School: Bret Harte Middle School

Anneka Fagundes has been mesmerized by the magic of the theatre since her 6th grade production of "West Side Story" in Forestville, CA. An applied theatre practitioner, she specializes in using theatre as a tool for education, community building and social justice. Prior to her role as drama teacher at Bret Harte Middle School, Ms. Anneka worked and performed in classrooms and community spaces across New York City as a teaching artist, and developed theatre-based curriculum and programming for girls' empowerment. She believes strongly in the power of theatre to imagine new realities lift up young people's voices and ideas!

School: Oakland Technical High School

Casey is a professional artist as well as an instructor at Tech. He has performed in San Francisco with The Cutting Ball Theater (Risk is This…Festival), New Conservatory Theatre Center (Youth Aware), and Wily West Productions. Casey has also stage managed professionally for Wily West productions, as well as stage managing the world premiere production of The Last Night of the Barbary Coast, written and directed by Jessa Brie Berkner.

Oakland Tech's drama program has beginning, intermediate, and advanced drama, and a vibrant technical theatre program. OakTech Rep, Oakland Tech's advanced drama/production class was honored by the OUSD school board in fall of 2019 for their original, student created work that amplifies the rich history of Oakland. 

Learn more at Oakland Technical High School's Performing Arts website. 

School: Skyline High School

Awele (ah WAY lay) has mesmerized audiences around the world including at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Musikverein in Vienna, Tsinchu Teacher’s College inTaiwan, Suriname (U. S. Dept. of State Tour), Russia, Australia, France, Canada, Suriname, Austria, NYU, Stanford University and TED-Ed. She wears many hats in Oakland Unified School District including, Producer, Dr. MLK, Jr. Oratorical Fest. At Skyline, she is the Drama teacher, Chair of the Performing Arts Department, and she mentors and supports students that she does not teach.

Recent accomplishments: HBO’s We Are the Dream (2/2020), features the OUSD 40th Annual MLK Oratorical Fest a program she has produced for 6 years; contributing author of the dramaturgy of the classroom in Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation in Contemporary Dramaturgy edited by Philippa Kelly, Routlege Pres (4/2020); Awarded 2019 CTEIG, $50K, 21st C, state-of-the art innovation grant; NBC Universal All-Star Teacher https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/video/all-star-teacher-awele-makeba

Overview
Skyline Drama Program is a nationally recognized training program by the American High School Theatre Festival for their outstanding commitment to artistic excellence in Theatre Arts and theatre-for-social change. The pre-conservatory style training and the ensemble-based theatre-making CTE curriculum focuses on developing young artists, scholars, and activists through creative exploration of social-political issues that impact our community with scripted, original plays, and civic engagement that amplify student voice, humanizes issues with intellectual rigor, fervent humanity, and vibrant imagination. We design bold opportunities for participation and unforgettable community engagement, with striking physicality. We want to inspire people to envision a more just and humane world.

Learn more at Skyline High School's Drama Webpage