Meet performing arts teacher Landon Noll. Landon teaches the performing arts component of Science BOOM! in the artspace STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math) program. He is also the costume designer for Billy Elliot.
What is your goal as a teacher?
My main goal is to make sure the kids have fun learning. I teach science, so my goal is to convey science subjects in a very fun theatrical way.
How does incorporating theatre or performing arts help you teach STEAM?
It helps me a lot as an artist to mix my worlds of educating and being an artist, and understanding how I can bring some of the things I know from a technical or performance standpoint into the classroom. It helps the kids learn science because they don’t realize that they are learning about a particular subject all the time. Science is such an exploration of the world that it’s very easy to incorporate theatre. I think that is how theatre helps the kids in STEAM. They’re actively learning instead of sitting in the chairs.
What’s your favorite part of the STEAM class?
There are so many fun things. I really like the review questions when we ask them two weeks later. I love finding out if the lesson worked and if the kids are retaining things. The most fun part is knowing whether or not you’ve succeeded in teaching them well.
What’s your funniest theatre story?
One of my favorite shows I’ve been in was Let’s Murder Marsha. It’s a farce set in the 70s so I got to wear a full denim suit. The audience clapped for three minutes before I said anything, just because of that denim suit. On top of that I had a fake mustache for this character. It started falling off in that scene. I was trying to conceal the fact that it was falling off, but I’m sure the audience knew. I worked it into the scene and ripped it off as soon as the other character left the stage, because it was time for my character’s monologue. I really enjoyed that, and the audience could not get enough of the timing of the mustache ordeal.