# Outside the Gate: A Story About Excellence in Teaching Artistry

What if the problem has never been the quality of the work? What if the problem is what we’ve been willing to recognize as “real” art - theatre, music, dance, visual art - or just art?

I’ve spent my career working outside what is traditionally considered “respected.” It's where I'm comfortable, pushing at the edges of what counts as respected, professional, and excellent art-making. 

I never left excellence. 

In college at the University of Maryland, College Park (‘96), I received an Irene Ryan nomination while earning a degree in performance. In my final semester, I made a nontraditional decision. I took a course outside the theatre department and landed an internship with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Programs (ETP). That internship became everything to my career. However, I got the distinct sense from others' feedback that my decision was unwise. 

Educational and youth theatre wasn’t “respected.” Even today, it faces challenges. But as I neared graduation, ETP directors Scot Fortune and Ed Eaton auditioned me for one of their touring ensembles. I walked out of college and directly into a professional career. ETP gave me a five-day-a-week performance schedule, a full-time income, and health insurance; not to mention, I was doing rewarding work, and work that I was passionate about. It was an excellent start to a lifelong career. Professional, rigorous, and sustaining.

When I moved on from ETP and began navigating the broader DMV theatre scene. I landed gigs, including with Adventure Theatre and Imagination Stage. I was excelling onstage and through my teaching artistry. I also continued to build my craft and pursue excellence in my performance and teaching, and was invited to participate in sessions at the Kennedy Center, where I worked with Barbara Cook and Marnie Nixon. 

After one very public session with Barbara Cook, my voice teacher told me, “You need to make a decision.” The message was clear: Focus on “adult” theatre if I wanted to be taken seriously. My passion, however, was youth theatre, educational theatre, and teaching artistry. Didn't this work require excellence? 

I reached a point where I needed to increase my income to have a sustaining, thriving life. At the time, I thought an MFA program was the answer. I enrolled in the Theatre for Young People program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was a smaller program, but one where I could act, direct, and teach, both in the community and at the university, and more. That breadth of experience mattered deeply to me. It was the life I wanted. My time there began onstage as Gertrude in Seussical. My performance drew the department's attention. A professor suggested I leave the youth theatre track and join the acting program where I belonged. 

I've appreciated being encouraged and recognized throughout my career. I've consistently received love and a shower of compliments, but I question the underlying message: that excellence in educational, youth, and community-based theatre was somehow lesser, or less worthy of recognition, or altogether not required.

These days, I’m back in the DMV area, and Adventure Theatre and Imagination Stage are now receiving Helen Hayes nominations and awards. I’m proud of the artists, the theatres, and the field for expanding its scope of excellence.

Now my work happens outside of venues, in communities. And I find myself asking: Is this work not excellent? Can it be truly valued?

Whether in classrooms, community centers, parks, hospitals, or wherever I am, my participants demonstrate excellence with each encounter. And I know the excellence I bring into our shared experiences. Through my presence, practice, and care, I create the conditions for their excellence to emerge, be applied, and fully shine. I believe deeply in the work we do together.

This story is still unfolding, and you are part of my next chapter. I’m asking the world to meet me where I am now. How do we choose to see professional Teaching Artists? And their participants in our communities?

I see excellence. Rigor. Creativity. Artist impact.

What would it take for that excellence to be recognized, resourced, and respected more broadly?

We’ve got work to do. 

It starts this Tuesday when I begin to share more deeply about the experience I've walked as an artist, Teaching Artist, arts administrator, arts advocate, and co-Founder/President of Teaching Artists of the Mid-Atlantic. 

I’m sharing this now because it sits at the root of everything to come. If we are going to talk about Teaching Artists, we have to start with what we already know: the work is excellent. The question is whether our systems are willing to see it.