Tag Archives: Performing Arts Teachers

Elsie Ritchie: Drama teacher and former Hollywood actress

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Elsie Ritchie: Retired high school drama teacher and former Hollywood actress.

Many talented classroom teachers have also distinguished themselves in endeavors outside of the classroom. One of these was Elsie Ritchie, an English and drama teacher who was also a film actress from the 1970’s.

Elsie was the sister of Hollywood director Michael Ritchie. When she was a young woman, she portrayed roles in two movies he directed, including The Candidate in 1972 and Smile in 1975. Elsie nurtured her love for acting since she was a child. As a youngster, she participated in many local community theater productions.

After her graduation from  Berkeley High School, Elsie studied classical languages and art history at UC Berkeley, where she earned her degree. It made sense that she should choose Berkeley, since her father, Dr. Benbow Ritchie, was a professor there.

After her brief career in Hollywood, Elsie accepted a position as a high school English teacher at Aragon High School located in San Mateo, California. Her career as an educator spanned 22 years. During this time, she also worked tirelessly as the school’s drama teacher.

Once she retired, Elsie settled in Redding, California, where she lived since 2013. There Elsie returned to her childhood passion for community theater. She performed in productions of Romeo & Juliet, You Can’t Take It With You, The Nutcracker, The Dixie Swim Club, and Harvey. She also directed a production of The Gin Game at Redding’s Riverfront Playhouse. Written by D. Coburn, the play garnered a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. In addition to her work as an actress and director, Elsie led a local actors’ monologue workshop.

Sadly, Elsie passed away on November 7, 2018. She was 65 years old. To read more about this amazing educator, actress, and director, see the article published in the Record Searchlight entitled Bucket List gives actors crack at dream roles.

Original works by choir teacher Sheena Graham performed at the Obama White House

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Original works by choir teacher Sheena Graham from Bridgeport, Connecticut, performed at the Obama White House.

Our nation is fortunate to have many fine educators for the performing arts. One of them is Sheena Graham, a high school choir teacher from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Her original musical compositions have been featured at the Obama White House!

Sheena teaches at Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. She inaugurated her career as an educator in 1983. In a career that has spanned more than 36 years, Sheena has taught Black History Chorale, peer leadership, theater, piano, and performing arts. She has also served as an adviser for her school’s poetry club, coached cheerleading, softball, and drill team, and instructed a dance troupe.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Sheena leads workshops in music literacy, creates teaching tools for colleagues, and works as an accompanist for local choirs. She also teaches free piano and drama classes at the Hall Neighborhood House Academy of Music and Fine Arts.

Prior to her work as an educator, she wrote original musicals which earned national recognition. Two of her compositions were presented at the White House: “My Destiny” in 2014 and “It’s Not How You Start” in 2016. Her composition “We Can if We Believe” was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, in 2018. The topics of her musicals include dealing with teen years, coping with tragedy, and not allowing negative life circumstances to define a person’s destiny.

Sheena says her determination to become a choir teacher stemmed from childhood events. She was born with a speech impediment. As a result, she told one interviewer, she did not interact well with others. In fourth grade, an aunt signed her up for music lessons, thinking it might help. “It gave me a whole new world where I could feel safe and comfortable,” Sheena revealed. “I was more social.” As a teacher, Sheena has spent her entire career trying to ensure her students feel that same sense of safety, community, and kindness in her classroom.

For her work as an educator, Sheena has earned many accolades. She was featured in the book, “Notable Valley African Americans.” She received the Beard Excellence in Teaching Award, the Choral Director of Distinction Award, the National Association of Negro Business Professional Women Teacher of the Year Award, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Teacher of the Year Award. She was also named the 1995 Bridgeport Public Schools Teacher of the Year and 2019 Connecticut Teacher of the Year.

Sheena earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Western Connecticut State University. She earned her Master’s degree in Education from St. Joseph’s College.

To learn more about this chalkboard champion, click on this link from the Connecticut Post: CCSSO.

Myra Davis Hemmings: English and Drama teacher also an accomplished actress

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Myra Davis Hemmings: a Drama and English teacher and accomplished actress 

There are many examples of fine educators that have enjoyed successes in fields other than education. One of these is Myra Davis Hemmings, a teacher of English and drama at Phyllis Wheatley High School in San Antonio, Texas. Myra’s career as an educator spanned fifty-one years, but she can also boast about significant accomplishments in theater and film.

