WRITERS' LEAGUE OF TEXAS
formerly the Austin Writers' League
WLT
Star
Instructor
Judy Matetzschk
Judy
Matetzschk, Ph.D, is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The
Pollyanna Theatre Company in Austin. Her many responsibilities include
the Program design, direction, administration, and supervision for the
company of adult professional actors who perform in school and theatre
settings for students in grades 1 – 12, and for general adult audiences.
Her diverse professional background included an internship with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Theatre for Young People Program in Washington, D.C; an instructor at The University of Texas, Undergraduate Course in Theatre for Young Audiences and at Concordia University at Austin, Undergraduate Theatre Studies and Oral Performance of Literature; and as Principle Presenter/Teacher Trainer at the Southeast Center for Education in Theatre, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
When Judy was young her favorite thing to do was watch I Love Lucy re-runs on television and then act out the plot in the living room, playing the roles of both Lucy and Ethel. Little did she know that this was going to greatly effect her personal aesthetic! She decided at the age of three that being an actor and director was exactly what she wanted to do when she grew up.
Judy received her Ph.D. in Theatre – Text Criticism from the University of Texas at Austin in May of 1996. An award-winning director, Judy has directed 15 productions for young audiences in the Austin area. Some of her favorite productions have been Degas’ Little Dancer, 3X Andersen: The Emperor’s New Clothes, and Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter, which she developed for the stage with Emily Cicchini.
With over ten years of work in theatre education, Judy has taught in a wide variety of settings including, after school programs in elementary schools, college training programs and summer professional development programs for educators grades K–12. Her advocacy work includes service as an officer for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education, a professional organization for theatre educators and professional theatre artists. Her work as a facilitator in a wide variety of workshops has focused on integrating the arts into the daily school curriculum, utilizing drama activities to motivate creative writing, the use of theatre to help increase student desire to read. She taught for nine summers in the Southeast Institute for Education in the Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where she has worked with teachers for all over the southeastern part of the U.S. as they learn about the power that the arts can have in the classrooms.
Her current work focuses around the development of new dramatic literature for young audiences, the creation of teacher/student enrichment materials to accompany theatre productions. Dr. Matetzschk specializes in helping educators design and implement programming which merges the energy and creativity of theatre with a wide variety of curriculum concerns.
Professional New Play Dramaturgy credits include work for professional theatres such as St. Louis’ Metro Theatre Company, Tempe, Arizona’s Childsplay Theatre, and Indianapolis’ Bonderman Youth Playwrighting Symposium.
Sign up for: May 22 - WORKSHOP: THE WRITER SPEAKS
home | about
WLT | calendar |
classes & workshops | star
instructors |
membership | contests,
awards, & grants | on
the air | footnotes |
contact us |
writers resources |
FAQs | site
map