Elizabeth Dunn-Ruiz is a full-time lecturer at The City College of New York in the educational theatre graduate program. She is a board member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, a new teacher mentor with the Arthur Miller Foundation, and a freelance curriculum writer, consultant, teaching artist, and dramaturg focused on new play development. She holds degrees in creative writing from The New School, in urban and multicultural education from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and in English Literature from Hunter College. She completed two years of studio training in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Dunn-Ruiz taught at Bronx Community College, taught English at South Bronx Community Charter High School, and co-founded Bronx Theatre High School, where she served as artistic director and teacher of performance. She also taught and worked as a master teaching artist for Roundabout Theatre Company, including six seasons as playwright mentor for the youth ensemble.
In this interactive arts integration workshop series, participants will engage in a sequence of activities using theatrical teaching strategies to deepen students’ phonemic awareness, enhance their understanding of spelling rules, syntax, and grammar, and improve fluency. A unique approach to Reader’s Theatre that works for students at all levels will be considered.
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.
Terlene D. Terry-Todd is a dancer, actor, choreographer, and professional teaching artist with more than forty years of experience. A leading movement arts integration specialist, she presents nationally and internationally. Terry-Todd currently serves as a master teaching artist with Wolf Trap Education and has received numerous awards for her choreography, arts contributions, and work with children with special needs. She holds a degree in physical education from Hampton University, a master’s in curriculum and instruction from the University of Northern Colorado and a master’s in dance history and choreography from American University. Terry-Todd has taught at both Howard University and American University and has been a guest choreographer for the University of Delaware’s Sharing Our Legacy Dance project. She also served Fairfax County Public Schools as a certified dance and adapted physical education specialist. A strong advocate for wellness, Terry-Todd created the Healthy Choice series for children, beginning with Sweetie’s Healthy Start.
Participants will explore how to use creative movement and gesture to teach students to tell a story, enhance understanding of concepts, and provide an opportunity for creative exploration, collaboration, and application. Throughout the workshop basic movement fundamentals will be utilized that help to create and enhance STEM lessons throughout the entire curriculum.
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.
James Savage Jr. is an associate professor at Ohio Northern University and an associate teacher with the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. He has performed Off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally. Some favorite highlights include Henry V, Richard II, and Hamlet at the American Globe Theatre; Doubt, Everyman, and Murder in the Cathedral at the Black Orchid Theatre; and Your War’try Grave at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. He performed and co-created a solo show titled 8x10 (about solitary confinement in the United States prison system) in New York City and at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival in 2017, and played Odysseus in The Odyssey at the Hydrama Theatre on the island of Hydra in Greece. Savage has taught at The New School for Drama, the New York Film Academy, and New York University Steinhardt. He also contributed two chapters in the Routledge book titled Michael Chekhov and Sanford Meisner: Collisions and Convergence in Actor Training.
Participants in these sessions will be introduced to fundamental tools from Sanford Meisner and Michael Chekhov. By blending their two techniques, a richly layered, holistic acting process can be cultivated that helps actors find their authentic voice, build presence, and reduce self-consciousness. These combined tools lay the foundation for strong scene and monologue work and help students move beyond realism into multidimensional artistry.
