Marsha gildin

Marsha Gildin (she/her/her) is passionate about connecting individuals, communities, cultures, and generations through the art of personal story and performance. Through devised theatre making, puppetry, storytelling, sign language and song she has worked with students of all ages, different abilities and disabilities. Marsha finds joy, power, and meaning in seeing people discover their best self, give voice to what moves through them, and connect in community. Her teaching artistry and performance was seeded and developed in Hawaii with Honolulu Theatre for Youth,  Kids on the Block Puppet Troupe, Very Special Arts Hawaii, Starving Artists Productions and the Alliance for Drama Education. Returning home to the Bronx and Washington Heights, Marsha worked with multiple arts-in-ed organizations, including Marquis Studios (puppetry), Artsgenesis (special education), and most extensively with Elders Share the Arts (ESTA) where, both as a Teaching Artist and as Director of Programs and Training, she produced and directed intergenerational living history theatre projects throughout NYC’s diverse neighborhood communities.  In 2010, invited by Dreamcatchers Foundation (Mumbai) to serve as program evaluator for their four-year-funded Wave of Life project in the tsunami affected region of Tamil Nadu, India, Marsha witnessed the impact of a reflective, arts-infused, intergenerational community regeneration program where young girls, women, and elders found voice, value and capacity for leadership in transforming and healing village life.

Marsha finds celebration in teaching and is thrilled to be part of Girl Be Heard’s cadre of incredible TAs. When Marsha isn’t working she enjoys being an auntie, being a fish (swimming), walking by the river, talking to birds and trees, singing Yiddish melodies, and remembering the kindness of Hawaii. Mni Wiconi. Water is Life. Live Aloha.

Marsha holds a Master of Science in Education from CUNY Queens College and served on its Graduate School of Education faculty with focus on arts-infused curriculum design. She has also served as Masters Thesis Reader for the Applied Theatre Program at CUNY School of Professional Studies. You can find some of her writings in the Harvard Educational Review (Spring 2013) and The Reflexive Teaching Artist: Collected Wisdom from the Drama/Theatre Field by Kathryn Dawson and Daniel A. Kelin (2014).