TEACHING ARTIST

I am a teaching artist, coach, and facilitator with a passion for trauma-informed teaching. I’ve worked with Temple University, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Theatre at Monmouth, and in Philadelphia schools and community organizations with the Lantern Theater and BuildABridge. My experience ranges from teaching rigorous introductory acting courses to early career theatre artists, to designing and facilitating trauma-informed arts workshops for ESL students, to rewriting Romeo & Juliet with Philadelphia high schoolers. I’ve been privileged to learn from the broad swathe of life experiences of my students and to meet them where they are, whether I’m teaching public school children, adult survivors of sex trafficking, pre-professional theatre artists, refugees who are still learning English, very young summer campers, or individual coaching clients.

My teaching style is silly, honest, holistic, and centered in the body. I believe that priority #1 for young actors is learning to listen to their own bodies and let themselves be driven by impulse over inhibition. I strive to make my classroom a safe and supportive environment where students feel comfortable experimenting, playing, and failing. The main way I model this is through my own behavior— I lead the charge toward looking stupid, getting comfy, and asking questions.

I’m supported as a teacher by trauma training through BuildABridge and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. I’m also certified in Teaching in Higher Education by Temple University, where I received my MFA and worked for 5 years as an adjunct professor. In 2022 I received a certification in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for Teaching Artists from the Stockton Bartol Rush Foundation.

FROM STUDENTS:

“Parker’s teaching was encouraging and humble. [She] always made the physical activities exciting. They helped me connect to my mind and body as a working tool. I never once felt like I was not good enough or felt uncomfortable playing a role. I will definitely recommend this class to other students at Temple.”

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“I kind of feel like Bob Ross a little bit: there are no mistakes, just happy accidents. I never felt judged in this class and that was something that I was really afraid of. It was a great environment and I am very thankful for that.”

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“I truly appreciated the environment. Acting is never easy and being able to step out of my shell seemed extremely scary, but was not in the end. It was a safe area for creativity… All and all I want to say thank you for this class. It has benefited me as a creator and as a person.”

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“You, the professor, have also impacted my everyday life with the way you taught the class. Your openness was effective. You would stick your tongue out of your mouth and make strange noises with nothing stopping you. And the way you could go from sitting down teaching, to becoming alive with emotion within seconds was inspiring.”