Chris EspinosaXYZ is a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist and a Mississippi Whole Schools Certified Arts Integrated Teaching Artist.
He integrates the excitement of theater arts (sketch comedy and the boo-hiss-yay melodrama) with the necessity of learning language arts, history, and science. He also integrates SEL/Life Skills such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Even though his lessons are based on state curriculum standards, your students will be laughing and learning as they engage in improvised zany scenes of their own creation. He pre-plans with the teacher to make sure his lessons support the teacher’s classroom goals. In his Language Arts residencies, he focuses on ideas, voice, and word choice. He adapts his program to support the writing methods in your classrooms. Students create outlandish, fractured fairy tales or their own version of Shakespearean sonnets – and perform in costumes of their own choosing. (Yes, he brings trunks of costumes!)
His social studies script-writing residency engages students as they jump on stage and into the pages of state and US history. In his science program, students will sing, dance, improvise, and write as they create improvised scenes about the life cycle of bees and their importance to the survival planet Earth. Another science-based residency invites students to recreate the habitats of wild animals. Although his lessons are full of comedy, he’s serious about providing authentic art experiences authentic arts education experiences that inspire students to reveal their writer’s voice on the page as they engage with their actor’s voice on the stage. One teacher wrote, ‘Chris Espinosa provided an engaging week. His exuberant personality hooked the fourth-grade students…The connections we made with him and the artistry we experienced have left a lasting impression.’ Many schools that hosted Espinosa have experienced higher scores on state-mandated tests. Chris has 30 years of experience on stage as an actor, writer, director, and producer.
He has presented 148 arts integrated residencies at elementary and middle schools throughout Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi (approximately 2,700 classroom hours). Schools that hosted his residency experienced higher scores on the writing portion of state-mandated tests. He’s also on many rosters, including: The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.); Young Audiences National (NYC); Texas Commission on the Arts; Authors and More (Austin); ArtsSmart (Texarkana); Arkansas Arts Council; and Mississippi Arts Council. He has completed 273 hours of Life Skills/Culturally Responsive Art training facilitated by Young Audiences Professional Development Series.