Cambria Graff was recognized for her direction of theater productions, ranging from serious dramas to comedic musicals. The diverse program puts on multiple productions each year and requires a lot of rigorous work and direction.
The theater director has 13 years of teaching experience, 12 of which have been at SJHHS. Graff grew up in the theater and art world, inspiring her to share her love for the arts with future generations.
“My theater teacher was a very big mentor for me, I grew up with a lot of teachers that really cared for me as an individual, and that really shaped why I wanted to teach,” said Graff.
Graff’s passion for theater and dedication to her students transforms her class into a family where each student is encouraged to push themselves.
“I love the moments where I see a whole classroom come together and build a community, looking at those moments of really good collaboration and thinking back to where they started,” said Graff.
Devoted to her students, Graff conveys the importance of having committed and positive students to result in the highest quality productions.
“I love the late night rehearsal moments where there’s only a few kids that are passionate and dedicated left and some big lightbulb goes off or we have some big collaborative idea that makes the show better,” said Graff.
Within her classroom, Graff handles challenges with an open-door policy, striving for communication. She advocates for team-building exercises where students can understand and respect each other’s differences.
“I like to lead from a place of mutual respect, instead of expecting people to give me something. I like to create an environment in my classroom where it’s a safe space for everybody where they know if they’re level with me I’m level with them,” said Graff.
Differing from standard education classes, the drama department teaches creativity, collaboration, and the ability to take on and overcome challenges.
“My favorite part about teaching theater is that I get to play and make-believe all day. The genuine connection with the students in general, they keep me young. The fact that it’s interpersonal, it’s not clinical, it’s not pre-prescribed, you can approach every kid in a different way that way every day is different. It never feels like Groundhog Day, I have something unexpected every day,” said Graff.
Graff motivates her students by constantly reminding them of the importance of their work, and how the arts benefit society. She focuses on building students’ confidence and reminds them failure and mistakes are part of the learning process. Graff stresses the importance of mistakes leading to learning, as drama productions lend themselves to a lot of trial and error to end up with the best version of a line, scene, or interaction.
“I can create a home away from home where we can take free risks,” said Graff.
After being nominated several times over the past years, Graff’s work and the impact she continuously makes on her students do not go unnoticed by her colleagues.
“Being my little drama person down in my drama hole, it’s nice to know that the larger community, even with just a nomination respects and understands what we do, even for art teachers in general, we call them singletons, it’s really hard for other teachers to know what happens, so to know that my colleagues view and know that what I do it’s important or impactful is the best gift, so whether it’s winning it, or a nomination was always very wonderful,” said Graff.
Graff and the theater and drama production are currently working on Urinetown, a comical musical, and recently held auditions for the musical Les Miserables.
