Talia Jaime (Educational Theatre, 2014)

Published in ConnectED Newsletter - Volume 7 - Issue 2 - December 2023 

Talia Jaime, Theater Director at Renaissance High School for Musical Theater and the Arts and 2014 CCNY Educational Theatre graduate, received an Excellence in Arts Education Award from the Arthur Miller Foundation (AMF). This award is presented every year to a public school teacher to honor their exemplary work as theatre educato. “It was such a proud moment when Talia was honored and her students performed,” said Sobha Kavanakudiyil, Educational Theatre Program Director. “AMF really outdid themselves promoting her and our program! I am so proud of the work she is doing at her high school!”

According to Talia, the Educational Theatre program gave her the tools she needed to be successful as a classroom teacher. When she started at CCNY, she was a Teaching Artist in New York City, working in many schools offering short-term residencies and one-day workshops to students and families. However, she explains, “The program taught me how to create year-long curriculum plans, allowing me to create units that I was passionate about while teaching my students valuable skills.”  She also loved taking classes outside of the Educational Theatre program and learning alongside other students who were on different paths. She particularly enjoyed the opportunity to see different perspectives from her peers, such as through the special education, STEM, or ELL lens. “I liked how not every facet of my education was arts focused,” she adds.

Talia also loved how the program prepared her to collaborate with others to support her school and community.  “I loved learning how to bridge arts integration into cross-curricular curriculum, partnering with fellow teachers, and using theater arts as a new entry point to learn new material.” Another thing that she found inspirational was learning how to use theater arts to serve her greater community. “I learned how to use my practice to create performance opportunities and experiences for nearby schools, nursing homes, senior centers, libraries, etc. It has been a passion of mine to bridge my school to our surrounding community using theater arts.”

In the future, Talia would like to continue to find ways to serve the greater community using theater arts with the theater company she created at her school—The Renaissance Players. “We currently have both an elementary and middle school anti-bullying show we perform every year for nearby schools, and I would love to expand that program. I would also like to create a holiday show to perform each year for nearby nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and senior centers. Theater should be for everyone, not just those who have access to it downtown!”