2025 AATE National Conference
Below are summaries of the dynamic panels, interactive workshops, and inspiring performances that will shape this summer’s Conference. These sessions offer tools, fresh ideas, and innovative teaching practices for theatre educators, artists, and scholars dedicated to engaging young people and enriching communities through the arts.
Thursday, July 24
9:45am
Alevia R-Plyam
Stages of Freedom: Jewish Narratives in American Theatre
This panel examines how Jewish identity and liberation are represented in American theater, using dramaturgical analysis of key works to explore tradition, activism, and transformation.
9:45am
Bekah LaCoste
Beyond the Blueprint: Conceptual Set Design with/for Neurodivergent Minds
Reimagine set design as a flexible, inclusive process that accommodates and celebrates neurodivergent creativity through conceptual and performer-centered approaches.
9:45am
Emily Garven
Building a Thriving Theater Program from the Ground Up
Learn practical strategies and receive a toolkit for launching inclusive, trauma-informed theater programs in under-resourced schools, with focus on sustainability, advocacy, and engagement.
9:45am
Jenna Messina & Thomas Kazmierczak
Creating Theatre Curriculum that Opens Dialogue and Facilitates Change
Teaching Artists at the Cleveland Play House use trauma-informed care and culturally relevant teaching to create safe and constructive educational environments. Their four-pillar theatre education model supports artistic and social-emotional growth while fostering multi-generational dialogue. This session outlines how to develop theatre curricula that prompt community engagement and social change using examples from CPH Family Theatre Productions and the CARE Theatre Education Program.
9:45am
Jonathan Jones
So You Wannabe a Scholar: How to Turn Your Conference Presentation into a Journal Article
This panel and workshop demystifies the publication process for theatre educators. Led by experienced scholars and editors, the session provides strategies for transforming conference presentations into journal articles. Participants will begin outlining their own article ideas.
9:45am
Julia Reimer
Encouraging Dialogue through Interview-based Theatre and Storytelling Projects
This interactive workshop explores how student-led oral history and interview-based theatre can foster empathy and dialogue. Participants will examine ethical considerations, story development processes, and devising techniques. The session offers practical tools for incorporating community storytelling into educational theatre projects.
9:45am
Lexi Bresnan
Using Drama as a way of Processing Grief
This session examines the many forms grief can take beyond bereavement—such as moving, friendship loss, and life changes—and how these experiences impact young people. Through creative drama, playwriting, and theatrical expression, participants will explore how the arts can provide a safe and constructive space to process grief. The session encourages open dialogue about this often-taboo topic and offers strategies to make conversations around grief more accessible in educational and artistic settings.
9:45am
Marie Kohler (Assisted by Laura Gordon)
Playwriting Workshop: Adapting Classic Literature to Script for Theater
This interactive workshop guides participants in adapting classic literature into dynamic scripts. The session explores analyzing source material, scriptwriting techniques, and collaborative exercises to equip educators and artists with practical skills for honoring historical texts while crafting compelling theatre.
9:45am
Michelle Gram Giesen
Making Connections Through Story Drama
This workshop focuses on the book Encounter and demonstrates drama and movement exercises for deep student engagement. Educators will experience drama strategies like soundscapes, writing in role, and improvisation to help students explore texts while fostering empathy and understanding across the curriculum.
9:45am
New Guard (Facilitated by Alexa Nastasi and Sam Briggs)
Victoria Yordt
Feelings Forecast: Social and Emotional Learning In-Practice for the K-8 Drama Classroom
This session focuses on integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) practices in K-8 drama classrooms. Participants will explore how theater educators can foster emotional intelligence, empathy, and self-awareness through drama activities, supporting students’ social and emotional development alongside their artistic growth.
Ava Mize
Competitive Educational Theater: Helpful or Harmful?
This session examines the effects of competition in educational theater and its potential harms to students' community-building and emotional safety. Through a mini-workshop, participants will explore how competition may influence student performance and group dynamics by comparing two performance groups—one with competition and the other without—followed by a discussion on the effects of competitive environments in theater education.
Devin Klugh
The Pandemic, Precarity, and a Pedagogy of Hope: Learning from Public High School Theatre Teachers’ Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Session Description:
This research-based session presents findings from interviews with public high school theater teachers about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion focuses on how teachers adapted their practices, curriculum, and performances to continue providing theater education in virtual, hybrid, and socially-distanced formats. Attendees will reflect on the resilience of teachers and discuss how these adaptations can inspire future theater education practices in an ever-changing educational landscape.
