Actor | Teaching Artist | Director
My job as a teaching artist is to be able to create an open free space where students can explore their curiosity, creativity, and reflect through hands on art making​
Writers Theatre
As a TA with Writers, Natalia Facilities and teaches an arts-based section that’s part of a novel-based literacy curriculum for students in grade 6. She also develops a four week theatre and literacy arts curriculum with Common Core Standards. Through these workshops, Natalia helps students use self-to-text, text-to-world reading analysis to help students relate to the characters, what is happening around them and share their reflections of the book through art making.
Mudlark Theatre
Natalia contributed to Mudlark Theatre by creating a comprehensive curriculum for a 4-week summer camp focused on introducing young students to the foundations of acting. Over the course of the camp, she taught a group of 8 to 14 students, guiding them through various acting techniques and helping them build essential performance skills. Additionally, Natalia led an after-camp theatre club, where she explored creative topics such as devising, improvisation, and staging with the students. Her work fostered a fun, collaborative environment that nurtured both the artistic development and teamwork of the participants.
Steppenwolf Emerging Teaching Artist Program
Natalia worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, where she assisted the lead teaching artist in delivering dynamic educational experiences to high school students in grades 8 through 12. Her primary responsibilities included facilitating lesson discussions and guiding art marking exercises based on the plays being produced at the theatre. Through this role, Natalia helped students explore and connect with the themes, characters, and creative processes behind the productions, fostering a deeper understanding of the theatrical arts.
Steppenwolf Education Internship Program
In a nine week internship program, Natalia got to work in Steppenwolf's education department. Her work included researching high schools that Steppenwolf could implement their school residency program. She also created a dramaturgical research article for one of their SYA (Steppenwolf for Young Adult) shows, Sanctuary City, and participated in the Teen Curation meetings for curriculum building for the upcoming SYA 23/24 shows.
Amundsen Highschool: Brainstorm
In partnership with Raven Theatre, throughout the course of two months, students created scenes about how the brain works during teenager years and the relationships with their parents during their years. With the Brainstorm script format, students used it as a guide to create their scenes and put it up as a full performance to showcase. Natalia assisted in helping students, along with the help of the TA, bringing the students writing to life on stage, their writing process and led activities that brings ensemble together.
Senn Arts Academy: Chlorine Sky
Partnered with Steppenwolf with their School Residency program, students were able to explore the play of Chlorine Sky, written by Mahogany L. Browne, that navigated a leading inquiry question that touches upon themes the students explore through hands on activities, discussions, and art making. Natalia's responsibility was to create examples out of the activities that the students were tasked with. Chlorine Sky was a production in Steppenwolf's SYA (Steppenwolf for Young Adult) Series.