Elementary and Middle School Theater Educators Gather for Winter Roundtable

January 14, 2026

On Saturday, January 10, fifteen elementary and middle school theater and music educators met at Perpich Center in a collaborative roundtable to exchange ideas, challenges, questions, and resources for teaching theater in grades K-8. Participants came ready to share (and play!) theater games, strategies for building community and engaging all learners, and lesson plans. The group also had the opportunity to meet and provide feedback to guest composers who shared their newest musical, a work-in-progress, for middle school students.

Elementary and middle school theater (and music) educators met at Perpich Center in January.

It was an energizing, inspiring day and participants left with “so many new ideas!” One educator reflected, “I plan to use more games during rehearsal for team building and engagement.” Another said, “I plan on focusing some time on Tinkercad. I really like the possibilities this website offers for [set] design.” Even with all the great ideas, many participants shared that the best part of the workshop was simply being together with other theater educators.

The Elementary and Middle School Theater Educator Roundtable was facilitated by Dr. Stephanie Lein Walseth, Perpich Theater Education Specialist. She is here to support theater education statewide, and looking forward to reconvening this group in June.

Participants shared theater games, strategies for building community and engaging all learners, and lesson plans.

Stephanie Lein Walseth, Ph.D. is a theater educator, artist, administrator, and scholar with over 25 years experience working with students and artists of all ages. She has served as an affiliate faculty member at Augsburg University since 2011, and as an instructor and curriculum developer at the University of Minnesota and Penumbra Theatre Company. In the professional theater realm, she served decade-long tenures with Full Circle Theater and Penumbra, worked in leadership roles with Theater Mu/Mu Performing Arts and Mixed Blood Theatre, and served in artistic and/or administrative roles with Sod House Theater, Playwrights’ Center, Guthrie Theater, Native Voices at the Autry, Portland Stage Company, and Oakland Theater Project, among many others. Stephanie received her Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota, and her research focuses on African American, Asian American, and Native American theater, and the institutional politics of relationships between theaters of color and predominantly white institutions. Her writing has appeared in HowlRound, Theatre Topics, e-misférica, The Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance, and the Palgrave anthology Theater, Performance and Change. In her role at Perpich since 2018, Stephanie is pleased to support K-12 and College/University theater educators across the state, as well as all educators interested in using the tools of theater in their pedagogical practice.