This gifted teacher and actress was born in Gonzales, Texas, in 1887, the daughter of Henry Davis and Susan (Dement) Davis. After graduating from Riverside High School in San Antonio, Texas, in 1909, Myra enrolled in Washington DC’s all-black Howard University. During her college years, Myra had the distinction of being president of both the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She graduated from Howard in 1913 and immediately began her career in the classroom. Later, Myra returned to the university to earn her master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Speech Department in 1947.

This outstanding educator was also active in community service projects. Myra served as the national vice president, a former regional director, and an active member of the National Council of Negro Women. She was also a member of the NAACP.

As a drama teacher, Myra directed plays from the 1920s to the 1950s at the Carver Community Cultural Center in San Antonio. She also became active as a director in the San Antonio Negro Little Theater.

In her later years, she was a national vice president, a former regional director, and an active member of the National Council of Negro Women. She was also a member of the NAACP.

As a drama teacher, Myra directed community plays from the 1920s to the 1950s at the Carver Community Cultural Center in San Antonio. She also became active as a director in the San Antonio Negro Little Theater. She and her husband, a former Broadway actor named John W. Hemmings, helped to organize the Phyllis Wheatley Dramatic Guild Players. In addition to all this, the talented teacher appeared in three films.

Myra  Davis Hemmings passed away in San Antonio in 1968. She was 73 years old. Both the classroom and the entertainment community miss this chalkboard champion greatly.

Drama teacher Madeline Michel garners prestigious honor at 2019 Tony Awards

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It isn’t every day that a classroom educator receives a prestigious honor at an elite televised awards show, but drama teacher Madeline Michel of Charlottesville, Virginia did just that. She gained national recognition at last night’s 2019 Tony Awards when she captured the Theatre Education Awards during the Creative Arts Awards portion of the broadcast. Madeline has taught theater at Monticello High School in the Albemarle County Public School District for the past 12 years.

The award, which is presented jointly by the Tony Award and Carnegie Mellon University, recognizes the top k-12 drama teachers in the nation, and celebrates education for the performing arts. Madeline is the fifth recipient of the award, which was established in 2014.

Madeline says her teaching philosophy is to shut up, listen, watch, find out what’s important to her students, and follow their lead. And then offer encouragement and guidance where and when the teens need it. It’s an approach Madeline says she developed when she began teaching in 1980 in Baltimore, and one she’s refined over her 12 years at Monticello High. It was her creation of an inclusive drama program, inviting all kinds of kids, and the permission she gives those kids to express themselves freely onstage that resonates so strongly with them. Her student-written and performed plays have won numerous regional awards, including this year’s grand prize at the Virginia Theatre Conference.

“I’m proud to share this award with my students at Monticello High School,” Madeline remarked. In her acceptance speech, the stellar educator lavished praised on her students. “This award is for all of the students who have found their voice and who speak for themselves, their families, and their community through theater and play writing,” Madeline concluded.

Congratulations, Madeline! To read more about Madeline and her performing arts program, click here.

Teacher of English and Drama Jill Novick is a former actress

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Jill Novick

Teacher of English and Drama Jill Novick was formerly an actress

Many talented classroom teachers have also made a mark in fields other than education. This is certainly true of Jill Novick, a high school English teacher who is also a gifted actress.

Jill was born on January 20, 1966, in Westchester County, New York. She attended Mamaroneck High School in Mamaroneck, New York, where she graduated in 1984. Jill began acting when she was a child, and while still in high school participated in a program entitled the Performing Arts Curriculum Experience. While in the program, she performed in over 20 plays and musicals. At the age of 17, the young actress was accepted into NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Jill’s career as an actress spanned 20 years. During this time, she garnered roles in a number of commercials, but she is probably best known for her part as Tracy Gaylian in the 1996-1997 season of the hit series Beverly Hills, 90210. She also played the part of young Theodora Reed on the television series Sisters.

When Jill decided her Hollywood career was concluded, she returned to college to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming an educator. She spent two summers as a teacher and director for the Teenage Drama Workshop (TADW) at Cal State Northridge. TADW is an intense six-week summer program for teens. While working on her teaching credential, Jill taught drama for two summers at Panorama High School in Los Angeles. Once she earned her credential, she accepted a position as an English teacher at Culver City High School in Culver City, California, where she worked for six years. In 2012, she accepted a position as the Creative Director of Theatre for the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, a position she kept for five years

Currently, Jill is teaching English in Alburquerque, New Mexico. She is also working on her Master’s degree in Education at University of Northern Colorado.

Kudos, Jill Novick!