Annase Raji
The 2025 Courageous Cadence: Performing Justice Through Spoken Word Poetry
Session Description:
This session explores the Courageous Cadence project, which uses spoken word poetry, devised theater, and personal storytelling to empower youth to address social injustices, including racial, gender, and climate justice. Attendees will learn how youth-led arts-based research can promote justice-centered dialogue, activism, and leadership through performance. The session will include best practices for integrating justice-oriented performance into educational and community settings, and strategies for empowering young people as leaders in advocacy and social change.
9:45am
Norah Swiney
Creating Theatre across Generations: Undergraduates and Older Adults with Dementia
Exploring applied theatre practices, this workshop presents the Timeslips method to devise original work with older adults living with dementia. Participants will engage in collaborative storytelling, consider intergenerational programming, and learn how theatre can support memory care and community connection.
Friday, July 25
10:15am
Christopher Totten & Jake Chen
Change Your Practice, Change Your World: Artivism in Action
Learn how to embed social justice into arts organizations through case studies, interactive dialogue, and practices from New Victory’s Speak Up, Act Out youth advocacy program.
10:15am
Jessica Shaw
Learning, Leading, Thriving: Teaching the Next Generation of Theatre Makers
This workshop presents student-centered teaching strategies designed to innovate theatre education practices. Participants will leave with ready-to-implement methods and projects tailored to various learning environments, challenging the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset.
10:15am
Jo Beth Gonzalez, Dana Edell, & Nigel Semaj
Fostering the Wisdom & Guidance of Emerging Writers of Color: A Workshop and Discussion
This workshop supports global majority educators and artists in crafting publishable narratives and scholarship. It introduces the Teachers of Color Writers’ Collective and explores opportunities for writing partnerships and submissions to the Youth Theatre Journal and a forthcoming book. Participants will generate ideas and build writing community connections.
10:15am
Madeleine Bagnall & Kaitlyn Fields – Seesaw Theatre
Making Theatre for Six Senses: Seesaw Theatre’s Sensory Theatre Workshop
This hands-on session explores sensory theatre tailored for neurodivergent and disabled audiences. Seesaw Theatre will share devising practices, improvisational techniques, and accessibility tools that center audience interaction and inclusion from the start of the creative process.
10:15am
Megan Raab, Yasemin Eti (Bestepe College Artletics), Elyse Orecchio (NYC Children’s Theatre)
From Spiderman to Spotify: Connecting Teens Across the World Through Theatre and Twinning
Learn how students from Brooklyn and Turkey created theatre together using tech-enabled collaboration. The session will include participatory activities and tips for implementing your own “twinning” projects that foster global youth connection and creativity.
10:15am
Noelle Diane Johnson
Implementing Holistic and Effective DEI&A Strategies in Theatre Leadership and Higher Education Theatre Classrooms
This session introduces the Artists Heal® Method, a trauma-informed, anti-racist framework for DEI&A work in academia. Attendees will learn strategies for organizational healing, student empowerment, and sustainable change through practical tools and discussion.
10:15am
Rebecca Burcher
Educational Strategies for Teaching Artists: Keeping Teaching Artistry Sustainable
Explore effective teaching techniques and classroom strategies with insights from performance and special education. The session also addresses burnout prevention and sustaining a healthy, long-term teaching artist practice.
10:15am
Sara Berliner
Eating Disorder Prevention in Theatre Education
The session addresses the prevalence of disordered eating among adolescents and how theater education environments may inadvertently promote risk factors. Participants will learn strategies to incorporate prevention practices in pedagogy, address anti-fat bias, and support positive identity development, with an emphasis on creating a healthy classroom culture.
10:15am
Seth Laidlaw & Tia Powell Harris
Becoming Change Agents and Community Builders
This session focuses on how New York City Center’s Education & Community Engagement department has expanded its reach, serving historically underrepresented communities. Participants will learn about building sustainable partnerships and internal leadership, with a focus on enhancing accessibility, inclusivity, and collaboration in community-based arts education.
10:15am
Suzanne Katz
Kindergarten Playwrights: Monologue Writing with Kinders (and Older Students, too)
While early childhood drama often focuses on play and improvisation, this session introduces a practical method for engaging young children in script writing. Educators will learn a sentence-frame technique to help young actors—particularly kindergartners—craft original monologues by combining ELA development, academic language, and imaginative thinking. The session also offers extensions to build vocal and movement skills and provides strategies for differentiating instruction to support diverse learners.
