Lakewood High School’s Tami LoSasso accepts her 2017 Bobby G Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction last May at the Buell Theatre. Photo by Emily Lozow.

Two-time Bobby G Award winner joins national grassroots initiative on behalf of theatre and other arts education

Tami LoSasso, a two-time Bobby G Award-winning director and longtime theatre educator at Lakewood High School, has been selected as a member of the 2018 class of the Advocacy Leadership Network, it was announced today by the Educational Theatre Association in Cincinnati.

That’s a three-year pilot initiative started last year designed to train and empower members of the Educational Theatre Association in grassroots advocacy efforts on behalf of theatre and other arts education. Up to 10 representatives will be selected annually in a competitive process.
 
Now in her 17th year of teaching, LoSasso has grown the program at Lakewood from two sections of theatre to a full offering ranging from introductory classes to advanced and I.B. Theatre, and a unified theatre program for students with special needs. Next year, she will introduce a slam poetry course for at-risk youth.

Each year, Lakewood High School produces six shows including three full-length plays, one musical, one unified production, and student directed one-act plays.

Last May, LoSasso earned her second Bobby G Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction, for Sweeney Todd, with Yovana Milosevic. LoSasso also won in 2014 for Young Frankenstein, with Delaney Bohlen.

Just two weeks ago, LoSasso’s sophomore student Arianna Josue was named one of the 10 semifinalitsts for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ fifth annual statewide playwriting competition.
 
LoSasso is in her third year as Chapter Director for Colorado Thespians and is an active voice of advocacy for theatre education in Colorado.

EdTA is a national nonprofit organization with approximately 125,000 student and professional members that supports and promotes school theatre. The Educational Theatre Association is the home of the International Thespian Society, an honor society for middle and high-school theatre students, which has inducted more than 2.3 million members since 1929.
 
The goal of the pilot program is to create an effective and self-sustaining network of advocates who monitor and share state-based arts education policies, legislation, and advocacy successes that can be modeled by others.
 
“The concept of the Advocacy Leadership Network is based on the notion that networking can help resolve common and unique issues impacting theatre education, especially when you have trained and committed advocates,” said James Palmarini, Educational Theatre Association director of educational policy. So, each year, as we add more states, we become stronger and more effective as veterans help to mentor new members.”