David M. Valdes – formerly the Director of Theatre and the Assistant Arts Administrator at Miami Country Day School - David was hired at MCDS to develop the upper school theatre program and to ‘build a bridge’ between the middle school and the upper school by developing curriculum that would inspire middle school students to continue taking courses during their high school years. He was charged with developing courses for the upper school that would be progressive in nature. As an Arts Administrative assistant, David scheduled events and managed the performing arts calendar for the entire school community.
Between 2008 and 2015, while at St. Paul’s School in Concord NH, he was charged with upgrading the curriculum and to develop a program that would be nationally competitive. In the first five years, the theatre program traveled to Scotland to participate at the International Fringe Festival and was lauded for their production of The Exonerated. St. Paul’s School Theatre was also recognized by Stage Directions Magazine as one of the top three high school theatre programs in the Northeast. The curriculum, after eight years, boasts eighteen individual courses in Acting, Film and Technical Theatre, along with a newly designed course in Musical Theatre.
Prior to St. Paul’s School, David was the Fine Arts Director of Theatre and the Artistic Director of the Theatre Focus program at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, Texas. There he was asked to develop an “Acting Academy,” that would co-exist within the already established Theatre Department. This academy (Theatre Focus) continues to thrive at St. Stephen’s. David also assisted in the development of a summer theatre performance camp - (Texas Arts Project or TAP) as the Head of Acting and Theatre Coordinator. TAP caters to the aspiring artist who would like to enrich their skills in acting, musical theatre, and film. In Austin, David was also the acting coach for “Performance Workshop” a weekend program that focuses on providing students from the Metropolitan Austin area an opportunity to prepare for college BFA auditions in theatre. David served as a guest director and acting coach for SummerStock Austin. Recent productions included Proposals, Assassins, West Side Story, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Bat Boy and Cabaret. Both Cabaret and Bat Boy garnered nominations for “Best Direction of a Musical” by the Austin Chronicle newspaper. Before coming to St. Stephen’s, David was the Theatre Department Chair and Arts Facilitator at one of the top nationally recognized performing art high schools in America. The Milwaukee Magazine awarded the “Arts Educator of the Year” to David in 1998. He has directed many award winning plays and musicals in Milwaukee and many of his former students (Milwaukee Arts, St. Stephen's and St. Paul’s and Miami Country Day) have gone on to study at some of the top pre-professional acting programs in the nation. His former students can be seen on Broadway, in film, and on television. David’s productions’ have been recognized as “Outstanding Theatre” by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce and Stars Productions a total of ten times in a ten year history. He was also the forensics coach at The Milwaukee High School of the Arts where his teams have been crowned City Champions for twelve seasons, and State champions for three consecutive seasons.
One of his goals as a theatre educator is to make it clear to student actors that the classroom is an extension of the stage and that the stage must always be a classroom. His goal is to guide actors through a “process” rather than a “product” oriented curriculum. David has his undergraduate Bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin and has MFA-Directing training from Boston University and Minnesota State University. David also studied under the tutelage of Pam Berlin (Director of Steel Magnolias) and Billy Carden, Artistic Director of HB studios in New York.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
As a theatre educator and artist, I teach young theatre artists, not because I expect them all to continue their studies in theatre at the collegiate level. I do not teach theatre because I expect all of my students to become great actors. Instead, I teach theatre because of the life skills it provides. I teach theatre because I can inspire creativity and provide a platform for students to connect their creative desires to the academic and social world around them. I teach theatre because it allows my students to become more sensitive, compassionate, and worldly.
My style of teaching includes a statement of the “natural role mistakes play in learning,” I believe firmly in this concept as a teaching method in my classroom and on the stage. In fact, I begin all of my courses by stating that in order to succeed, one must be able to recognize their own failure. I assure them that failure is a natural part of the process and that my classroom is a nurturing environment for them where we all will learn to value our failure and successes. I also invite a non- judgmental
process in studio-style acting classes. A student can only comment on what they see and not what they like or do not like. Judgments are personal and have no bearing on the success of another’s process.
Throughout my years in the classroom, I have certainly learned to be nurturing and inspiring in my quest for excellence and have developed the skills of patience and a good sense of humor to help alleviate some of the stress that is inevitable in education.
Moving forward, I see tremendous value in teaching through a process oriented design. Students should be guided through, and allowed to explore connections from theatre to real life situations; the human condition. Personal and self-assessments are crucial to the development of the young mind. I believe that the classroom should be student-centered. Because all students learn differently, it is my responsibility to help guide and nurture students, allowing them to find answers by simply asking more questions. I teach to inspire!”
“The stage is my classroom and the classroom is my stage”
David Valdés