10:15am
Walker Zupan
Mapping Environmental (In)justice with Youth Through Applied Theatre
This interactive workshop explores how applied theatre can engage young people in critical conversations about environmental (in)justice and the climate crisis. Based on a lesson developed for a 7th grade social studies class, participants will experience Theatre of the Oppressed activities, map analysis, and visual art to examine systems of power and imagine just, sustainable futures. Attendees will also brainstorm adaptations for their own educational and community contexts.
12:45pm
Ashley Forman & Josh Bickford
Beyond the Stage: Devised Theater, Visual Art, and Multidisciplinary Storytelling with Precipice Theater Team
Engage in a hands-on workshop exploring how devised theater combined with movement, writing, and visual art can expand storytelling, deepen ensemble-building, and connect communities—both onstage and through creative artifacts like zines and illustrated books.
12:45pm
Cyndi LaFrese, Dallas Thomas, and Steven Higginbotham
You’re Not the Boss of Me!: Collaboration in the Classroom
A fun, fast-paced devised theatre workshop that introduces the Six Principles of Collaboration, culminating in the live creation and performance of original group-devised stories.
12:45pm
Elizabeth Brendel Horn
Serious Play: Promoting Joy and Healing Through Bedside Pediatric Theatre
Discover how The Jeanette M. Gould Traveling Theater creates joyful, therapeutic bedside theatre experiences for hospitalized children through play-based performance.
12:45pm
Evan Mack & Dr. Morgan Soja
Dragon’s Breath: Igniting SEL Through a Magical Children’s Theater Piece
This interactive session explores how the award-winning children’s opera Dragon’s Breath uses performance to support social-emotional learning and emotional intelligence in young audiences.
12:45pm
Jonathan P. Jones
Generating The Matrix: Creating a Publishing Guide for AATE
In this working session, participants will collaborate to draft a publishing guide for AATE. Tasks include identifying publication steps, compiling a journal database, and creating a repository of existing scholarship. All attendees are encouraged to share their CVs to populate the resource.
12:45pm
Matt Webster
Bridging Old and New: Rebuilding Relationships in the Drama Classroom
This workshop explores how to restore student-teacher relationships that suffered during the pandemic, focusing on trust and collaboration essential to drama learning environments.
12:45pm
Rachel Hoey
Cultivating Healthy Practices in 2025 - The Early Stages of Community Building
Focusing on ensemble practices and the start of classroom work, this workshop centers on community-building techniques for K–12 and undergraduate settings through experiential play and reflection.
12:45pm
Rebecca Pogue Fields
Sustaining Funding for School Programs and Retaining Teaching Artists
Learn how the Alliance Theatre maintains in-school programming across 450 schools, improves literacy through arts integration, and tackles funding challenges and teaching artist retention.
12:45pm
Rives Collins, Gloria Bond Clunie, Dr. Joan Lancourt, Alexandra López, & Kaitlyn Fields
The Past Empowers the Present: Democracy and the Performing Arts
This session delves into the untold story of Junior Programs, Inc., a pioneering theatre company dedicated to touring professional theatre for young audiences. Participants will engage in discussions about how the arts can support democracy and respond to social challenges, drawing lessons from the past to inform future work in arts education.
12:45pm
Veronica Rodriguez Ballesteros & Alberto Iozzia
If all the World's a Stage… Let’s Go Global!
This workshop uses theater to explore cultural differences, promoting intercultural understanding and cross-cultural communication. Participants will engage in dramatic exercises aimed at developing cultural awareness and will leave with strategies to integrate these lessons into their teaching, fostering global citizenship and acceptance.
2:30pm
Amanda Dawson & Emma Colburn
"I Wasn’t Taught That!": Professional Development and Learning Alongside Your Students
A candid discussion about evolving as educators, embracing new methodologies, and learning in tandem with students to navigate the changing landscape of theatre education.
2:30pm
Daniel Park
Breaking Down Decision-Making
This participatory workshop provides tools for equitable, strategic decision-making by analyzing and redefining hierarchical and horizontal processes in educational and artistic spaces.
2:30pm
Emilio G. Robles & Justin Wade
"Tradition–Change–Progress": Emerging Partner Collaborations Preparing Teaching Artists
Explore collaborative narratives from two distinct organizations preparing teaching artists, and reflect on how shared goals bridge diverse experiences to foster youth-centered applied theatre.
2:30pm
Jennifer Hersch & Sarah Clare – Beck Center for the Arts (Lakewood, OH)
Scenes from the Revolution
In anticipation of the 2026 Semiquincentennial, this session features a student-led reading and sing-through of Scenes from the Revolution, a musical by Aline Shader originally created for the Bicentennial. Geared toward middle school performers, the show explores key events of the American Revolution through ten scenes and songs, aligning with educational standards in arts and history. Participants will learn how this versatile, curriculum-based piece can be used to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and spark deeper conversations about both historical and current struggles for freedom. A sing-along finale invites everyone to raise their voices in celebration.
