Mrs. Shawn Hann

 

ShawnHannHSMrs. Hann has been teaching since 1994 and has been the Director of Theatre at DSA since 2001. Mrs. Hann comes to Denver from Des Moines, Iowa via Texas where she taught for seven years.

Education

In high school, Mrs. Hann was on the drill team, show choir, concert choir, drama club, newspaper staff, church choir, and hand-bell choir. During her first year of college, Mrs. Hann attended a women’s college called Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. Her honors at Cottey included class vice president, Dean’s List for academic achievement, and leading roles in the plays. Mrs. Hann received her BA in Communication/Theatre Arts Education and minor in English Education from the University of Northern Iowa, (formerly the Iowa State Teacher’s College). Mrs. Hann also spent a semester abroad in London, England, and traveled to Russia, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and Switzerland during that year. Mrs. Hann traveled to Okinawa, Japan to student teach at the Department of Defense high school on Kadena Air Force Base. She also earned an MA in Directing from the Chicago College for Performing Arts, Roosevelt University.

Accolades

Mrs. Hann is the recipient of many awards, including:

  • 2018 Colorado High School Theatre Educator of the Year
  • Mayor’s Award for Excellence in ARTS AND CULTURE in the People’s Choice Category, In School Arts (2015)
  • Outstanding School Award for 2006 and 2014 from the International Thespian Society
  • International Thespian Society’s Inspirational Theatre Educator Award from the Educational Theatre Association (2011)
  • Alliance for Colorado Theatre as the Middle School/High School Theatre Teacher of the Year (2005-2006)
  • President of Alliance for Colorado Theatre (2006-2008)
  • Purple and Old Gold Award for Achievement in Interpretation (top Communication/Theatre Arts Graduate award) and the Dean’s List for five semesters from the University of Northern Iowa
  • Teacher of the Year from Tomball Junior High (1994)
  • National Forensic League Coach of Superior Distinction (2001)

Additional honors include coaching 25 high school students to qualify to compete at the state Texas Forensic competition and five students to qualify and compete at the NFL (National Forensics League) competition. Mrs. Hann was the proud coach of a Duo Interpretation Team, which placed 7th in the Nation in 1998. Mrs. Hann has also coached 192 DSA students to qualify for the National Thespian Convention Individual Events Competition, and has taught courses such as Advanced/Intermediate/Beginning Theatre, Theatre I and II, Oral Interpretation I-IV, Speech and Public Speaking, TV Journalism, and Media Technology.

DSA Credits and Achievements

Mrs. Hann’s DSA directing credits include:

  • United We Stand
  • Moon Over Buffalo
  • The Bourgeois Gentleman
  • The Diviners, Stop Kiss
  • Jekyll and Hyde
  • Prime Time Crime
  • Lost In Yonkers
  • How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
  • A Piece of My Heart, Amadeus
  • The Boys Next Door
  • The Laramie Project
  • The Cripple of Inishmaan
  • Bye Bye Birdie
  • The Importance of Being Earnest
  • Brighton Beach Memoirs
  • AIDA,
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  • And They Dance Real Slow in Jackson
  • Parade
  • The Inconvenient Truths
  • Paganini
  • The Bourgeois Gentleman
  • Urinetown, Love of a Pig
  • Thoroughly Modern Millie
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Hamlet, All Female Version
  • Almost, Maine
  • Avenue Q
  • Noises Off
  • Disney’s Tarzan
  • Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
  • The Crucible
  • Hairspray
  • The Laramie Project Epilogue: Ten Years Later (2015)
  • The Country Wife
  • Annie, Jr.
  • Spring Awakening
  • Moon Over Buffalo (2016)
  • Disney’s Little Mermaid, Jr. 
  • The Rest is Silence: An Immersive Hamlet
  • Disney’s The Lion King, Jr
  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
  • And Then They Came For Me
  • James and the Giant Peach, Jr
  • Shrek: The Musical

Mrs. Hann leads student travel groups to NYC annually, four times to London, England, to Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2017 and a journey to Rome and Greece. She serves on the Steering Committee for the Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival and a Past-President/Secretary of the Alliance for Colorado Theatre.

Mrs. Hann has directed the following shows that were ranked superior and presented as one of eight shows at the International Thespian Convention:

  • Brighton Beach Memoirs (2006)
  • Urinetown (2010)
  • Spring Awakening (2016 – one of five shows to perform on the Lied Stage)
  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2018)

Mrs. Hann has directed the following shows that were selected to perform mainstage at the Colorado Thespian Convention as one of two shows each year:

  • A Piece of My Heart (2003)
  • The Boys Next Door (2005)
  • Brighton Beach Memoirs (2006)
  • Parade (2008)
  • Urinetown (2010)
  • The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2017)