STAFF

Jo Strom Lane, proud Honor Thespian of Mountain View HS Troupe #3821, is the Roosevelt HS Theatre Teacher, Opening Act Theatre Company Artistic Director, and Thespian Troupe #7289 Director. Lane earned a BFA in theatre education from Univ. of AZ, MA in Theatre Production from Central WA Univ., and Arts Administration Certificate from UConn. In her early years, Lane toured the U.S. and Canada as an actor and stagehand. Formerly the Artistic Director for Fourteenth Avenue Players at Winterhaven School, Lane also previously taught in Tucson, AZ where she co-founded Opening Act Theatre Company as a summer theatre training program for young adults. She brought OATC to Portland and ran the summer program successfully for 10 years while teaching full time before transitioning OATC to Roosevelt as its resident production company. Lane has over twenty years of professional teaching experience in performance and design/tech K-college, offering Dual Credit to her high school theatre students, partnerships with local professional theatre companies, and a CTE program in Theatre Production. Lane has worked in several community theatres across AZ in acting, directing, and technical theatre, serving for several years as the Board President for Twilight Theater Company, local community theatre. She’s proud that her former students started Roosevelt Alumni Theatre Group in 2014 and continue to produce an annual production each year to support Roosevelt Theatre. Lane is also published nationally in theatre education and has conducted theatre workshops for OTEA (President 2009-2011), EdTA, and ITS. She is the recipient of the OnPoint Prize for Education Circle of Excellence (Top 10 Educator 2010), EdTA Hawkins Arts Advocacy Award (Theatre Arts Advocate on Capitol Hill in Washington DC), Oregon's Melba Day Sparks Henning Hall of Fame Award (Oregon Thespians 2014), President's Award (Educational Theatre Association 2021) and National Hall of Fame Award (Educational Theatre Association 2021). After serving on the board for nearly a decade, Lane is the current Chapter Director for Oregon Thespians.