Danielle Filas, a Google Education Certified Innovator, a Google Education Certified Trainer, and a Teacher Consultant with the National Writing Project, currently teaches theatre and language arts at Village Academy Schools (an independent GAFE school in Powell, OH) where she also serves as the school’s first Technology Integration Specialist.
Danielle’s classroom experience started in 2001 and includes arts education, theatre arts, and language arts. She also specializes in tech integration, presenting nationally at Google Summits, the Ohio Education Technology Conference, the Independent School Association for the Central States, the Educational Theatre Association, and the Columbus Area Writing Project. Danielle works as an independent educational consultant with Say Yes! and Columbus Unscripted, specializing in the use of improvisation as a leadership and collaborative tool, to such clients as the State of Ohio Training Association, School for Young Children, United Way of Central Ohio, and at several colleges. Danielle is a co-host of TheatreCast, a weekly podcast with Nick Cusumano, promoting theatre, arts, and education.
Prior to relocating to Ohio, she served for seven years as a faculty member in the Theatre and English departments at the Chicago Academy for the Arts, a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Schools of Distinction in Arts Education.
Before discovering her true calling as an educator, Danielle worked extensively in the Chicago theatre scene for fifteen years with companies including the Second City National Touring Company, Vitalist Theatre, Infamous Commonwealth, and Victory Gardens. Since moving to Ohio, she has served as an ensemble member with Columbus’s Raconteur Ensemble Theatre and has appeared with other local companies such as Evolution Theatre Company, Available Light Theatre and Columbus Civic Theater. She holds her MA in Theatre Arts from Northwestern University and her BA in Theatre and English/Writing from Knox College.