"Listen to What Your Heart Is Guiding You To Do"
Upper School Visual and Performing Arts Teacher Tannis Hanson Reflects on Acting, Teaching, and the Importance of Listening to One’s Instinct
(This story appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Full Circle, Castilleja School Magazine)
In a room with pitch-black walls, thirteen people are gathered in a circle. They’re sitting on the edges of their chairs, their faces illuminated by the glow of laptops and ceiling lights. These are theatre students in Castilleja’s Black Box Theatre, but they may as well be in Appalachian Georgia.
Guided by Tannis Hanson, Upper School Visual and Performing Arts teacher, the students take turns reading from an adaptation of The Crucible, transfixed on their roles and transported into another universe.
Next, the class analyzes the scene they’d just read, talking about feminism and witches and even Taylor Swift and John Mayer’s ill-fated romance (here, the students break into Swift’s song “Dear John.”)
There’s joy in this circle they have created, and there’s the magic of community. Ms. Hanson looks on, smiles, and turns the script page.
“The students are really curious and engaged,” says Ms. Hanson about her six years of teaching at Castilleja. “There is mutual respect and collaboration. They bring a high level of both intellectual and creative curiosity. It’s hard enough to be a teenager, but thankfully, here at Castilleja, a non-co-ed school, it creates an environment where the students take a lot more risks in their work. That’s what I see.”
For Ms. Hanson, theatre has always been a powerful tool for self-discovery, one she is eager to share with others. “They don’t learn to trust themselves by reading it in a book,” she explains. “They have to be doing it in practice. It’s scary to be up there and be vulnerable.”
Ms. Hanson was born and raised in Colorado, where she studied technical journalism and theatre. She moved to Southern California for her MFA, where she became a professional actor and director and taught classes from improvisation to acting, voice, movement, and audition techniques. While in Hollywood, she was a member of a professional theatre company for over a decade.
Now at Castilleja, Ms. Hanson is busy leading two annual Upper School theatre productions. She also teaches Upper School theatre classes, 9th grade Exploration in the Arts class, and 8th grade film class, on top of guiding the student-directed One-Acts Festival and advising the student-run Theatre Advisory Board.
Though a full-time teacher, she continues to perform locally, participate in workshops, and take improvisation classes. “It’s hard to ask my students to take risks every day in class and in the productions if I’m not taking risks as an artist,” she says. “I’m able to bring in those experiences and talk about them.”
Ms. Hanson’s advice for students is to trust their inner voices. “It’s easy to fall into comparing yourself with what other people are doing or what you think other people expect you to be doing, instead of listening to what your heart is guiding you to do. It takes practice and it’s really hard, even for adults!” she points out. “All of my work is about learning to trust your instrument and listen to your own instinct. It’s what I do in the classroom and what I subscribe to as a human.”