Johanna Smith

Johanna Smith is a Professor of Theatre Education, Improvisation, and Puppetry at CSU-San Bernardino where she is also part of the Entrepreneurship faculty. Her research and practice focuses on integrating puppets into classrooms as well as professional Theatre for Young Audiences and Improvisation. She has served as a puppetry artist for Broadway-bound extravaganzas to museums to colleges to preschools. Her favorite places to work with puppets are museums (such as the Smithsonian), zoos (such as the National Zoo), and aquariums (such as the Monterey Aquarium) because she loves to prove how puppets can teach almost anything. Her production of The Odyssey (director, puppet design) toured to the PuppetFair puppet festival in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2008, followed by a tour of 4 major Chinese cities for the Chonqing Children's Theatre season in 2009. She has written and received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and TCG. She believes in the power of laughter and creative re-use to inspire a love of learning. See what she's up to at www.professorjohanna.com