Meet Emerson College’s distinguished faculty and graduate program director in the School of the Arts’ on-campus graduate Theatre Education Licensure and Theatre Education & Applied Theatre programs.

Theatre Education Licensure and Theatre Education & Applied Theatre Graduate Program Director

Your graduate program director will serve as your primary faculty advisor, guiding you on course selection to ensure that you achieve your learning objectives and satisfy the program requirements. You will also receive program and department news from your program director and any on- and off-campus opportunities that might interest you.

Our Theatre Education Licensure and Theatre Education & Applied Theatre Graduate Faculty

  • Dana Edell headshot
    Dana Edell
    Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)
    Assistant Professor
    Address RM704, 10 Boylston Place, Boston, MA 02116
    dana_edell@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-8780
  • A man with brown skin, black hair, blue button up shirt, and black sweater smiling.
    Joshua Streeter
    Pronouns: (He/Him/His)
    Assistant Professor - On Leave
    Address RM705, 10 Boylston Place, Boston, MA 02116
    joshua_streeter@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-8780
  • Headshot of Bethany Nelson
    Bethany Nelson
    Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)
    Associate Professor
    Address RM703, 10 Boylston Place, Boston, MA 02116
    bethany_nelson@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-3099

    Bethany Nelson not only teaches her students how to be theater educators, but she also represents the kind of educator her students want to be.

    After studying theater education as an undergraduate at Emerson College, Nelson began her career as a drama specialist working in devised theatre with adolescents, then in public schools using drama and theatre as tools for facilitating learning in core subject areas.  After working in urban schools, Nelson discovered the power of drama and theatre to inspire both students and teachers, and to improve learning for struggling students. She says: “Students who had given up on interest in learning came alive in drama; it’s a uniquely powerful tool that can help kids realize themselves as learners.”

    Her work since has revolved around this potential. After earning advanced degrees in multicultural education and the arts, Nelson has focused on playmaking and devising as vehicles for facilitating students’ understanding of the dynamics of privilege, and for helping them develop their agency as voices for change. In the classroom or the rehearsal room, she strives to make the theater education program reach beyond schools to empower developing community groups through the vehicle of theatre.

    In acknowledgment of her efforts, Nelson received the 2018 Ann Flagg Multicultural Education Award from the American Alliance for Theatre Education. Deeply influenced by graduate school faculty mentors, Nelson is dedicated to sharing her knowledge and to ensuring her students' success.

  • Photo of P Carl; credit: Asia Kepka
    P Carl
    Pronouns: (He/Him/His)
    Senior Distinguished Artist-in-Residence
    Address RM1005, 10 Boylston Place, Boston, MA 02116
    p_carl@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-8264
  • Jamie Gahlon
    Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)
    Associate VP, OOA & Director, Howlround
    Address RM201, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116
    jamie_gahlon@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-3018
  • Melissa Bergstrom
    Affiliated Faculty
    Address 10 Boylston Place, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02116
    melissa_bergstrom@emerson.edu Telephone 617-824-8780