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 Chris Hamilton, the drama teacher and troupe director at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Washington. Chris reinstated Thespian Troupe 5021 a year ago, and has earned Bronze level contributor status for the insightful advice and astute questions he has posed to his colleagues.

Ginny: What kind of training/education did it take to get you to the job you have today?

Chris: I received my BA in Theatre (with a concentration in Educational Drama) from Western Washington University. I also did a teaching internship and apprenticeship with the Seattle Children’s Theatre Drama School, and I got my Masters in Teaching from the University of Washington.

Ginny: What inspired you to become a teacher?

Chris: I actually hated my own high school experience, ironically enough. I would not have made it successfully to graduation if it had not been for two things: theatre and great teachers who pushed, motivated, and encouraged me. For their work, I was and am eternally grateful. I decided early on that I wanted to be like them. It made the most sense then, to combine teaching with my passion for the theatre. 

Ginny: What is your greatest challenge currently?

Chris: I’m sure it’s a common refrain, but I’d have to say time. I am a one man show at my school (as I’m sure many are) and aside from my two drama classes and the after-school drama program, I also teach three English classes. Trying to balance all that while making time for family is difficult.

Ginny: What is your “dream” show? The one that you would love to direct at your school if there weren’t any obstacles?

Chris: Oh my goodness, this is a difficult question to answer, but I’d have to say The Laramie Project. I think it’s an incredibly important piece, one that would spark great conversations that I think my school community needs to have.

Ginny: What playwright would you love to have lunch with? Tell us a question you’d ask them.

Chris: Is it cliché at this point to say Lin Manuel Miranda? I don’t know if I’d be able to hold it together long enough to ask him a question, but I think I would ask him how his creative process works, like how does he go from ideas to pen to paper. Where does his creative energy come from?

Ginny: What was the first play you ever saw?

Chris: I actually cannot remember the first play I ever saw, because I was lucky enough to have my parents take me to plays at a very early age. I remember that one year when I was young, we had a season membership to the Seattle Children’s Theatre, and that was special. The first play I was ever in was, I think, in 4^th grade. I was Tweedle Dum in Alice and Wonderland. 

Ginny: Everyone has at least one good theatre story. Tell us yours!

Chris: A few years ago we did Macbeth, set in the 1920s. I’m not one to believe in curses, but you know, it has that reputation. We had all manner of minor mishaps, from actors almost fainting on stage, spraining their wrist, to getting in a minor car collision on the way to rehearsal. Our final dress rehearsal was getting filmed by a local news station for a spotlight on the arts segment when an actor’s pants split all the way down his backside during a fight scene. Of course that ended up on the evening news!

Ginny: Name something on your bucket list.

Chris: Someday, I would love to go to Stratford and visit Shakespeare’s birth place, and see a show at the Globe Theater.

Ginny: What is your favorite part of the day?

Chris: Coming home to see my 17-month-old daughter and seeing the smile on her face when she first sees me.

I found it so inspiring that Chris became a teacher to repay his own teachers for pushing him to succeed, it sounds like Chris’ own students are destined for greatness. If you enjoyed Chris’ interview as much as I did, add him as a contact in the Community!

Do you know someone who deserves a moment in the Spotlight? Tell me their name and why at gbutsch@schooltheatre.org. Want to read more Community Spotlights? You can find them here.