The North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators (NCTAE) is considered one of the most important events for all drama and theatre-engrossed students. For the first time since 2009, Forsyth County will be hosting the NCTAE at West’s Auditorium. NCTAE is an event for drama teachers and directors across the state to meet and discuss ways to improve the curriculum and theatre performances. The NCTAE is comprised of five separate committees: The Advocacy, The Enrichment, The Playwrights, The Membership and The Development Committees. NCTAE aims to benefit theatre and its members.
For different schools across the state, being involved and connected to the committee is one of, if not the most important things the drama department can do.
“Firstly, it shows that your school is an advocate of the arts. Secondly, professionally being able to give back to a group that does so much to keep theatre education relevant is important in our state,” Theatre director Renae Hubbard said.
NCTAE commends teachers across the state, giving them a sense of community when they typically are the only teacher of their kind at their school.
“I’ve personally been a member of NCTAE since I student-taught 22 years ago and it’s been an advocacy group for me. A lot of times theatre teachers are the only theatre teachers at their school, so you don’t feel so alone. You feel like you have a group or community that will support you and what you do,” Hubbard said.
There are plans to integrate Shakespeare into the curriculum and teach it to students, as well as some new equipment tips for lighting and sound systems.
“We had master classes taught by four professionals in our community, Brook Davis from Wake Forest University, she taught a how-to-teach Shakespeare class. Mark Donnell came to teach how to act and create masks for commedia dell’arte, and then we had a master class from Imagine Design and Production in Greensboro and taught about the advances in theatrical lighting. Then Saturday, teachers taught [other teachers], where we had 25 workshops that teachers can choose from depending on their grade level, their interest and what they need to bring back to their students,” Hubbard said.
For those who are in theatre, make sure to keep your eyes and ears open for new changes in the department and look forward to changes in the curriculum.
