Introducing Ms. Faraldi

Kara Faraldi joined Regents this year as a music and drama teacher. She has many ideas for developing Regents' drama program and will begin that process this year with the return of Grammar School class plays, including Much Ado about Nothing in Sixth Grade. In the Rhetoric School, Ms. Faraldi is in the very early stages of planning an extracurricular drama production in conjunction with Mrs. Mitchell. "I am excited about the continued growth in the arts culture at Regents - not just a theater culture but a music culture and a fine arts culture," she says. "We're not looking for everyone to become the next Rembrandt or Beethoven but to foster creative thinking and expression because it's another way to worship. God is the ultimate storyteller and we get to participate in that creative act through drama."

A New Jersey native, Ms. Faraldi received her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts Education at Liberty University and has also studied Kodaly Music Pedagogy with the Chenaniah Summer Music Institute at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, ID. "What makes me excited about drama is that it gives students an opportunity to step into someone else's shoes and helps develop empathy. It also has a really great way of telling us truth without preaching at us. We can see truth at work and discover moments of redemption in stories in an experiential way." Since graduating college and prior to coming to Regents, Miss Faraldi has taught theatre with Fairfax County Public Schools, served on a church staff in Lynchburg, and worked in stage management and guest relations at Sight & Sound Theatres in Lancaster, PA.

Ms. Faraldi thinks theatre is especially important in the pandemic because in this isolated time, theatre "rebuilds those team elements and fosters necessary growth as collaborative people." It not only helps students become better listeners and speakers, but perhaps more importantly, theatre helps students rise to the challenges they face by giving them a forum to create.