About

I have always been a story teller at heart. As soon as I could string sentences together, I would sit under our dining room table and tell my mom countless tales of imaginary creatures and strange journeys. She was very patient.

In fifth grade, I stood in front of my whole school and read an excerpt from the book, Charlotte's Web. It was the scene where Fern pleaded with her father to spare a runty newborn pig. My voice was clear and passionate and I was proud to have made it to the final round of the competition. It was my first taste of being on stage.

I love stories. I love the places they can take us and the lessons they can teach us. I love telling stories to my students. Stories that sometimes even relate to what we're learning. Like my mom, my students are very patient.

I went to high school at a small, private, k-12 school and that is where I got into theater. It was a great fit for me personality-wise and I took to it naturally. At the same time, I started doing tech work and rudimentary light and sound work at a local community theater. These experiences would change my life.

I went into university as a theater major. While there, I performed in everything I could. I found success, and started making connections in the local theater scene. At the same time, in order to make money, I started working at my old high school. I worked in the afterschool program there and I also started substitute teaching for grades K-6. That's when I made a second discovery. I really enjoyed teaching. It also came very naturally to me.

Although torn, I pursued teaching over acting. The known vs. the unknown was a smart choice. Plus I discovered my theater skills transferred instantly into the classroom and the two gigs had fundamental similarities. Summers off was nice as well.

So I began a career as a teacher. And as much as I liked teaching, I missed theater almost immediately. I was out of college and had left that world behind. So my first class of fourth graders and I started busking around the school. I brought in my guitar and we performed poems by Shel Silverstein such as the Crocodile's Toothache and True Story. We sang and we acted out the scenes. It was really something.

We put on a class play later that year. I had taken the story of Hansel and Gretel and added a reworded karaoke version of Jay-Z's It's a Hard Knock Life. I added a dance scene structured around Michael Jackson's Thriller, and the climax of the play involved a lightsaber battle between Hansel and the Witch. It went over well.

It wasn't long after that the school offered me a new position. On paper I was to be a literacy coach, but in reality I was a theater teacher. The only one in the state at an elementary school. I wrote a curriculum and delivered it to the school and we started putting on musicals. We performed Annie, Seussical, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I really enjoyed this new role. We generated a lot of talk in the community and beyond. Our shows were a hit. We were bussing in other elementary schools to watch our kids perform. 

And we were shut down. Apparently, I had forgotten to actually be a literacy coach; And the fact that our school was the only one  in the state with a school backed theater program wasn't exactly equitable according to state law. But instead of going back into the classroom, I had a buddy in Korea who was teaching over there and loving it. So I packed up and headed overseas. It was awesome, and I was there for a long time.

That brings us pretty close to the present. I moved back to VA in 2018. We came here so my wife could go back to school to study Jazz Piano Performance at VCU. That brought me to NFE. I mentioned my theater background in my interview. Slowly but surely, we have begun to create something here.

Why do I do theater here at our school? Because I know how inspiring it can be for the kids. I've seen how it impacted the kids I worked with early in my career. Also, I do it because I enjoy a puzzle - the orchestrating of various parts to create something temporarily powerful. Have you ever seen those videos where there's a guy who balances a bowling ball on top of a wrench on top of an old coke bottle? Totally satisfying. Finally, I do theater because I love stories.  I love the places they can take us and the lessons they can teach us. Theater is storytelling in its finest form. I love being a part of it, and I love being able to introduce it to the kids.