Valerie Branch is the founder and artistic director of VB Dance Ensemble, a professional, contemporary dance company focused on bringing cultural awareness and social change into schools around the nation. Her mission is to use the power of dance as a catalyst to empower children to find value in the impact that their voice can have on their life and the lives of others. Branch graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in dance. She has experience touring as a performing artist and dance educator both nationally and internationally and has brought dance into schools throughout the United States, South Africa, India, Singapore, and Grenada. Branch is a Master Teaching Artist with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and holds a National Teaching Artist Credential with Young Audiences Arts for Learning. She advocates for teaching artist representation while creating and promoting innovative strategies that will increase the visibility of teaching artists around the nation.
Educators will be equipped with strategies to integrate dance elements—body, energy, space, and time—into their teaching practices. Through guided movement experiences and collaborative discussions, participants will explore how movement enhances student self-expression, social-emotional skills, and classroom engagement. Educators will leave with practical, ready-to-use activities that foster a dynamic, inclusive learning environment. No dance experience is expected or needed.
Rebecca Pogue Fields serves as head of elementary school programs at the Alliance Theatre at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where she facilitates the design, administration, and delivery of arts integrated, in-school residency programs in more than three hundred classrooms each year. She also facilitates theatre education programs and teacher training utilizing the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education model. STEAM learning integrates the arts into the traditional STEM curriculum to enhance creativity and critical thinking skills. Fields enjoys training educators at various levels to introduce best practices in arts integration, transform teacher practices, and establish strategic partnerships. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a fine arts degree in dance and received a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky. Fields has previously worked with Young Audiences Arts for Learning and the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
Have you ever wanted to explore habitats through statues and tableau, become a character from history, or facilitate a town hall to debate which shape is best? This workshop will introduce teachers to best practices in arts integration and identify how that would look in their classrooms. Participants will explore new teaching strategies for any content area, learn ways to involve students’ creativity, and have fun while learning. Whether exploring this work for the first time or mastering specific strategies, teachers who participate will gain experience and confidence in authentic arts integration.
Sara Simons is an associate professor of instruction at University of Texas at Austin, where she is the head of the bachelor of fine arts theatre education program. Her teaching interests include theatre for social change, process drama, multicultural education, and curriculum design. She teaches classes for pre-service theatre educators, which include designs for instruction and creative drama I and II. Simons received a grant to develop a signature course called Art and the Epidemic, where students examine art created in response to both the AIDS crisis and COVID-19. The University of Texas honored her with the 2020-21 College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award. Simons has a degree in theatre and women’s studies from Wellesley College, a master’s in theatre education from Emerson College, and a PhD in educational theatre from New York University. Her research has been published in Youth Theatre Journal, TYA Today, The Journal of Applied Arts & Health, and Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
This hands-on workshop will explore strategies for creative drama in the classroom including games, story dramas, and teacher-in-role. Participants will learn how to use structured activities to help students develop their imagination and creativity.
Raymond McAnally, a native of Franklin, Tennessee, is an award-winning actor, producer writer, and lecturer. Some of his television credits include Black Mirror: San Junipero, which won an Emmy in 2017. He has had guest starring roles on Better Call Saul, Modern Family, Chicago Fire, and 30 Rock, and his feature film credits include Paradise Highway, The Revival, and Compliance. Theatre credits of note include God's Ear; Casa Valentina; One Man, Two Guvnors; Mrs. Mannerly, and The Foreigner, among many others. McAnally’s solo show, Size Matters, received its world premiere at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, was filmed before a live audience at the Franklin Theatre, and now streams on Amazon Prime. His full-length play, The Cruelty of Children, was a semi-finalist at the O’Neill Center in 2019. McAnally has been a lecturer for Rutgers Arts Online since 2013 and guest lectured at colleges and conservatories since 2009. He holds a degree in acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a degree from Sewanee.
Through exercises and instruction, the instructor will define the "sense of play" that is foundational to building characters, whether for in-class work or part of a production. The participants will learn to help students creatively explore different physicality and vocal variations to make strong character choices. Participants will learn what it feels like to have their physical and vocal choices solidify into a character so that they can guide students to the same outcomes.
Drew Richardson, known as Drew the Dramatic Fool, is the first person in the 21st century to have new, short, silent films shown in major motion picture theaters. In addition to being a silent film star in the wrong century, he has toured his solo shows at art centers, theatres, and festivals nationally and internationally, including the International Comedy Festival in China. Richardson played with Squonk Opera in the Broadway touring production of Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk and has devised and directed for theatre companies across the United States. He has a degree from Ohio University, and a degree in theatre performance pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University. Richardson studied with Jacques Lecoq in Paris, is a certified Essential Somatics exercise coach, and has a teacher’s certificate from the Michael Chekhov Association. He teaches many varieties of physical acting and comedy for theatre companies, colleges, and universities, both in-person and online, around the world.
In this workshop, participants will devise by observing the subtle, the unexpected, and the beauty in mistakes. They will string these moments together to devise short silent pieces and learn creative problem-solving tools that will facilitate the creation of original material. Using paper bags as masks, the performer’s presence and expressiveness will be enhanced for better non-verbal communication. Performances created in class will turn into short silent movies. Participants will return to their schools knowing how to make short and entertaining theatre etiquette movies that can be shown before live productions.
Adam Yankowy is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and is currently an assistant professor of musical theatre at Michigan State University. He holds degrees in musical theatre and music education and has taught in theatre departments at several universities. Selected performance credits include Babes in Toyland (Lincoln Center), The Pirates of Penzance (New York City Center), Swingin’ Christmas (Carnegie Hall), and Broadway’s Rising Stars (Town Hall). He has earned numerous regional theatre awards for both directing and music direction. Yankowy is the current artistic program director for the New Musical Laboratory at Michigan State University, a program that helps shape and support new musicals in their development process. He also is the host of a musical theatre radio program in East Lansing, Michigan. His research centers on the creation of new musicals and the revision of older musicals as new ones. He continues to work as a director, music director, and performer.
Through creative projects and interactive group activities, the class will dive into the world of public domain musicals and plays, uncovering fresh ways to bring these classic works to life for modern audiences. With arts budgets shrinking, rediscovering these timeless stories offers a goldmine of material with zero licensing costs. Participants will gain the tools to unearth hidden theatrical treasures, explore relevant themes, and transform older material to resonate for today’s audiences. From scene rewrites to re-imagined lyrics, class members will collaborate with each other to put their own spin on these classics.
