Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox.In August, theater teacher Shawn Hann will accompany 75 Denver high school students to a massive theater festival in Scotland called the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. When they’re not putting on the musical Legally Blonde, Jr, they’ll be soaking in performances from around the world.“I truly believe in curating experiences and life memories,” she said. “The Fringe is exactly that.” Hann, who teaches sixth- through 12th-graders at the prestigious Denver School of the Arts, said the trip is such a big deal that students and their families start saving up four years in advance and school fundraisers start two years ahead. Hann was recently named the 2026 Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Teacher of the Year by the Educational Theatre Foundation and the ASCAP Foundation, which promotes music education. The award is named for the Broadway veteran who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin, among others. Hann talked to Chalkbeat about what she looks for when students audition for a spot at Denver School of the Arts, why she teaches the physical acting method of Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski, and how a student’s devoted mother inspired her.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher? I remember the exact moment. I was finishing my freshman year at Cottey College, a small two-year women’s school in Missouri. I was looking at the University of Northern Iowa’s course book as I was deciding to transfer. I was thinking about all the general education courses I had taken that year: Which ones were easy, what did I enjoy? Theatre, speech, psychology. I flipped through that course book and landed on the Theatre/Communication Education major. I wanted to take every single course that was listed. Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.Several years ago, I got to participate in a two-week course in New York City about the physical theatre methods of Jerzy Grotowski. Most high school acting approaches are based in the Stanislavski tradition of method acting, where students analyze the intellectual side of a character. You leave your own problems and desires outside the rehearsal room and immerse yourself mentally in the character’s life.Not many high school students get to learn about Grotowski’s methods, but I teach a unit on them to my upperclassmen. I love how it makes students who approach theatre intellectually all of a sudden flip to approaching a character physically. The question we ask is, “What is your already?” Then, through a series of physical exercises, which remind many people of yoga, students explore where in their bodies certain emotions live. They are given permission to play like children, unjudged and uninhibited, to find true emotions in their own lives and then transfer those feelings into a character’s world.When students audition for a spot at Denver School of the Arts, what do you look for? Potential and positivity. We have students who audition who have Broadway credits, and we have students who have only done a historical “play” in fifth grade. I want to see a spark in a student who wants to learn as much as they can. I will always prefer a student who works hard and tries versus someone who feels they already know it all. And kindness. Kindness above all else.You’ve brought students to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe several times. Tell us about it.The Fringe festival is such a large undertaking I only do it once every four years so that all the students in the seven-year program get a shot at going during high school. This summer, I am taking 65 acting majors and 10 stagecraft/design majors. We’ll be part of the American High School Theatre Festival alongside 30 other U.S. schools that were selected to participate. The Fringe is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Students get to go to as many shows as they possibly can over two weeks and see world theatre: a dance show from Poland, a physical theatre troupe from France, comedy from Italy. British humor, Scottish humor, and food. They see how the United States is viewed internationally as well. This summer we have two alumni who traveled there with me in 2008, returning with their own original shows. Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach. In my second year of teaching, I had a student who was somewhat shy. Her mom was the No. 1 volunteer and adamant about her daughter being in plays. Not being the star, just being a part of them. As time went on I realized why: Her child had a health condition where she was only supposed to live to 14 and had to survive by plugging into an IV every night for nutrition. The mom was trying to build extraordinary memories as fast as she could since the clock was ticking. I changed my approach by trying to truly know my students, their circumstances, and their families so I could help curate life memories no matter what. The way my student’s mom showed up for her daughter was beyond inspiring. She became a lifelong friend until she unexpectedly passed a year ago. Her daughter is now in her mid-40’s. I credit her mother for teaching her how to survive and manage so well. What is a common misconception about your job as an educator? That we get the summers off. I revise my curriculum for weeks every summer. I also take my students to a national theatre conference for a week. This summer, I took two weeks in June to direct the show that we are taking to the Fringe Festival, then will spend three days getting the show ready in July before taking 75 students to Scotland for two weeks in August. That is also unpaid. In fact, it will cost me money as I will spend my own money to go to shows with students as a chaperone. It is MY choice to do these trips, but it is because I believe in how it will shape my students’ lives. What are you reading for enjoyment? I live 40 miles from my school; that equates to about two and a half hours a day commuting. So I listen to books on tape or TV shows in the car. I just finished re-”listening” to West Wing. So great.Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.
