Growing as Artists in Drama Class: Take Five with Alice Wedoff

Take Five is a series that highlights members of the CPS community who are going above and beyond for our students. All throughout the 2024–25 school year, we will be spotlighting our amazing CPS teachers! If you know a teacher who is making a difference, nominate them to be featured here.

Meet Alice Wedoff, the drama teacher at Leif Ericson Scholastic Magnet Academy in Chicago’s Garfield Park neighborhood. Before joining the community at Ericson, she also taught drama at Hibbard Elementary in the Albany Park neighborhood for nine years. As an educator, Ms. Wedoff strives to pair grace and humility with high expectations, and works to create a space where students feel safe to explore and grow as artists.

After earning her bachelor of fine arts degree in drama, theater, and acting, she lived in France for a year to study physical theater. Once she returned to Chicago, Ms. Wedoff spent 10 years working as a professional actor, as well as working at theater summer camps and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to adults. When she realized that her heart was in teaching, she decided to earn her master’s degree in urban education with a drama endorsement and never looked back. 

Learn more about Ms. Wedoff below!

Can you tell us about how your passion for drama began?

I really struggled in elementary school. I got bad grades and had undiagnosed ADHD, so I was spaced out all the time. The first time I felt like I was good at something was in sixth grade, when I auditioned for The Wizard of Oz and I ended up getting the lead. I absolutely fell in love with it, and drama became the reason I wanted to come to school. People started to see me differently, and I started to see myself differently too. And that is my hope for my students—I see my students as artists, and I want them to see themselves as more than their grades and test scores. I want my class to be about students finding something that inspires them and that they want to share.

What does a day in drama class look like?

We’re doing a lot! With my younger students, you’ll see us singing every day and playing games where we become different characters and go to new places in our imaginations. We get out props and costumes and figure out how to use fabric to make a house, or how to do different voices when using puppets. As we get into the older grades, students start doing a lot of project-based learning. When my second graders were recently studying fairytales and folklore, we took a story and they broke it down scene-by-scene. My fifth graders will work on adapting stories and writing scripts, and eighth graders will work on analyzing dramatic arcs. Every day is an opportunity to be creative.

What is the best part of teaching drama?

Even though teaching can be difficult, every single day you have the opportunity to do something that is worthwhile. The great thing about drama specifically is that it incorporates all of the arts. One obvious example is musical theater, because in addition to acting you're also singing and dancing. The music can inform mood, tone, and emotion. The movement can connect to dance. All of the design elements connect to visual arts—students can become designers while creating backdrops and seeing how everything looks and moves together. I try to give my students a well-rounded arts education.

Why is it important for students to have access to arts education?

Sometimes the arts are devalued, because you can’t really “test” them in the same way you can test other content areas. But the arts give our students the opportunity to find out who they are, express themselves, appreciate and analyze other people’s artwork, and find the things that connect them to other people and make them feel alive. It’s so easy to feel disconnected right now, which makes it even more important to give our students space to connect with each other and their humanity. 

Also, you don’t have to be a professional working actor to benefit from arts education. The interpersonal skills that students gain from the arts will help them flourish in so many different professions. If you understand how to express yourself, have a conversation with someone, and collaborate with others, you're going to be more successful.

What do you like to do when you’re not teaching?

I’m into art that’s fun and abstract, like physical theater and puppets! The Chicago International Puppet Festival has grown a lot, and I've been able to do a lot of workshops with them. I’m currently working on my own puppet musical. I also love to spend time with my eight-year-old twins. They are hysterical and wonderful. We like to go to the Garfield Park Conservatory and spend time in nature.