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As an Arts EducatorBig things are in store! Marielle has packed up and moved cross country to pursue her Masters Degree in Drama Therapy at CIIS in San Fransisco. Since receiving a Masters in Educational Theater at City College of New York, she has worked to raise awareness of the developmental and social value of introducing children, particularly those with special needs, to theater. Now, she is excited to continue to build a bridge between disability and the arts through the lens of drama therapy.
Marielle has led workshops and spoken on panels across the country promoting a more accessible theater for individuals with invisible disabilities. Recently, her theater company, Adaptive Arts, launched The Openness Project. This project will collect and explore stories of individuals living with Invisible Disabilities to be used as a jumping off place for a new devised piece. You can find her full portfolio here. |
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As a Teaching ArtistMost recently, Marielle worked as a departmental chair and theater teacher at La Cima Charter School. Drawn in by their restorative justice foundation and belief that all populations can benefit from practices of self care and mindfulness, she developed their first ever theater program. Over the last three years, she created and implemented an arts based program at the school for 400 K-5 students incorporating both their restorative justice approach and her own beliefs in the power of theater education to build strong social emotional skills and empowered changemakers.
As the founder of Adaptive Arts Theater Company, she spearheaded an educational/outreach wing. Within the outreach programs, she developed a 7-week in school residency program for students with Autism as well as in-depth Professional Development sessions on Adapting Theater for Individuals with Autism. Within these residencies, teaching artists (under Marielle's supervision) worked with mostly nonverbal students, some of whom had behavioral and violence issues, collaborated with classroom teachers to integrate classroom curriculum, classroom goals and rules, and student’s individual IEP goals into the theater curriculum They also worked closely with classroom teachers and paraprofessionals to carry out lessons and guide their own theatrical development so that they may continue using theater after the residency came to a close Marielle has also worked extensively with Brooklyn Acting Lab as a playwright and director devising new pieces with students from Pre-K through 4th grade. Most recently, she served as their Director of Eduction. In the "Performing Arts Program," taking their ideas as inspiration, she crafted original pieces for the students and guided rehearsals as they move towards public sharings. In after-school "Story Book Theater" programs, she introduced Pre-K- 1st grade students to fairy tales from across the world and creates new characters and plays to best utilize the individual students' strengths as performers and growing theater artists. Focusing on the development of ensemble among the students and increasing their knowledge of theater as a form, she brings non-traditional stagings, music, instruments, verse text and choral elements to the performances. At MS 51, in Park Slope, she created an Advanced Playwriting Program for a select group of 8th grade students to explore non-traditional theater forms. She mentored students and gave feedback in a workshop setting as they wrote their own plays based on non-traditional forms. At the completion of the 7 week residency program, she hired professional actors and staged the students' work in a playwriting festival. |