About Mr. LashuaMr. Lashua is a Pleasanton, CA native who has re-rooted himself in Santa Barbara after graduating with a B.A. in Dramatic Art from UCSB.
Following college, he was active in film and stage while founding and managing his own theatre troupe in town. He returned to school in 2007 for a teaching credential and M.A. in Education from Azusa Pacific University, and after volunteering as an Assistant Director for two years, has been teaching at Santa Barbara Junior High School since the 2010-2011 school year. In 2017 he received his Career and Technical Education credential with an emphasis in Arts, Media, and Entertainment. Mr. Lashua sees himself as a teacher first, and a producer/director second. This begins with a strong emphasis on building relationships throughout the school year, examining why and how we perform as a way of preparing for the next moment onstage. He loves the challenge of crafting new stories with his students every year and having a crazy new family over and over again. His favorite part of his job is bringing together students who wouldn't normally hang out outside of class, but soon find out they've made great friends. His primary artistic passions are theatre, film, drums, and dance, but he is certainly a lover of all performing arts. In his free time he is searching for the best cafe mocha in Santa Barbara, reading, enjoying time with his family, and playing video games. No, you cannot have his Steam ID. |
Philosophy of Teaching and Performance |
"Theatre is life, and life is theatre. And there's no such thing as a theatre kid, because every kid belongs in theatre."
My students hear this from me over and over, because I believe it's true. While there are many opportunities around town for younger ages, junior high is when most public school students get their first formal exposure to a theatre class. My goal is threefold:
Why do I do what I do? In short, if my students learned to appreciate the entertainment field in new ways that enrich the rest of their lives, and especially if they can't wait to tackle the challenge of high school productions, I've done my job. My students are fun: they're funny, they're exploring their craft, and the audience gets to share in the joy of that hard work. They've learned teamwork, humility, pride in their efforts, responsibility, punctuality, timing, vocal projection, enunciation, proper stage presence, how to interpret a character and its behavior through textual analysis, the existence and importance of subtext, historical context and cultural relevance...and a host of other skills that will never show up to be bubbled on a test or clicked on for a state standard. Funny or serious, all acting is a synthesis of the higher functions in our brains - taking everything we've learned in our human experiences, from history to language to science to religion to philosophy and even math - to create and perform. |