for young audiences in Jordan, Australia, Japan, Austria, Wales, South Africa and Argentina. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of Texas.
Liz Maestri, Project Facilitator, TCG
Liz Maestri is the development/government & education programs associate at TCG. Prior to joining TCG in 2005, Liz worked as a stage manager, technician and director in Washington, DC-area regional theatres such as the John F. Kennedy Center, the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Theater J, the Black Women Playwrights’ Group and Young Playwrights’ Theater. She worked for DC’s arts-based alternative weekly, The Washington City Paper, during which she took second jobs as an administrator/stage technician at the Theatre Lab and Young Playwrights’ Theater. As an actor and director, Liz’s NY credits include Utica Forever; Pleaching the Coffin Sisters (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Gang of Four); Batman & Robin; Lonely Dragon; 47:59 (Impetuous Theater Group); and The Potluck Plays (Milk Can Theatre). She worked off-off-Broadway as prop designer for Lemkin’s House, winner of the 2006 PeaceWriting Award from the OMNI Center for Peace. Liz received a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland at College Park, where she served as assistant production manager of the theatre department.