TEAM Overview - Who We Are

TCG has launched Phase Two of our education initiative—Building a National TEAM: Theatre Education Assessment Models.  The project was carried out with the guidance and expertise of a national Working Group of education directors and an assessment expert.

About: Theatre Communications Group
Project Consultant: Robert Southworth
Working Group: Andrea Allen, Peter Avery, Carol Jones, Kati Koerner, Milfordean Luster, Nancy Marcy, Dawn McAndrews, Daniel Renner, Dan Welch
Project Coordinator: Laurie Baskin
Project Facilitator: Alissa A. Moore

Theatre Communications Group

TCG is the national organization for the American theatre, offers a wide array of services in line with its mission: to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre.  Through its artistic, management, and international programs, advocacy and education activities, and publications, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of and appreciation for the theatre field. TCG has over 750 member theatres nationwide. Since 1999, TCG has offered teleconferences for theatre educators, publications focusing on education as part of our Centerpiece series, ongoing research and the enhancement of the education pages of our website.  Our annual Education Survey is now entirely online, and member theatres can access each other’s profiles and study guides.

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Project Consultant

Robert A. Southworth, Jr., Ed.D., President, The SchoolWorks Lab, Inc.

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Working Group

Andrea Allen, Director of Education, Seattle Repertory Theatre
Andrea Allen is the Director of Education at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Now in her fourteenth season at Seattle Rep, Ms. Allen has created numerous programs to develop new work with teenagers including the Playwriting Project and TeenSpeak. In collaboration with other Seattle Center campus theatres (Seattle Children’s Theatre, Book-It Rep and Seattle Shakespeare Company), she developed a teacher professional development program, Bringing Theatre into the Classroom and with national partners, she created the Teaching Artist Training Lab (TAT). In addition, Ms. Allen moderates the monthly TCG teleconferences with fellow education directors and is a member of the assessment TEAM, also with TCG. From its inception four years ago, Andrea has been actively involved in the creation and development of The Center School (TCS), a public, arts-focused high school on the Seattle Center campus. As a theatre artist in Seattle, Ms. Allen began her involvement at Annex Theatre where she was a company member for more than 10 years, serving as Artistic Director for two years and collaborating on numerous projects as a director, writer, dramaturg, and occasional-actor. The 2009-10 season marks her directing debut at Seattle Rep with Speech and Debate. A graduate of Yale University with a degree in Women's Studies, she has an M.A. in education from Antioch University. Andrea is a board member and past president of ArtsEdWashington (Washington Alliance for Arts Education).

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Peter Avery, Director of Theater, NYC Department of Education, Office of Arts and Special Projects
Peter Avery is the Director of Theater for the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), Office of the Arts and Special Projects.   Avery oversees theater education in the approximately1,600 schools across the five boroughs of New York City. His responsibilities include curriculum development, ongoing professional development of DOE theater teachers, coordination with cultural organizations and higher education, collaboration and oversight in funding initiatives for theater education, school support to principals for theater programming, promoting theater study and performance opportunities for students, and supporting the mission and goals of the Arts Office. Avery’s background includes performance, education, directing, teaching, management and arts advocacy. He previously served as the Education and Outreach Director for Disney Theatrical Productions, where he was hired to develop and lead Disney’s first ever Education Department for their Broadway productions. Avery was also a contributing writer to the landmark Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Theater, and subsequently provided training and professional development to theater specialists as a DOE theater facilitator. Avery continues to serve in an advisory role for Theatre Communications Group (TCG), where he was one of ten theater Education Directors from across the country assembled to identify and disseminate effective assessment models for student learning and engagement in theatre.  He has served on the Board of Directors for the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and The American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). Avery received his MFA in Theater Management with a concentration in Education from the University of Maryland. He has taught a variety of theater courses at New York University, American University and the University of Maryland.  In Washington, D.C., Avery founded and directed Atsa Mattah You, a commedia dell’arte street theater troupe. As a teaching artist, Avery has taught and directed theater for all ages – from creative dramatics to Shakespeare to musicals. He has been a grants panelist for the U.S. Department of Education, the Center for Arts Education and the Maryland State Arts Council, among others. Avery worked on Capitol Hill for several years with the Congressional Arts Caucus in Washington, D.C., where he wrote speeches and tracked legislation for Congress on issues impacting federal arts funding, economic development and international cultural exchange.

