About

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Phillip Sprayberry, currently in semi-retirement, is an adjunct professor in the College of the Arts and Communication at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.

 

In a career as educator that has spanned four decades, Sprayberry has taught music, theatre, musical theatre, and communication courses at the university level and, earlier, from kindergarten to high school. He was honored as recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award presented by the International NETWORK for Performing and Visual Arts and as a recipient of the Lipscomb University Distinguished Alumnus Award.

 

 

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

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The arts classroom is a lecture hall, a laboratory, an atelier, a playground, a sanctuary, and a performance space. Activities that transpire here should offer opportunities to create, stimulate, inspire, and educate.

 

The classroom is many things to a student and to his or her professor and it supports many activities. It is not a level playing field, however. The professor sees a diverse and hopeful group of students come to this arena, but what seems self-evident is not. What exists has often been carefully masked by a reality years in the making. So, this varied lot arrives with expectations, and with baggage, but they also come with talent—as many different levels of talent as there are students.

 

Student talent and circumstances govern the teaching methods that I use.  Those that I choose are: focused and exploratory rehearsal, research, lecture, discussion, tutorials, exercises, guest artists, student-led groups/sections, and travel.

 

I have discovered those methods from the more than 20 years of experience in education to the classroom. During this time, I taught arts students (music, theatre, and musical theatre) from kindergarten through university, from rank amateur to professional. Each student brings his or her unique abilities to each experience. It is the professor’s challenge to take the student’s raw talent to encourage them to progress as far as they can and are willing to stretch in the amount of time allotted.

 

While my academic background is largely in musical theatre, I have much practical experience in contemporary drama and comedy. My résumé reflects small- and large-cast drama and comedies, as well as traditional musical theatre, revues, operetta, and opera. My work as a director has taken place in schools and universities, community, and professional theatres, and has included works by a diverse group of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists. Within this context, I have had opportunity to work on shows that have incorporated color-blind casting and/or performers with disabilities.

 

My chief asset, other than academic training, is a broad base of experience. I bring this accrued knowledge into the classroom and rehearsal hall to work toward a positive, professional performance for each person involved.