2:30pm
Jonathan Jones
Establishing Communities of Practice among Drama Educators: Revisiting Learning to Teach Drama – A Case Narrative Approach
This hands-on workshop supports drama educators in forming communities of practice. Participants create and peer-review case narratives from their own teaching using a structured “describe, analyze, apply” feedback protocol. The workshop promotes reflection and offers actionable next steps for practice. A Zoom follow-up will assess implementation.
2:30pm
Maria Beery
Adapting the Rehearsal Process for Students with Sensory Processing and Autism Spectrum Disorders
A hands-on session exploring inclusive rehearsal strategies like Meisner repetition and improvisation to support neurodivergent students in full-inclusion theatre programs.
2:30pm
Mateo Hernandez
Whose Play Is It?: Culturally Specific Theatre in White Institutions
Drawing on personal experience directing Luna, this session examines the complexities of culturally specific work produced within predominantly white institutions and calls for equity-focused practices.
2:30pm
Samantha Briggs
Role Play for Change: Exploring Censorship in Education
Amid growing educational censorship, educators are challenged to address critical topics like identity, power, and privilege. This session invites educators to explore censorship and book banning through improvisational exercises, fostering dialogue on educational restrictions. Participants will explore the impact of censorship, community, and local policies while developing strategies to engage meaningfully with students and communities.
2:30pm
Steven James Higginbotham, Dallas Thomas, & Cyndi LaFrese
Stories that Soar!: Creating Collaborative Partnerships to Transform Educational Communities
This panel discusses how university theater programs can partner with community-centered arts organizations to transform education and build regional artistic infrastructure. Participants will explore best practices for engaging elementary schools and high schools in creative, literacy-based, devised theater projects, and the impact of arts education on regional communities.
Saturday, July 26
1:15pm
Jo Beth Gonzalez, Genevieve Simon, & Katy Early
Envisioning the Future of Trans Identity on Stage
This discussion-based session invites participants to imagine inclusive and nuanced representations of trans identities in theatre. Featuring a reading of Simon’s new play Punch Back, the session will prompt collaborative dialogue on script development, community support, and strategies to resist political oppression of trans voices in theatre.
1:15pm
Jose Casas, Gustave Weltsek, Tiffany Trent, Shavonne Coleman, & Quenna Barrett
(Re)Imagining TYA From a BIPOC Perspective: Confronting Eurocentric Academic Scholarship
This panel addresses the scarcity of BIPOC-centered scholarship in Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). It advocates for expanded academic inquiry into marginalized youth narratives and explores strategies for encouraging new scholarship. The goal is to reimagine and reshape the field to be more inclusive and equitable.
1:15pm
Kanea MacDonald
From Breaking to Blooming: Unearthing Hope to Enable Rebuilding
This digital storytelling workshop explores how photo, writing, and personal narrative can reveal hope amid despair. Inspired by youth in the Texas borderlands, participants will reflect on the metaphor of breaking and blooming—transforming trauma and struggle into beauty and strength. Attendees will engage in a condensed version of this empowering exercise.
1:15pm
Lauren Neuwirth
So, Your Music Director Bailed... Music Directing for Non-Musicians
A practical guide for theatre educators facing music directing challenges. Learn vocal health tips, teaching techniques, music adaptation strategies, and accessible resources to empower student performers.
1:15pm
Morganne Evans & Saya Jenks (On Deck Workshops)
Supporting Early Career Theatre Professionals: Enriching Workforce Development with Theatre Practices
This session shares a model for helping early-career professionals—especially post-COVID—using improvisational theatre to strengthen workplace communication and professional readiness.
1:15pm
Nigel Semaj
Reimagining Technique: Teaching Theatre Skills in a Changing World
Engage in collaborative inquiry around reimagining how foundational acting, movement, and voice techniques are taught, with a focus on experiential and culturally responsive methods that resonate with Gen Z learners and today’s social realities.
1:15pm
Randy Stewart
Theatre Teacher: Wellness in Warm-ups and Welcoming
Reexamine warm-ups with wellness in mind. This workshop considers how post-pandemic perspectives can reshape warm-ups to support both student and teacher wellbeing in the drama classroom.
