Erika Kristen Schwarz “Kristen” is a theatre arts educator at a NYC public school, where she has been teaching theatre to students grades 6 - 8th for over seventeen years. As theatre educator, she is dedicated to fostering DEI and SEL learning in the arts and empowering students to develop their artistic and individual voice. Kristen has been a professional development facilitator for Arts Achieve, which focused on assessment in the Arts and Connected Arts Network.
Currently, Kristen is in the Ed.D program in Educational Theatre at NYU Steinhardt, where she has guest lectured classes on “Co-creating Rubrics: How can we promote student equity, agency and success in Theatre Arts?” and “Social Emotional Learning in Theatre Arts”. She serves as a mentor teacher in the Steinhart Arts Education Training Program. Kristen recently presented workshops on assessment in Theatre at the New York State Thespian Festival and the Shubert Education Leadership Conference. Kristen is also an actor and has directed over twenty musicals such as “Spongebob”, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”, “Mary Poppins”, “Once on This Island” and “Hairspray”. Kristen holds a B.A. in History and Communications from Ursinus College and a Master’s of Philosophy in Theatre Studies from University of Dublin, Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.