Open Forum

One of the main goals for our Theatre Education Community is to help theatre students and professionals from all over connect and identify with each other in order to build resources and support the theatre education field. We shine a spotlight on a different member every other week by conducting a simple interview.

Our latest Spotlight Member is Jeana Whitaker, a theatre teacher and troupe director of Troupe 7803 at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona. Jeana is a bit of a theatre renaissance woman with experience onstage and off, including work in film and television, and has even created her own community theatre in Phoenix.

Photo via The Globe Theatre 

Ginny: You have a really impressive range of experiences, can you tell us a little more about what you’ve accomplished?

Jeana: I have been on my own since the age of 16 and worked my way through college and graduate school.  My bachelor’s is in Secondary Education, English and my Master’s is in Theatre Education.  I have been teaching for more than twenty years, but not continuously.  I have also worked professionally in community and regional theatres as a director, education manager and artistic director.  I have also worked in film and television and as a freelance writer.  I’ve worked for HBO, ESPN, Granada Films, and others. I also founded and ran my own award-winning community theatre for 7 years.  We were forced to close when the recession hit in 2008. In addition to theatre, I have taught all grade levels of English and have coached state champion speech and debate teams. I’ve lived all over the country and even lived in Italy for a few years (my ex-husband was in the military and we were stationed there). I once created a theatre program for incarcerated youth and had tough gang members memorizing lines, performing and studying Shakespeare. 

Ginny: Why do you believe theatre is important?

Jeana: I think theatre education is absolutely essential.  It is the one area that brings together all elements of the school: reading, math, history, science, athletics, music, writing, and more.  I’ve had hundreds of students over 20 plus years of teaching, and I have some that are working professionals in the industry and others that have told me that although theatre was not their passion, it taught them self-confidence in all other things and helped them succeed. 

               It is also an art form that cannot be duplicated.  It is a singular experience that can only happen in that moment, with those people.  When any element changes, the experience changes, and each unique experience is valuable.  Some are cherished memories and others are lessons learned, but each experience is unique and valued.

Ginny: What does a typical day look like for you?

Jeana: I am up at 5:30 am and arrive at school by 7:30 am.  My prep is first hour, which I love.  I am not a morning person, so having first hour prep allows me to get myself together and prepare for the whole day.  I teach classes until 3:00 pm.  Drama students hang out in the drama room at lunch as well.  Rehearsals begin at 3:30 and run till 5:30, except Tuesdays and Thursdays when they run 4:00 – 6:00 due to officer meeting and drama club.  I’m usually at school for another hour finishing things up for the day.  Then I usually have to run errands and I end up at home around 7:30 pm.  After a quick dinner, I work on lessons for another 2 hours.  I have about an hour to myself before heading to bed.  I try not to work on weekends if possible.  During a tech/production week I am at school generally from 7:30 am to 11:00 pm daily and it is exhausting.

Ginny: What is your favorite musical (or play)? What makes it so special?

Jeana: My favorite productions were “The Wizard of Oz” and “Of Mice and Men.”  They are favorites because of very fond memories with great casts.  Oz was my largest high school production with a cast of 120 students of all ages, a pit of 40, including a harp, and a crew of 50.  M & M was the final production I directed for the community theatre I founded, the North Valley Playhouse, before we had to close.  We had a wonderful cast and it was a great experience.

Ginny: What was the first play you ever saw?

Jeana: My first play was “Of Mice and Men.”  My father was playing the role of George in a community theatre production and I helped him run lines.  I was 5 years old and begged him to go see it.  Yes, it’s a bit adult for a child, but I was always pretty mature.  : )

At that moment, I fell in love with theatre and have never looked back.  I then auditioned for my first play and was cast in the ensemble as an orphan in “Oliver.” 

Ginny: What was the most difficult element of a production you’ve ever had to manage?

Jeana: I find that the most difficult element to manage with any production is people.  A high school director has to manage students, parents, administrators, teacher colleagues, district staff, customer service reps, and theatre professionals.  That’s a lot of personalities to juggle while putting together a show.  Each person has their own needs, concerns and lives outside of the production and the high school director has to deal with each of them separately. 

               I’ve also worked in community and regional theatre companies.  In those worlds, there are a team of people to put together a production.  In a high school setting, it is often just the drama teacher that not only directs the productions, but also brings together all of the technical elements.  I’ve found that to survive, the teacher has to recruit and manage a lot of other volunteers to bring it all together.  There are always people that don’t follow through, or lose interest, or take on more tasks than they can handle.  There are always parents that want to pull kids from shows as a form of discipline.  Companies send the wrong items or lose your order, a tech doesn’t show up for tech rehearsal, a colleague groans about having to stay after school because they are used to leaving every day at 3 pm, and on and on.  All of this is in addition to directing the production, teaching classes and completing other teacher duties.  The high school drama teacher does so much more than any other director in the theatre community, but this is not often recognized or acknowledged.  

Ginny: Name something on your bucket list.

Jeana: I’m accomplishing something on my bucket list this summer.  I have been chosen by the English Speaking Union to attend a three week training at the Globe Theatre in London – “Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance.”  I have always loved Shakespeare’s works and I am thrilled to be learning from the premiere world professionals in Shakespearean Theatre.  It is absolutely a dream come true.  We will be studying four plays that we will also see performed on the Globe stage and I will be performing on the Globe stage as well. 

               I would love to travel the world.  I feel that we learn so much from human interaction and the discovery of cultures and people that are different from my own, I believe, makes me a better person.  I’d like to travel to Greece, the birthplace of theatre, before I die.  I would be honored to win a Tony as a teaching professional and someday I will publish my written works. But other than that, I’m pretty good.  I’ve lived a full and interesting life. 

Ginny: If you could have a different career, what would you choose?         

Jeana: It would be a dream come true to make a living as a writer.  I enjoy writing and have written everything from screenplays, to commercials, grants, how-to guides, scripts and more.  I currently sell drama lesson plans and original scripts on teacherspayteachers.com.  But I find that it is difficult to find time to write and promote my work when I work when I spend so much time teaching and directing.

Ginny: How do you relax after a busy day?          

Jeana: I enjoy a nice glass of wine and relaxing with my dogs.  After spending the majority of my day surrounded by people, I really value silence and alone time.              

Ginny: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?           

Jeana: I must retire, live and write close to a beach.  My favorite place in the world is San Diego and the surrounding communities.  Specifically, Oceanside, California.  I picture a day filled with dogs, the ocean, small farmer’s markets, reading and writing. 

Jeana clearly finds such joy in life and all things theatre, the time and energy she devotes to furthering her own knowledge and experience in the field is undoubtedly an invaluable resource to her students and colleagues. If you enjoyed Jeana’s interview as much as I did, add her as a contact in the Community!