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Carol Jones, Director of Institute for Educators, Alliance Theatre
Carol Jones is the Director of Education Partnerships and Teacher Training at the Alliance Theatre Atlanta where she designs and implements programs for teachers and students that link the school curriculum with the artistic work of the theatre. Currently, the Alliance Theatre participates in long-term partnerships with thirty schools in the metro area and initiated the Alliance Theatre Institute for Educators in 2002-03. Carol has twelve years of teaching experience and has served as a consultant and curriculum writer for the Georgia Department of Education and for NAEP. She served on the Board of ASSITEJ/USA, fdAmerican Alliance for Theatre and Education and on the TCG TEAM project and has presented numerous workshops throughout the country for children and teachers on drama as a way of learning. Carol also teaches acting to adults and children at the Alliance Theatre. She is currently completing a specialist degree in Arts Leadership at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.

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Kati Koerner, Director of Education, Lincoln Center Theater
Kati Koerner has been Lincoln Center Theater’s Director of Education since October 2002. Prior to arriving at LCT, Ms. Koerner taught drama at The Commonwealth School, an independent high school in Boston.  From 1998 to 2000, she served as Education Partnerships Coordinator at The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. Ms. Koerner served on the writing committee that created the Blueprint for Teaching & Learning in the Arts: Theater for the New York City Department of Education. She has been a grants panelist for the Massachusetts Cultural Council, The League of American Theatres and Producers, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG).  She served on The Children’s Theatre Company’s Advisory Board for their U.S. Department of Education-funded Neighborhood Bridges program. Ms. Koerner has worked extensively as a director, translator and teaching artist in the U.S., England, and Germany.  She holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Milfordean Luster, Director of Arts in Education, Detroit Repertory Theatre
Milfordean Luster is Director of Arts in Education and Audience Development at the Detroit Repertory Theatre. The Detroit Repertory Theatre is a nationally recognized professional theatre currently in its fifty-second season. The DRT has served as the Anchor Organization for the Learning Via Arts ACE (Arts Centered Education)/AIE (Arts Infused Education) Partnership since its inception fourteen years ago, and Milfordean has been the coordinator/administrator of the Learning Via Arts ACE/AIE Partnership since the partnership was formed. The Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Arts in Education Program also implements after-school and summer programming, which includes drama, dance, storytelling and visual arts at schools within the Detroit Metropolitan area. Milfordean serves as administrator of the theatre’s in-school, after-school and summer programs. She is a professional actor, director and drama instructor. She has been a drama instructor for the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s Actors Workshop since 1992. She also teaches drama in public and private schools, and in after-school, summer and Headstart programs. Milfordean is also a writer, and has won awards for playwriting and fiction writing. She received a Master of Arts degree in English from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

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Nancy Marcy, Retired Director of Education, The Coterie Theatre
Nancy Marcy recently retired as the Education Director for the Coterie Theatre, a position she inaugurated and held for ten years.  She continues to work with Meghann Henry (new Coterie Education Director) creating written and digital resource material for each of the Coterie main stage productions.  Nancy also teaches the nationally recognized Reaching the Write Minds playwriting seminars and Master Acting classes for the Coterie.  She is a member of Theatre Communication Group's (TCG)'s national Working Group on theatre education assessment, called TEAM: Theatre Education Assessment Models.  Nancy has both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Education from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Nancy wrote 53 episodes for the nationally syndicated Nebraska Educational Television series Strawberry Square, and performed as the female lead in all 66 episodes.  She also wrote the teacher resource materials and led teacher in-service for this innovative arts and humanities series (grades K-3). An experienced workshop presenter, Nancy worked as an education and resource consultant for Good Apple Publishing, Silver Burdett Publishing, and for the Nebraska Department of Education.  She prepared written materials and created the structure and content for educator and administrator workshops. A professional actress, Nancy has performed with the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, Nebraska Theatre Caravan, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and Kansas City’s Unicorn Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, Quality Hill Playhouse, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, and the Coterie Theatre.  Notable roles include Shirley Valentine, the Nurse in After Juliet (Coterie), Hannah Tupper in The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Coterie), and most recently Kimberly in Kimberly Akimbo.

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Dawn McAndrews, Festival Director, VSA
Since 1989, Dawn McAndrews has been working as an educator, playwright, director and dramaturg at theatres across the country including Shakespeare Theatre Company, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Portland Stage Company and as artistic director of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis. From 1999 to 2007, Ms. McAndrews was director of education at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. developing the vision and mission for all education programs. For six years prior, she was director of education at Portland Stage Company in Maine where she created comprehensive education, community engagement, and humanities-based programming. Before joining Portland Stage Company, Dawn worked at Arena Stage developing arts in education programming as part of that theatre’s NEH-funded Theatre as Discovery initiative. She served as the educational consultant for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Shakespeare in American Communitiesinitiative developing the Educator’s Tool Kit. Dawn is the founder of the Teaching Artist Training Lab, an initiative developed by professionals (and fellow T.E.A.M. Working Group members) from Shakespeare Theatre Company, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Seattle Repertory Theatre to increase the capacity of teaching artists. She is currently Festival Director at VSA, the international organization on arts and disability, producing the 2010 International VSA Festival June 6-12, 2010.

