Education
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About The Huntington Education Department
One of the most extensive and admired programs in the country, the Huntington’s Education Department serves more than 20,000 students, teachers, and community organizations each year with student matinees, state-wide Poetry Out Loud, and the Next Narrative Monologue Competition.
View the Education Brochure→
Our Statement of Purpose
“The Huntington’s Education Department extends the theatre’s impact by providing experiential education in the performing arts that is grounded in authenticity, inclusiveness, and professionalism. With a commitment to reflecting the diversity of its community, the department creates lifelong learning opportunities and aims to remove both real and perceived social, financial, and physical barriers to participation.”
Collaborators
Our collaborators include Boston Public Schools, Codman Academy Charter Public School, YMCA, National Endowment for the Arts, the Mass Cultural Council, and many community organizations.
Awards
The Huntington Theatre Company has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities, Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate, the Bay State Council of the Blind, and City of Boston’s City Council. In 2009, Codman Academy was awarded the Commonwealth Award for our collaboration.
The Huntington Academy
The Huntington Academy is a learning lab for people of all ages and experience levels. Discover and cultivate your acting skills, unlock your creative problem-solving skills, gain a deeper understanding of the theatre industry, and more in these courses.
Student Matinee Series
Bring your student groups to The Huntington! We offer a variety of programs to help schools and students get involved in theatre and use it to bolster their academic curricula. See a show for as little as $20 per ticket & get a free in-school workshop!
Learn more about student matinees
Spoken Word Competitions
Other Programs and Resources
Support the Education Department
Donor support makes everything we do possible on our stage, in the community, and in schools. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support keeping the magic of theatre alive for future generations.
Meet the Education Department
Meg O'Brien
Director of Education
Meg O'Brien
Meg O’Brien (she/her/hers) is in her 18th season at The Huntington where she has been the Director of Education since 2017. Meg is also a member of the national cohort of Teaching Artists with Play On! Shakespeare. Meg has worked professionally as an actor, dancer, singer, director, producer, finance director, arts administrator, access coordinator, and stage manager. For more than 20 years Meg’s career has focused on educational theater, training and development for students of all ages, and ensuring schools have access to live stage productions. Since joining The Huntington in 2008, Meg has directed, stage managed, and/or produced more than 60 student-centered productions, showcases, and other events for The Huntington’s Education Department.
Marisa Jones
Associate Director of Education & Workforce Development
Marisa Jones
Marisa Jones (she/her/hers) received a B.F.A in Theatre Education with a minor in writing from Emerson College where she was the recipient of the Phyllis A. McCullough Scholarship for Performing Arts. Marisa co-authored (Colby, Nelson) the paper, Signs of Change: New Directions in Theatre Education published in the Youth Theatre Journal. Marisa went on to earn an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education as part of the Arts in Education program (A.I.E.) and dedicated part of her study to a concentration in Human Development & Psychology.
Kalee Burrows
Manager of Curriculum and Instruction
Kalee Burrows
Kalee Burrows (she/her) is a queer theatre artist, writer, and educator in Boston, MA. She teaches and works with young people and adults in schools, studios, and theatre spaces across the globe. These participating organizations include The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, The Huntington, Boston Lyric Opera, SpeakEasy Stage Company, The Boston Center for the Arts, The Hanover Theatre & Conservatory, Company One, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The New Art Center, and Little Theatre of Fall River. Officially recognized as a Certified Artist by the City of Boston, Kalee is a skilled practitioner in devised theatre and arts education.
Naheem Garcia
Resident Teaching Artist
Naheem Garcia
Naheem Garcia (he/him/el) professionally known as Alexis Rene Garcia, is an award-recognized Cuban-born, Boston-raised actor, narrator, and theatre educator with more than 35 years in the performing arts. Fluent in English and Spanish, he is known for his rich, resonant voice and commanding presence on stage and screen.
Jalyse Ware
Resident Teaching Artist
Jalyse Ware
Jalyse Ware (she/her) is a new teaching artist in our department. Jalyse is a performing arts teacher and professional with over 10 years of experience in theatre and 5 years of Hip-Hop as an independent artist.
Lexi Ashraf
Stage Manager, Summer Theatre Institute
Lexi Ashraf
Lexi Ashraf The Huntington: The Taming of the Shrew, Eureka Day, The Light in the Piazza, The Grove, Leopoldstadt. Regional: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Yale Repertory Theatre), Her Portmanteau (Central Square Theater), Seussical Jr. (Greater Boston Stage Company).
