Jonathan Jones serves as a program administrator for the Program in Educational Theatre at New York University Steinhardt. He has taught courses there in theatre education, pedagogy, assessment, and theatre history, and was awarded the Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award. He also teaches courses in public speaking and theatre history at the City University of New York. Jones, who received his PhD from New York University, was previously a theatre and English teacher at North Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, where he was honored with the Inspirational Educator Award by Universal Studios. Jones has given presentations on theatre education, research, creativity, and pedagogy in Canada, China, Iraq, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He serves as chair of the board for the American Alliance for Theatre & Education (AATE) and as editor for ArtsPraxis. His book, Assessment in the Drama Classroom: A Culturally Responsive and Student-Centered Approach, was published by Routledge Press in 2024 and awarded the 2025 AATE Distinguished Book Award.
In this interactive arts integration workshop series, participants will experience English language arts, social studies, science, and math curricula through process drama and story drama. They will explore ways to sequence drama conventions in order to engage students, deepen their understanding, and assess their learning.
Ashley Laverty is the founding artistic director of Kerfuffle, a theatre and dance company that creates original performances for children up to age six. Under her leadership, Kerfuffle has partnered with many arts and non-arts organizations to bring aesthetically exciting, engaging, and accessible theatre experiences to children around the country in museums, libraries, parks, and community centers. She has more than twelve years of teaching artist experience, specializing in early childhood drama. In Chicago, Laverty is proud to be a teaching artist with Lifeline Theatre, Writers Theater, Imagine Theatre, and the Stage School. She has led professional development workshops focusing on integrating drama in early childhood with educators across the country. Laverty holds a degree in theatre for youth from Arizona State University and a degree in theatre arts from Point Park University's Conservatory of Performing Arts.
Educators in this session will jump into devising while using a picture book as source material. Participants will use their bodies, voices, and imaginations to explore book adaptation, physical devising techniques, and writing activities to use with students in the elementary grades.
Sheila Daniels, a multi-disciplinary theatre-maker based in Seattle, is an associate professor at Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University. She teaches directing, acting and devising. Her theatre credits include directing at Seattle Rep (Indecent, Dancing at Lughnasa), ACT (The Wolves, The Ramayana), Strawberry Theatre Workshop (Lydia, The Bridge of San Luis Rey), Seattle Shakespeare Company (A Winter’s Tale, Pericles, Macbeth), Seattle Children’s Theatre (Jackie & Me), and Intiman Theatre (A Streetcar Named Desire, Crime and Punishment), where she served as associate director under Bart Sher from 2007-2009. Her devising work has been commissioned by Tacoma Museum of Glass, UMO Ensemble, and her own company, Baba Yaga. Productions in 2026 include Gypsy: A Musical Fable with Cornish and Jiehae Park’s The Aves at ACT Theater. Daniels is in the multi-year process of making the documentary Hidden Bodies: Stereotyping and Shaming of the Femme Body in American Theater.
Participants will be asked to dive into physical explorations of characters from an established text, then move into exploring relationships between characters. Geared towards inspiring students to make specific, dynamic choices that come from their bodies and impulses, this work aims to create vivid characters and relationships in staging tied to both text and subtext.
Alan Hawkins is an improviser, educator, and author with more than twenty years of experience in teaching and directing. He has trained at many of the nation’s leading improv institutions, including the Second City Conservatory and Musical Conservatory in Los Angeles, the iO West program, the Chicago ComedySportz Training Center, and the Annoyance Theatre. Since 2004 he has taught improv and theatre, developed curriculum for high school instruction, and served as a teacher and director at the Chicago Teen Comedy Fest. Hawkins is an ensemble member and instructor at Unexpected Productions in Seattle, where he teaches improvisation, including his signature “Improvising in the Style of Shakespeare” workshop series. He is the author of You Can’t Learn Improv From a Book, a resource designed to help drama teachers introduce and strengthen student improvisation. Hawkins’s teaching emphasizes emotional honesty, active listening, and expressive storytelling, assisting educators to empower students to create bold, connected, and imaginative work.
Participants will explore the core tools of improvised Shakespeare using language, emotion, and physical storytelling to build rich scene work. Through hands-on exercises, participants will learn techniques they can apply directly in their own classrooms.