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Daniel Renner, Dean and Director of Education, Denver Center Theatre Company
Daniel Renner is the Dean of the National Theatre Conservatory and Director of Education for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Renner’s career has spanned acting, directing, producing, teaching and arts administration in regional theatres throughout the country. He co-created and developed the national Spring Hill Conference in Washington D.C. for education directors in regional theatres. Mr. Renner has worked in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and many regional theatres including: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., and was an associate artist and director with Intiman Theatre in Seattle for ten years. Mr. Renner has been on numerous arts and education panels and advisory boards, was appointed by the Governor to the Washington State Commission on Student Learning, and has been a consultant for a variety of national arts organizations including Boston’s Huntington Theatre, The Children’s Theatre Company and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of TCG’s national TEAM Project and is a guest lecturer at Stanford, Columbia, and Denver University. He was an on-site evaluator for the NEA and has served and chaired their review panels for the last 10 years. He is a past board member of TCG and TYA/USA, and serves as Secretary Treasurer of the Executive Board of The American National Theatre Academy. He is on the editorial boards of The Teaching Artist Journal and TYA Today.

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Dan Welch, Outreach Director, Walden Theatre
Dan Welch is entering his tenth season as Walden Theatre’s Outreach Director. He has developed a number of innovative offerings for the school-based Outreach Program including authoring Walden Theatre’s newest touring production Journey – A Trip on the Underground Railroad. Under his leadership the Outreach Program has served over 400 schools and community centers in ten states. Dan has directed more than 50 plays, including Walden Theatre's touring productions Journey, Flood!, Eternal Love, The Wings of Heroes, and Nation in Crisis as well as works in the 2001-2008 Young Playwrights Festivals. He is the Co-chair of the Kentuckiana Cultural Consortium and is on the design team for the Lincoln Elementary Performing Arts School and the Western Middle Performing Arts School. Dan is currently a member of the national TCG working group “Building a National TEAM: Theatre Education Assessment Models”. He received a BA in Theatre from University of Louisville, and was a member of the 1993-94 Apprentice/Intern Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

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Served as part of the TEAM Working Group in 2007:

David Shookhoff, Education Director, Manhattan Theatre Club
As education director of Manhattan Theatre Club since 1988, David Shookhoff has designed and implemented a range of programs that annually serve more than 4,000 students and hundreds of teachers and parents from approximately 60 schools in the New York City area and around the nation. A leader in the field of arts education, Mr. Shookhoff chairs the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, serves on the board of directors of the Center for Arts Education and Opus 118—Harlem Center for Music, has chaired the Arts-in-Education Panel of the New York State Council on the Arts and has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been a consultant to the Lincoln Center Institute, the Theatre Development Fund and many other arts organizations in New York and around the country. He has directed numerous theatre and opera productions at theatres in New York City and nationwide, and has taught acting and directing at Carnegie Mellon University, Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University Teachers College, the University of Pennsylvania and the Mannes School of Music. Mr. Shookhoff holds a B.A. cum laude from Stanford University and an M.F.A. in Directing from the Yale School of Drama.

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Project Coordinator

Laurie Baskin, Director of Research, Policy & Collective Action, TCG
Laurie Baskin joined TCG in 1997 as executive assistant to the executive director and special projects coordinator.  In 1999, she was named director of government and education programs and then in 2013 she became the Director of Research, Policy & Collective Action.  In this capacity, she oversees TCG's research, including the Fiscal Survey and the Salary Survey, all of TCG’s education programs, including the teleconference series, the education Centerpiece series, the education sections of the monthly TCG Bulletin, the annual education survey, and helped to plan the Crossing Paths: A Performing Arts Educators Forum, a cross-disciplinary conference for performing arts educators.  She also serves as TCG’s liaison to the American Arts Alliance, writes the advocacy portion of the TCG Bulletin, sends Action Alerts to the field when prompt action is necessary for pending legislation and writes testimony and provides witnesses for hearings.  Prior to joining TCG, Ms. Baskin served for 15 years as executive assistant to the Chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts, working for then-Chairman, Kitty Carlisle Hart.  She attended Mount Holyoke College, earned her BA from Colgate University, and a degree in arts administration from Adelphi University.

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Project Facilitator

Alissa A. Moore, Education, Research & Collective Action Associate, TCG
Alissa A. Moore is the education, research & collective action associate at TCG. She has worked as a director and volunteer theatre educator in New York, and is currently the co-founder of Nomi Network, a non-profit organization that leverages the fashion industry to fight human trafficking in South East Asia. She received a B.A. with Honors in Theatre and American Studies from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, where she served as their theatre department’s student general manager, and was the recipient of the Margaret Ellen Clifford Memorial Prize for excellence in theatre.

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