Profile

Gail Mardirosian

Associate Professor
Performing Arts

  • Gail Mardirosian spent the 2008-09 AY as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Prague, CZ, at the Academy of Performing Arts and writing book entitled Exceptional Teaching, Exceptional Learning: Using the Arts as a Pathway to Success in Learning, K-16.

    Current research areas include the arts and globalization as well as arts education. Recent and past awards include the University Award for Outstanding Service, the Alpha Chi Omega Award and College of Arts and Science Award for Outstanding teaching. Directing includes 106 productions to date including dramas, musicals, children’s theatre, new works and the classics.

  • Degrees

    PhD, Education
    MA, Theatre
    BA, History and Theatre

  • Languages Spoken:

    French (basic)

  • OFFICE

  • CAS - Performing Arts
  • Katzen Arts Center - 211

  • CONTACT INFO

  • (202) 885-3429 (Office)
  • Send email Profile UserID

  • MEDIA RELATIONS

  • To request an interview
    please call AU Media Relations
    at 202-885-5950 or
    submit an interview request form.

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • National Society of Arts and Letters

    Board Member

  • Coalition for Theatre Education

    Executive Committee

  • American Alliance for Theatre Education

    Member

  • American College Theatre Festival

    Region II Directing Task Force

  • Association for Theatre in Higher Education

    Vice President

Teaching

  • Fall 2009

    • UCOL-100 Univ College Washington Lab: Theatre:Prin,Plays & Perform
    • Description

  • Spring 2010

    • HNRS-300 Honors Collqm in Arts & Hum: Voices of Terezin
    • Description
    • UCOL-001 University College Lab: Theatre:Prin,Plays & Perform
    • Description

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

  • The arts and international education for global citizenry
  • Arts education across the curriculum for enhanced teacher effectiveness, student achievement and parental involvement
  • The interface of Theatre and psychology

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

  • Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, Academy of Performing Arts, Prague, CZ 2009
  • University Service Award, American University 2008
  • Alpha Chi Omega Award, Outstanding Teaching in the Arts 2008
  • American College Theatre Festival, Region II, selections in multiple years
  • Honoree, Outstanding Contribution to the Arts for Children, Founder’s Award, Imagination Stage, 2006

Professional Presentations

  • Artistic Entrepreneurship (House of Sweden)
  • In Search of Shakespeare: Performing and Understanding the Bard (Florida Association of Theatre Education)
  • No Teacher Left Behind: Teach to Reach (Brown University)
  • Project ARTS: American Russian Theatre Symposium (World Russian  Forum)
  • Theatre at the Core of Educational Reform: Arts-based Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum  (New England Theatre Conference)
  • The Katrina Project (Association for Theatre in Higher Education)
  • The Imagination Quest Model  for teacher training  (University of New Hampshire)
  • Keynote Addresses, The Quest for Social Justice in Education, Title II Grant, Systemic Gifted and Talented Program (Loyola Conference Center, Baltimore City Schools)
  • Acting from Within (TVI, Los Angeles, California)
  • Literacy Learning through Arts-based Teaching (American Reading Forum)

Selected Publications

  •  “Teaching to Reach All Children,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, to be published 2009. "
  • Czech Connections: Chekhov’s Three Sisters Revisited,” Czechoslovak Arts and Letters World Congress, September 2008. 
  • “Transforming the Classroom Teacher into a Teaching Artist,” Teaching Artist Journal, Vol. 5, no.2, summer, 2007.
  • “The Quest to Captivate Hearts and Minds in the Classroom: Teaching to reach and foster giftedness in all children,” e-article, www.TheatroEdu.gr, 2006.  2007.
  • “Another Voicing of the Silenced Theatre of Josef Topol,” Czechoslovak Arts and Letters World Congress, July 2006.
  • “Parallel Power: Periklean Athens and Antigone: from page to stage at American University, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, European Cultural Centre of Delphi Greece, YEAR OF PERICLES, YEAR OF DEMOCRACY, June, 2005.
  • “Literacy Learning for At-risk Students through Arts-based Instruction,” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEARNING: VOL.10, 2003. “Imagination Quest: an arts-based teaching/learning model,” commissioned paper, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 2002. “Arts Advocacy Roundtable,” THEATRE TOPICS, VOL. 11, NO. 1 March, 2001.   “The Psychology of Theatre/ The Theatre of Psychology,” TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY: VOL. 26, NO. 3, 1999.

