Jana Beck's guest appearances

Jana Beck

The Drama Teacher Podcast

Highland Church of Christ Sermons

Allison Williams

Elaine Stritch

Jeffrey Harr

Stephen Gregg

Clint Snyder

Ken Preuss

Ruth Wareham

Janice Harris

Kerry Hishon

Christian Kiley

Steven Stack

Annie Loffredo

Matt Webster

Lindsay Price

Bradley Walton

OwlTail

Episode 67: Teachers Talk: Interview with High School Drama Teacher Jana BeckShout! is Theatrefolk's a cappella musical. It's both a challenge and a reward. This week Lindsay talks with Jana Beck about her experience directing this musical and her tips for other school productions.Show Notes	Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead	Shout! An A Cappella Musical	Photos from her productionSubscribe to The Theatrefolk PodcastEpisode TranscriptWelcome to TFP, the Theatrefolk podcast. I am Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello, I hope you're well, thanks for listening.So in this conversation with teacher Jana Beck, I pretty much cry not once but twice. Jana recently directed my musical SHOUT but this conversation is so much more than that. Jana does not have a theatre at her school, she in fact has nothing she can use as theatre space. This does not deter her. I'm not sure anything does. And her story of how she is able to find space, the community spirit she lives by and encourages her students to live by, and how she works with students the class room is inspiring for any teacher to hear.And there's more than that here, a lot more. Let's get to the interview.Jana BeckLindsay: So hello podcast listeners, hello my friends. I hope that you are well. And today we have a very special treat – I am going to talk to a high school teacher from Texas, Jana Beck. And she recently had great success with our a cappella musical Shout!, so I asked her if she would come on the podcast and talk about it and her process, since I think you would agree, Jana, that Shout! is not your normal musical.Jana: I would definitely agree.Lindsay: [Laughs]Jana: [Laughs]Lindsay: So how are you?Jana: I am great, and I'm going to try really hard not to say y’all too much while I'm talking to you so that everyone will understand me. [Laughs]Lindsay: That's okay. I’ll try not to say eh too much.Jana: Okay. [Laughs]Lindsay: We're both in the same boat. I never realize how much I say eh until I come to the States and everyone points and laughs and goes…and then I go, “Well, I guess I am Canadian.” [Laughs]Jana: Well, I like that you sign off your emails with cheers.Lindsay: Yeah, little British.Jana: Yeah. [Laughs]Lindsay: I own it well. I’ll own it well.Jana: Good, good.Lindsay: So the first thing I want to know is I want you to just sort of talk about what’s your theatre background. Did you always love theatre?Jana: My background is, um, I was an incredibly shy kid that wasn’t sure where I fit in in the world because I found more things I wasn’t good at than that I was good at. But I had a seventh grade literature teacher who would let us read aloud in class when we were setting poetry, and she called me aside one day and said, “Do you know that you are really great at oral reading?” And I said, “What’s that?” And she said, “Reading out loud.” And I said, “No.” And she convinced me to try participating in some competitions with prose and poetry, and there I met other kids and saw duet acting and one-act plays, and I discovered it that way and haven't ever looked back.Lindsay: Isn't it amazing when someone just says the words, “You know, you're really good at something?” [Laughs]Jana: Yes, it is amazing. It is. It's very powerful.Lindsay: Oh, I imagine. I imagine. So did you ever want to be a professional? Did you always know you wanted to be a teacher?Jana: You know, I was intrigued by the idea of having a career in theatre but I never felt myself wanting to run off to Broadway and try and make a go of it, but I also wasn’t sure that I wanted to teach. I don’t mean any disrespect by this that my mother was a high school English teacher and I saw her working so hard I was like, “I am never…”Lindsay: Ah.Jana: “I'm getting a real job where I go to it and I c...

Episode 67: Teachers Talk: Interview with High School Drama Teacher Jana Beck Shout! is Theatrefolk's a cappella musical. It's both a challenge and a reward. This week Lindsay talks with Jana Beck about her experience directing this musical and her tips for other school productions. Show Notes 	Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead 	Shout! An A Cappella Musical 	Photos from her production Subscribe to The Theatrefolk Podcast Episode Transcript Welcome to TFP, the Theatrefolk podcast. I am Lindsay Price, resident playwright for Theatrefolk. Hello, I hope you're well, thanks for listening. So in this conversation with teacher Jana Beck, I pretty much cry not once but twice. Jana recently directed my musical SHOUT but this conversation is so much more than that. Jana does not have a theatre at her school, she in fact has nothing she can use as theatre space. This does not deter her. I'm not sure anything does. And her story of how she is able to find space, the community spirit she lives by and encourages her students to live by, and how she works with students the class room is inspiring for any teacher to hear. And there's more than that here, a lot more. Let's get to the interview. Jana Beck Lindsay: So hello podcast listeners, hello my friends. I hope that you are well. And today we have a very special treat – I am going to talk to a high school teacher from Texas, Jana Beck. And she recently had great success with our a cappella musical Shout!, so I asked her if she would come on the podcast and talk about it and her process, since I think you would agree, Jana, that Shout! is not your normal musical. Jana: I would definitely agree. Lindsay: [Laughs] Jana: [Laughs] Lindsay: So how are you? Jana: I am great, and I'm going to try really hard not to say y’all too much while I'm talking to you so that everyone will understand me. [Laughs] Lindsay: That's okay. I’ll try not to say eh too much. Jana: Okay. [Laughs] Lindsay: We're both in the same boat. I never realize how much I say eh until I come to the States and everyone points and laughs and goes…and then I go, “Well, I guess I am Canadian.” [Laughs] Jana: Well, I like that you sign off your emails with cheers. Lindsay: Yeah, little British. Jana: Yeah. [Laughs] Lindsay: I own it well. I’ll own it well. Jana: Good, good. Lindsay: So the first thing I want to know is I want you to just sort of talk about what’s your theatre background. Did you always love theatre? Jana: My background is, um, I was an incredibly shy kid that wasn’t sure where I fit in in the world because I found more things I wasn’t good at than that I was good at. But I had a seventh grade literature teacher who would let us read aloud in class when we were setting poetry, and she called me aside one day and said, “Do you know that you are really great at oral reading?” And I said, “What’s that?” And she said, “Reading out loud.” And I said, “No.” And she convinced me to try participating in some competitions with prose and poetry, and there I met other kids and saw duet acting and one-act plays, and I discovered it that way and haven't ever looked back. Lindsay: Isn't it amazing when someone just says the words, “You know, you're really good at something?” [Laughs] Jana: Yes, it is amazing. It is. It's very powerful. Lindsay: Oh, I imagine. I imagine. So did you ever want to be a professional? Did you always know you wanted to be a teacher? Jana: You know, I was intrigued by the idea of having a career in theatre but I never felt myself wanting to run off to Broadway and try and make a go of it, but I also wasn’t sure that I wanted to teach. I don’t mean any disrespect by this that my mother was a high school English teacher and I saw her working so hard I was like, “I am never…” Lindsay: Ah. Jana: “I'm getting a real job where I go to it and I c...

Jana Beck, High School Drama Teacher