Thed Talks

This week Jimmy talks with Niceville, High School theatre teacher Ritchie Jackson.  In this episode he shares about his past life, traveling the world, and his personal renaissance as a high school theatre teacher!

This week Jimmy talks with York Jr. High theatre teacher, Jeffrey Ott.  Jeff shares his perspective on teaching theatre coming from the business world.  He also shares how he transforms his cafetorium into Oz each year and about his fantastic Virtual Theatre Software created for theatre teachers and theatre students!

This week Jimmy talks with triple threat middle school teacher Joan Schubin.  In this episode she speaks about her journey to middle school, being a new mom and a teacher, and the challenges of teaching theatre, music, and dance!

This week Jimmy rings in the new year with middle school theatre teacher Titus Quinn.  Titus speaks about his experiences as a new teacher, self care, and his stories so far collaborating with other theatre colleagues and working with middle schoolers!

This week Jimmy talks to Illinois State University super senior, Wes Skym.  Wes is a theatre teacher education major embarking on his student teaching!  In this episode he talks about his journey to teaching theatre, his own podcast, and the lessons he has learned along the way!

This week Jimmy speaks with the 2017 Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award winner Rachel Harry!  She shares some of her favorite stories from her career, the importance of being a lifelong learner, taking risks and breaking rules, and her experience with the Tony Awards!

This week Jimmy speaks with Krista Carson Elhai.  She talks about her involvement with the International Thespian Honor Society, her Theatre Teacher Bootcamp with Gai Jones, and fundraising!

This week Jimmy talks to educational theatre veteran, Gai Jones!  She speaks about her long and wonderful career in theatre education, her published books, and her work as the current President of the Educational Theatre Association!

This week Jimmy talks with Drama Teacher Academy contributor Christa Vogt.  She talks about her career, how she got started with Drama Teacher Academy, and her very passionate advice for teachers!

This week Jimmy talks with playwright, educator, workshop leader, resident playwright of Theatrefolk, and co-founder of The Drama Teacher Academy Lindsay Price!  She shares about her journey in educational theatre, being a successful playwright, and her work creating one of the most widely used resources for theatre teachers out there.  

This week Jimmy talks with Monticello High School in Charlottesville, VA drama teacher and the 2019 Excellence in Theatre Education TONY Award winner Madeline Michel!  She shares her experiences working with diverse students, her non-traditional approach to how her classes are offered, and some no nonsense pearls of wisdom!  

This week Jimmy talks with middle school teacher Julian Lazarus in Montgomery County Maryland!  He has taught for 18 years at various levels and brings a great perspective on theatre education as a whole!  Specific topics he talks about are process over product, feeling trapped by our choices, and tech theatre tips and tricks!  

This week Jimmy talks to James Madison University tech director Brian Smallwood.  he shares lots of tips and tricks for tech theatre, how to communicate with your tech director so they are part of your storytelling, and teacher burnout!

This week Jimmy talks to theatre educator Dana Taylor.  Dana brings 30 years of experience teaching high school technical theatre to our conversation.  He is currently a theatre education professor at The University of Evansville in Indiana,  He shares words of wisdom and lots of great technical theatre resources from his long and wonderful career as a theatre educator.  Jimmy also checks in with Kelli, his student teacher, to see how things are going for her in her placement!

This week Jimmy talks to Texas technical theatre teacher Mel Edwards!  She discusses her journey to teaching theatre, engaging lessons, and her experiences being a woman in a male dominated field.  He also catches up with his student teacher Emma and how things are going in her placement!

This week Jimmy continues the technical theatre unit as he speaks to technical theatre teacher Kevin Holly from Libertyville, Illinois!  He speaks about some of his experiences from his career, a high school production of Starlight Express, and he offers technical theatre tips and tricks we can all use in our classroom.  He also checks in with his student teacher, Kelli!

This week Jimmy talks to Texas theatre teacher, Blake Minor about his journey to teaching theatre, technical theatre, and his own theatre education podcast, Minor Wisdom!  He also checks in with his student teacher Emma on how her first full class teaching experience went last week!

This week Jimmy chats with four of his former students who have completed their first year of teaching. They share their successes and challenges, lessons learned, and pearls of wisdom for student teachers and first year teachers!  Additionally, a new segment checking in with student teachers in the field, Kelli Lawrence and Emma Harmon share their reflections on student teaching so far!

Welcome back to Season 2 of THED Talks!  In this first episode of the season Jimmy talks with the 2016 Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award winner, Marilyn McCormick about her long and wonderful career in Detroit, Michigan. 

This week the script is flipped!  Educator, colleague, and personal friend Miriam Kuykendall takes over the podcast to talk to Jimmy and reflect on the first season.  Reflective practice is essential to good teaching, good theatre, and good podcasting!  This is the final episode for the first season.  THED Talks will return in mid-August with new episodes to get your academic year off to a great start!