Oxbridge Academy Theatre Department Director Kimberly Patterson has been honored by the Southeastern Theatre Conference for innovation in teaching playwriting. The award is presented annually in recognition of quality of instruction, philosophy behind the use of playwriting instruction in the classroom and successful realization of student work.
Patterson has worked for more than 15 years in academic, professional and artistic fields. She has been teaching at Oxbridge since its inception in 2011, where she manages the theater program. Her specialties are stagecraft, Shakespeare and writing for performance.
Under Patterson’s direction, Oxbridge students have twice been semi-finalists in the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition and this year performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the American High School Theater Festival. In 2016, she was presented with the Linda P. Wise Grant for Theatre Educators from the Educational Theatre Association.
Patterson said she is passionate about bringing new plays to the high school classroom and has commissioned plays from nationally recognized playwrights for her students to perform.
Prior to joining the faculty at Oxbridge, she worked for both McGraw-Hill Education and ProQuest Education in content development. Patterson has a master’s degree from New York University’s Gallatin School and is a member of the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University and the Dramatists Guild.
The Southeastern Theatre Conference is a nonprofit organization comprising the broadest network of theater practitioners in the United States. It provides resources and opportunities for its diverse constituency in 10 states in the southeast region of the United States.
