Jessie Chen
Theater teacher Sandra Geminiani describes an improv game to her Introduction to Professional Theatre students. Geminiani began teaching theatre classes, English 10 and AVID 10 at the school this year.
Tucked away in the back corner of the campus, Sandra Geminiani and her students learn and practice theatre. As the school’s new theatre teacher, Geminiani is excited to expand the performing arts community on campus, allowing students to explore their creativity.
Geminiani teaches Introduction to Professional Theatre and Intermediate Professional Theatre. She also teaches English 10 and AVID 10, a four year program to prepare students for college.
“My main goal is to grow the theatre program here because it’s a really important [curriculum],” Geminiani said. “It had a wonderful teacher here for 30 years, and I just want to keep that legacy going and keep the program [alive]. For individual students, my hope for them is that they’ll all grow to their best potential.”
Geminiani attended San Diego State University for her first two years of college, but transferred to California State University, Fullerton to get her bachelors in journalism and English credential.
This is Geminiani’s eleventh year of teaching. She taught at Orange Unified School District in Orange County, California for seven years. Before coming to the school, she taught at Carmel Valley Middle School for three years. So far, the new school environment has been overwhelmingly positive.
“[The past few days] have been amazing,” Geminiani said. “All the students here are so awesome and respectful. I’m so glad to have received such a warm welcome. It’s overwhelming because the campus is so big. I feel like a freshman, but it’s been a great first couple of days.”
In class, students will learn a combination of set construction and acting.
Beyond the classroom, she is already preparing for the school’s first theater production: “Clue,” a murder mystery comedy. The play opens Nov. 6 and will run for two weekends, with auditions starting soon.
“At the moment, because we only have two classes, [the auditions] are going to be school wide,” Geminiani said. “There will be an after school program primarily, but the [Intro to Professional Theatre and Intermediate Professional Theatre] students are going to help support [the play] by building some things here in the class. ”
Despite the limited number of theatre classes, Geminiani hopes to leave a lasting impact on the students by helping them build confidence and explore creatively. They have been building theatre foundations, such as learning stage safety and spacial awareness.