1:15pm
Roxanne Schroeder-Arce & Mateo Hernandez
When “Performing For” Becomes “Performing With”: Teatro Vivo’s Annual Pastorela
Teatro Vivo’s semi-annual production of La Pastorela has evolved to foster deeper community engagement. This session will explore the shift from performing for an audience to creating interactive, participatory experiences with the audience. The presenters will discuss the production’s growth and its role in building micro-communities, particularly among youth and adults in the local Austin community.
1:15pm
Sam Leopold & Camille Simone Thomas
From Stage to Change: Reimagining Theater Education with SEL
This interactive session explores the "Stages of Change" model applied to theater education and social-emotional learning (SEL). By reflecting on both innovative practices, such as the Student Voice and Engagement (SVE) program, and the core values of theater education, participants will engage in hands-on activities, collaborative discussions, and reflective exercises to explore how to sustain student engagement while maintaining traditional values.
1:15pm
Sara Berliner
Yardsticks: Defining Evaluation and Success
Join a dynamic exploration of how we define, measure, and evaluate success in youth and community-based arts programs. This session invites participants to grapple with the tensions between funder expectations, artistic goals, participant impact, and community engagement. Through guided discussion, we’ll examine what outcomes we can and should measure, the importance of clarity versus flexibility in project design, and how to assess whether our work is truly effective. Designed for educators, artists, and administrators, this session offers a collaborative space to reflect on the complexities of evaluation and develop more meaningful and equitable approaches to measuring impact.
2:45pm
Abby Thompson
Devised Theater Process for and with Youth in Foster Care
Explore hands-on techniques for devising theater with youth in foster care, emphasizing advocacy and community engagement through real-life examples from the Alex in Windyland project.
2:45pm
Andrew Aaron Valdez & Maya Louise Shed
Cultivating Growth: Nurturing Community Roots with Applied Theatre
Participants will explore how applied theatre fosters inclusive, community-driven change through relationship-building, interactive activities, and creative empathy practices.
2:45pm
Anna Lund & Lisa Goss
Values and Legacy: The Story of You
Offered by the Skirball Cultural Center, this session uses immigration stories and values-based storytelling to foster empathy, critical thinking, and legacy-building through hands-on activities.
2:45pm
Donna Seage
Theatre Games for Technical Theatre
Hands-on and ready-to-use games that bring fun, collaboration, and creativity into the technical theatre classroom—because tech deserves play too!
2:45pm
Jeri Hammond & Anika Nayak
Teacher Leader Cohort (TLC): Creating Growth & Change through Deep Examination of Practice
Educators from Wheelock Family Theatre share insights from their Teacher Leader Cohort (TLC), a group engaged in monthly collaborative reflection. The workshop explores how small-scale reflective practices create large-scale change. Using feedback protocols from the Center for Leadership and Educational Equity, participants will explore real classroom issues, engage in praxis, and model equity-centered tools for reflective teaching.
2:45pm
Joe Salvatore
Using Verbatim Performance to Disrupt Discrimination in Healthcare Delivery
Participants will experience a workshop based on the NYC Health Equity Project, which uses verbatim performance to expose healthcare discrimination across intersections of identity. Attendees will learn how artist-researchers turned interviews into performances and piloted interventions with NYC healthcare workers. The session models ethnodrama techniques and shares early results.
2:45pm
John Newman, Carl Walton II, Ananias Dixon, & Eric Coble
Tradition of Youth Playwriting at Cleveland School of the Arts
This panel explores the youth playwriting program at Cleveland School of the Arts. Students receive mentorship from teachers, alumni, and professionals while writing full-length plays. Panelists include graduates who co-founded D.O.C. Studios and playwright Eric Coble. The program is detailed in John Newman’s book Playwriting in Schools.
2:45pm
Kristie Farr & Michelle Smiley – Third Eye Interpreting
Exploring Theatrical Interpreting – Creating Equivalent Experiences
Explore how interpreters can collaborate with directors, cast, and crew to create inclusive theatre experiences for Deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences using shadowed and zoned interpreting techniques.
2:45pm
Rebecca Burcher & Will Potts – Talespinner Children’s Theatre
The Universal Design for Learning: Individualized Education Strategies Unpacked
Learn how to apply the updated UDL framework to support diverse learners. This session unpacks the 9 domains of UDL and provides actionable tools to make theatre education more equitable and inclusive.
2:45pm
Shelby Newport & Matthew Tibbs
Case Making for the Arts: How to Lead in Tumultuous Times
In an era of post-COVID challenges, leaders in arts organizations must adapt their strategies. This interactive workshop will help participants use personal and organizational values to lead effectively, providing new tools for managing teams, networking, and developing strategies to enhance the impact of theater programs during difficult times.
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