Fayette County Public Schools Drama Teachers Bring Professional Acting Techniques Back to the Classroom

Already in rehearsal for Peter Pan, J.C. Booth Middle School drama teacher Kathryn Flint is putting new acting tools to work with her students.

Flint enrolled this summer in The Peachtree City Actors Workshop’s eight-week acting course, her first time taking formal acting classes herself. She is already applying what she learned to work in rehearsals for Peter Pan.

“I’d never taken acting classes before, so it was really exciting for me,” Flint said. “I learned a lot that I’ve been able to bring back to my students and share with them, which has been great.”

Jeffrey Pierce and Phillip Rhys Chaudhary recently launched The Peachtree City Actors Workshop, offering professional acting instruction for teens and adults in Fayette County and surrounding communities. Both bring experience in television, film, theater and voice acting to their teaching.

The pair are also members of Launch Fayette, a business incubator sponsored by Fayette County Public Schools, the Fayette County Development Authority and Southern Crescent Technical College.

Impressed by what she learned from the course, Flint helped bring Pierce and Chaudhary to share their expertise with secondary drama teachers during Fayette County Public Schools’ professional development day on September 4.

For Pierce, working with local drama teachers was an opportunity to give back to the kind of educators who shaped his own life and career.

“Drama in high school and middle school is what saved my life,” Pierce said. “It was sort of like a path forward that I could love, and I have been grateful for every minute of my early experience and for my entire career. To be here with you guys is really exciting because I think that drama teachers can change the world.”

The professional learning workshop connected FCPS drama teachers with local industry professionals and offered practical ideas they can adapt for their own classrooms, rehearsals and student performances.