Chiara Durazzini
Teaching Artist
Chiara Durazzini
Chiara Durazzini (she/her), a native of Florence, Italy, moved to Boston in 2000. She is the co-founder of Pazzi Lazzi Troupe, a Boston-based Commedia dell’Arte and Italian Renaissance music troupe for which she performs, teaches and directs. She is also the founder of All’italiana – Boston Italian Theatre Company which stages shows by Italian playwrights and offers acting labs in Italian to both native and non-native speakers.
Jesse Garlick
Teaching Artist
Jesse Garlick
Jesse Garlick The Huntington: The Band’s Visit (co-produced with SpeakEasy Stage). Off Broadway: Good (PTP/NYC); Who Would Be King (Ars Nova / Liars and Believers). Regional: Dalloway: First Love (Gloucester Stage); The Odd Couple (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Yellow Bird Chase, The End is Nigh, Don’t Open This, A Story Beyond, Who Would be King (Liars and Believers); Our Town (Lyric Stage); A Christmas Carol, Journey to the West, Arcadia (Central Square Theater); As You Like It, Hamlet (Brown Box Theatre Project); Good, Assassins (New Rep); Beowulf (The Poets’ Theatre); Salome (Bridge Rep).
Alex Leondedis
Teaching Artist
Alex Leondedis
Alex Leondedis (he/him) is an actor, director, and teaching artist originally from Kansas. He holds a Contemporary Theatre BFA from Boston Conservatory. Select acting credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CSC); Romeo and Juliet (CSC2); Shear Madness, An Irish Carol, The Play That Goes Wrong (GBSC); The Antelope Party, Lunch Bunch (Apollinaire Theatre Company); Hamlet, Macbeth, Much Ado, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer (Sh!t-Faced Shakespeare); and A Wrinkle In Time (Wheelock Family Theatre).
Keith Mascoll
Teaching Artist
Keith Mascoll
Keith Mascoll SAG-AFTRA,AEA, M.Ed is a Actor, Producer ,Mental Health advocate, Sneaker-head, and Founder of the Triggered Project. Keith is a co-host/Producer of the Living a Triggered Life Podcast with his wife Roxann, 2025 Caribbean Culture in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts spirit of the Caribbean award winner. recognized by the Massachusetts State Representatives for his visionary use of art as a tool for social change, particularly in support of young men in our community, Luminary for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2023 Black Mental Wellness Advocate of the year, 2021 Cambridge Community Foundation Social Innovation Award winner, and NASW MA Chapter’s Citizen of the year 2021.
Oliver Rizzo
Teaching Artist
Oliver Rizzo
Oliver Rizzo (he/him) returns to The Education Department having recently been our Stage Manager for this summer’s production of Two Gentlemen Verona. Oliver Rizzo is a trans theatre artist & activist based in Boston and a graduate of Emerson College with a BFA in Theatre Education & Performance. With a Theatre Education Area Department Award upon graduation a year ago, he works as a freelance actor, teaching artist, stage manager, and stage electrician. He is currently working with The Huntington and The Park School as a theatre educator, working with students in grades 6-12.
Mark Rose
Teaching Artist
Mark Rose
Mark Rose is a NY based fight choreographer, stuntman, actor, and Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors. He has appeared on TV shows like “Blacklist”, “Quantico”, and “Gotham”, and done motion capture for “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” and the 2023 “Lords of the Fallen” video games.
LaTasha Snider
Teaching Artist
LaTasha Snider
LaTasha Snider (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist. The Huntington (Education program directing): The Taming of The Shrew, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Co-Director).
Susan Thompson
Teaching Artist
Susan Thompson
Susan Thompson is an area teacher, director and theater artist. She studied clowning with Jacques Lecoq and completed his two-year course in actor training in Paris. Dedicated to ensemble creation and theatrical styles such as clown, dreamwork, mask, and melodrama, Susan currently teaches at Boston College and Commonwealth School. See susantheater.com for more information.
Shanelle Chloe Villegas
Teaching Artist
Shanelle Chloe Villegas
Shanelle Chloe Villegas (she/they) is a highly awarded Black, Queer, Non-binary writer, actor, theatre-maker and arts educator who most recently completed a Fulbright grant in London, United Kingdom where she further developed her devised, jazz-infused memoir play titled X: The Soul Wound Memoir in collaboration with Talawa Theatre Company.
Deby Xiadani
Teaching Artist
Deby Xiadani
Deby Xiadani (pronounced shee-ah-daw-nee) is a comedian, director, clown, and teacher whose work centers around physical theater, comedy, characters, and devised performance.
The Huntington’s Department of Education is a proud member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education.
The Huntington’s Department of Education is a proud member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education.