Exhibitions/Performances

  •  Over 70 special events in venues ranging from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Press Club, Ford’s Theatre, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, U.S. Treasury Department, Fenwick Art Gallery, Cosmos Club Over 100 productions in academic and professional theatres from new works to serious drama, the classics, musicals and children’s theatre; directing at American included the development of Project ARTS.
  • American Russian Theatre Symposium and touring student production to Russian State Academic Volkov Theatre,Yaroslavl, Russia

Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Fowler Foundation
  • Freddie Mac Foundation
  • Lockheed-Martin Corporation
  • Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Family Trust Foundation
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • University of New Hampshire President’s Excellence Fund (2005-2009)
  • U.S. Department of Education
  • VSA Arts
  • Webber Family Trust Foundation
  • 21st Century Learning Grant, Communities in the Schools

Executive Experience

  •  Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD  (1996-current) Designed multi-million dollar business plan for education in new professional children’s theatre and community arts center; founded and continue as team leader for Imagination Quest (IQ), an evidence-based model for learning through arts-based instruction
  • Central California School of Ballet, Modesto, CA (1997-98) Focused on the development of instruction that synthesized dance and theatre dance instruction
  • Columbia Center for Theatrical Studies, Columbia, MD (2003-2007) Developed and implemented research design for grant awarded from National Endowment for the Arts Georgia College & State University, Milledgeville, GA (2008) Participated in internationalization grant, developing and implementing a Think Tank entitled “Understanding and Inspiring Global Citizens Who Want to Shape Tomorrow’s World.”
  • Hollywood Culture and Arts Center, Hollywood, Florida  (2002) Focused on developing programming for visual and performing arts
  • Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, PA (2004) Participated on arts evaluation team viewing curriculum in light of newly planned performing arts facilities   Merced College, Merced, CA (1998)

Work In Progress

  • Developing project entitled VOICES OF TEREZIN, to be presented as a performing in Prague, CZ on site at Terezin and in Washington, DC.
  • Developing presentations on the arts and education in international arenas for Charles University, Prague, CZ and for the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Continuing work on arts education book Exceptional Teaching, Exceptional Learning

AU Expert

Area of Expertise: Directing, musical and children's theatre, arts in education, international arts exchanges

Additional Information: Gail Humphries Mardirosian, professor of theatre in the Department of Performing Arts, has directed more than 100 productions, including musicals, serious drama, classics, children’s theatre, and cabaret performances. She has also directed more than 60 special events in varied venues across the United States. She has received several awards for her college directing, including an outstanding directing award from the American College Theater Festival. Mardirosian was the past national president of the Theatre as a Liberal Art and past national chair of Theatre at the Core of Education Reform, a task force for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). In 2007, she became the new vice president of professional development for ATHE. Mardirosian's publications include "Transforming the Classroom Teacher into a Teaching Artist,"in (summer 2007 issue) ; "The Quest to Captivate Hearts and Minds in the Classroom: Teaching to Reach and Foster Creativity and Giftedness in Children," on www.TheatroEdu.gr; "The Theatre of Psychology, the Psychology of Theatre," in Journal of Teaching Psychology; "An American Voicing of the Silenced Theatre of Joseph Topol," in Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences; and "Literacy Learning for At-Risk Students through Arts-Based Instruction," in International Journal of Learning.The last article focuses on a case study of the Imagination Quest project. Mardirosian is working on her forthcoming book, A Pedagogy for Social Justice: Using the Arts as a Pathway to Success in Learning K-16. During the 2008–2009 academic year, Mardirosian will continue her focus on international theatre and will be traveling back and forth to Prague, serving as a Fulbright Scholar teaching at the Academy of Performing Arts and working on a project involving dramas created at the ghetto of Terezin from 1943 to 1944. 

Media Relations
To request an interview please call AU Media Relations at 202-885-5950 or submit an interview request form.

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