Oddly enough, I come to be teaching technical theatre through a round-about way, and a journey full of many different interests, experiences, and backgrounds.  Like many others, I started in the Performing Arts learning Clarinet in Band in 5^th Grade.  Progressing through Lockport Township HS, in the suburbs of Chicago, I was awakened to a love of performance after I auditioned for All-State, on a whim, and made it.  After that I knew that I wanted to make music a bigger part of my life, so I expanded into saxophone and percussion when my band director, Dan Valkema, needed someone to play those parts. 

Because of their music program and Head Band Director, Steven Steele, I attended Illinois State University.  Even though I played in their Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and Marching Band, it took another two years for me to realize that I needed to be teaching music for a living.  I had started out as a physics major because of my love of science and technology, and then decided that I should at least try to get a relatively steady paycheck, so I switched to a Music Education major.  My first theatre experience came when I was student teaching, and was asked to play in the pit orchestra for 2 different musicals in the same month: Annie, and West Side Story.     

After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Music Education, I spent my first few years in teaching by moving around Illinois.  I taught Band, and 1^st year Spanish, in a couple of districts.  Along the way I had many opportunities to work in the auditoriums because I understood computers, sound technologies, and picked up lighting quickly.  My love of buttons, lights, sounds, and, power tools and piles of wood, all came together when I had the chance to work on the musicals/operettas Pirates of Penzance, and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella.  I did set design and construction, as well as lights and sound for those productions.  There is an indescribable fun in being able to say I have built both a pirate ship and a church one year, and then a castle, cottage, and clock tower, the next year.

Upon taking a trip to Texas to visit a friend and getting lost, I moved to Texas in 2005.  Since then I taught band for 11 years, had a short interlude as a restauranteur, another one in Special Education, and worked with the music and drama departments in Gonzales, Del Valle, San Marcos, and Marion, on the technical aspects of their productions.  I made the transition to teaching theatre full-time, and was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to come to NEISD. 

By the way current students, if you are reading this, you can email me a picture of your favorite Pre-1980s classic car for extra credit.  One per semester limit.  Be ready to talk about it and why it is your favorite though!

So now I am using my 30+ years in the Performing Arts, 15+ years in education, technical know-how, and my interests in science, history, construction and engineering, and computers, to tell stories in an entertaining and engaging way.  I am excited to be here at Madison, and am looking forward to continuing the adventure!