Professional Biography
Erica is a part-time instructor in the Division Arts and Humanities at Lane Community College. She is also an actor, director, producer, improviser, and applied improv trainer with a passion for new play development. She currently resides in Springfield, Oregon. Erica received a Masters of Education, with a focus on theatre pedagogy from The University of Sioux Falls and holds a BA in theatre, speech, and communications, also from The University of Sioux Falls. She trained with Katie Goodman (NY) and is a certified applied improv trainer for Improvisation for Life™. Since 2018, Erica has been a guest teaching artist at LCC, teaching improv classes and supporting the Student Production Association’s improv shows. Currently, Erica is a producer for the Northwest 10-minute Play Festival (NW10) in Eugene, Oregon and a company member at Theatre 33, a resident theatre company at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Both NW10 and Theatre 33 focus on new play development by playwrights based in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to her other duties with the companies, Erica serves on both script reading committees which select the season’s play line-up. Since moving to the PNW in 2008, Erica has acted with Oregon Contemporary Theatre, The Shedd, Theatre 33, Very Little Theatre, NW10, and The Warrior Poet Project. As a theatre maker of over 25 years, she has also been involved in numerous grassroots projects, working with passionate local artists to create pop-up performances, host events, tell stories, and moderate talkbacks.
In addition to her work as a theatre artist, Erica is an educator with a passion for helping students develop the theatre, communication, and creativity skills needed to succeed (and to also be good people in the world). She has taught students from the ages of 2-72 from South Korea where she taught theatre as a tool for ESL conversational English to the public school classroom as a literature and writing teacher to adult classes at Oregon Contemporary Theatre. Erica is the founder of Create Here Now and leads experiential applied improv and storytelling classes, workshops, and corporate trainings that educate, support, and inspire creative innovators to be more mission-focused, self-reliant, and confident while they change the world through greathearted creative expression and a creative mindset that solves problems while also creating connections within communities - all while having fun.
Fueled by the belief that theatre and education changes lives and communities for the better, Erica’s passion is to create theatre that connects people, creates bridges, lifts up all voices, shines a light on what we can do differently, and celebrates the daily beauty all around us. She is also a firm believer that it is imperative that we make art wherever we find ourselves: Our communities need brave artists.