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Co-founder Elana Lagerquist, Executive DirectorThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view itElana Lagerquist is a teacher and teaching artist in San Francisco. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in Theatre Arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master's degree in Educational Theatre from New York University. She received her multiple subjects teaching credential with Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development (CLAD) emphasis through San Francisco State's Muir Alternative Teacher Education program in 1997. She has taught second and third grade at Alvarado, John Swett, and Sunset Elementary Schools and has been a tenured teacher with the San Francisco Unified School District. While in New York pursuing her master's degree, Elana worked with The Creative Arts Team as a teaching artist in the New York City public schools as a part of the Annenberg Challenge grant for school reform through the arts. Elana has presented staff development workshops for artists and teachers at various seminars for arts and education organizations including Performing Arts Workshop (PAW), Young Audiences, KQED-SPARK, Arts Education Funders Collaborative (AEFC) and SFUSD arts professional development workshops, and the Tennessee Arts Academy. Elana serves as Diversity and Outreach Chair with the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco. As a teacher, arts administrator, and teaching artist, Elana is dedicated to working with all students and teachers to integrate the arts into the core curricula. Co-founder Carrie PaffThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view itCarrie Paff has worked as an actress and teaching artist in New York City, Paris, and San Francisco. She has taught theatre as a means for empowering young people with Word for Word, Berkeley Rep, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Brava! for Literacy, Leap...imagination in learning, Richmond District After-School Collaborative, and New Conservatory Theatre Center, as well as independently at various Bay Area elementary schools and the University of Thessaloniki’s Summer Language Institute in Greece. In New York she worked with the 52nd Street Project in midtown Manhattan and spent three years as an actor/teacher with The Creative Arts Team (CAT), an award-winning educational theatre company addressing social issues with children in the city's public schools and Head Starts. She is currently the Education Director at the Magic Theatre, and runs their Young California Writers Project (YCWP) which pairs professional playwrights and actors with under-served, urban high school students to create original theatrical performances. Carrie has also worked extensively as an actress. Her credits include performances on London’s West End and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as many regional theatres, including A.C.T., Arizona Theater Company, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Center REP, The Shee Theatre Company, Woman's Will, Word for Word and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Women's Studies with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a master's degree in Educational Theatre from New York University. |