INCOGNITO the podcast

In this episode of INCOGNITO the podcast, we speak with Willa Taylor! Willa has a fascinating background and is currently the Walter Director of Education and Engagement at The Goodman Theatre where she has developed many exciting new programs such as InterGens, the August Wilson Youth Intensive, and Stage Chemistry. She is an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University and is recognized nationally as a storyteller and workshop facilitator on a number of theatrical and educational topics. Willa and I discuss both her successful and challenging experiences as a theater educator, the complexities in showing up as your full self, and the transformative power of stories.

Suggested tools:

-Find ways to interrupt the assumptions

-Sometimes you have to get out of the way of the mutual benefits of an alliance

-Create a safe space to talk

-Share stories and allow yourself to be changed by them

-Show up for others, not asking anything of them

-Finding and bringing your authentic self to different spaces is a work in progress

-Ask what is needed

-Share a meal; food can allow space for sharing culture and stories with people different from you

Willa’s Media Recommendations:

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by Bell Hooks (Book)

Coda by Sian Heder, 2021 (Movie)

West Side Story adapted by Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, 2021 (Movie)

How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson (Play)

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Thanks to Ned Doheny for providing our podcast music! You can find him and his music on Spotify.

Editing and co-production of this podcast by Farrah Sklar.

Email info@incognitotheplay.com with questions or comments about the show!