On April 13, with around one month left in the school year, Heather Burns (Theater) began her career at Manual as a new theater teacher in YPAS.
Originally, theater education was not part of Burns’ plans. In high school, her teachers encouraged her to pursue teaching, but she was uninterested because of her limited view of what an educational career could entail. However, her first job out of college was with Missoula Children’s Center in Missoula, Montana.
“That [the job at Missoula Children’s Center] kind of set the tone for my career. I had no idea how big the world of theater education was. Folks that I worked with there really set a strong foundation of training of how you teach theater to kids,” Burns said.
Following her job with the Children’s Center, Burns’ career brought her across the United States, from New York to Washington to Arizona.
“I got to meet all kinds of people from rural areas to suburbs to highly populated cities and just really, really enjoyed that exchange of sharing theater with so many different people,” Burns said.
Burns picked up these pieces of joy and expertise as she traveled from state to state, from theater company to theater company, until she came all the way back to the place where her life and her love of the arts began: Louisville.
Here in her hometown, Burns has a long history of experience in theater and education. She worked for Kentucky Shakespeare, Blue Apple Players, Walden Theater and Stage One, primarily working in administrative and educational roles. The programs Burns helped lead included a wide range of grades and skill levels.
“There’s a lot of advanced skills that you collect as a theater practitioner that you don’t necessarily apply to all of the grades that you work with. So coming to YPAS and working with the advanced students here gives me an opportunity to kind of open up a part of my skill set that I don’t get to use all the time,” Burns said.
Burns’ experience teaching advanced students and visiting JCPS schools with family theater companies sparked her interest in an educational role within a school, which brought her to YPAS.
Burns has a connection with YPAS that started in the late 90s, when, as a high schooler, Governor’s School for the Arts brought her to the College and Career Day in the Black Box Theater. Years later, Burns continued to visit YPAS productions to see her students from Walden Theater perform.
Now, Burns’ moves from a member of the audience to an educator behind the scenes in a place she has visited throughout the decades. So far, her experience at Manual has been inviting and positive.
“Everyone has been very welcoming and very thoughtful about creating space for me,” Burns said.
Although she has been teaching for less than a month, she has already had opportunities to connect with the students and her fellow teachers and she looks forward to her future at Manual.
Currently, Burns teaches Exploring Theater for Non-Majors. Next school year, she is slated to teach Theater III as well.
For Burns, part of transitioning into her new educational role is learning more about Manual’s community and culture, both within and outside of YPAS. She hopes to collaborate with theater students and non-majors, attend her first Manual football game and work up to her first directing project next year.
“I hope to get out [and] spread my wings in the full community of the school,” Burns said.
