Don’t Try to Fit In: Advice for New Theatre Teachers from a 30-Year Veteran

You Don’t Succeed by Fitting the Mold – You Succeed by Knowing Your Mission

Every time I stepped into and existing theatre program, my success depended on one thing, whether I stayed true to my own teaching values. When I tried to reshape myself to match someone else’s vision, I failed – not loudly, not dramatically, but quietly and consistently.

I’m not a “my way or the highway” teacher. I’m collaborative, flexible, and deeply likable. But I’ve learned that flexibility without identity leads to burnout—and students can feel it immediately.

Especially as a new teacher, don’t assume you have to erase yourself to adapt to an existing program’s culture.

Big Budgets and Big Promises are not the Same as Big Learning

I spent years creating meaningful theatre with almost nothing—two planks, a passion, and a garage if that’s what we had. The work mattered because the process mattered. Later, I found myself inside a multi-million dollar program where everything looked impressive, but my students’ experience felt small.

The high school production at the end of the summer was the program’s main priority. My class of 22 fourth graders were given ten minutes at the very end of the program to perform a scene—outside, on a dance rehearsal platform, watched only by other middle school classes.

I think they had fun. I don’t think it felt important.

My own programs celebrated everyone’s contribution. We didn’t minimize the youngest students or idolize the most experienced ones. We created art together. I’ve staged Shakespeare with young people many times. My favorite experience was a production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with an age range of 4 to 15.

Not Fitting In can be Confirmation – Not Failure

When I wasn’t invited back, it didn’t feel devastating. It felt clarifying. It confirmed that my years of teaching had been special precisely because I didn’t subscribe to someone else’s illusion of what theatre “should” look like.

Some programs need to sell a dream to sustain themselves. Others need to nurture process, curiosity, and growth. Neither is wrong—but they are not interchangeable. Teachers—and students—thrive when the program aligns with their personal mission.

There is room in the arts for all of us—for the dream builders and the truth tellers.

My hope for every artist and educator is simple, and hard-earned: to thine own self be true.