April 20, 2017
The Educational Theatre Association’s Nominating Committee has tapped five candidates to vie for two director seats in this year’s EdTA board election.
Mark Drum, Marti Fowler, Phillip Goodchild, David Tate Hastings, and Scott Walker will be on the ballot for the two board director positions. The top two vote-getters among those five will be seated.
Board directors are elected for three-year terms. All the winning candidates in the 2017 election, which will be conducted by electronic ballot during August and September, will take office on August 1, 2018.
Here are brief sketches of the candidates.
Candidates for Board director
 | Mark Drum. New York, New York. Currently serving on the New York Thespians board. A Thespian alum, he is a former International Thespian Officer and former State Thespian Officer from Michigan. Has represented the EdTA National Office at Thespian events in four states in 2016-17. Recipient of the 2017 Daron Hawkins Advocacy Grant. Workshop instructor and guest artist at the International Thespian Festival. |
 | Marti Fowler. Chesterfield, Missouri. Has served on the Missouri Thespians board as secretary and conference chair. Developed Practical Technical Theatre, an instructional set of DVDs. Was a member of the Fine Arts Task Force with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that developed a fifth grade fine arts test and grade-level expectations. Recipient of the EdTA Standing Ovation Award. Has sponsored three future educator scholarships. |
 | Phillip Goodchild. Ruskin, Florida. Has taught theatre, technical theatre, and creative writing and directed the Thespian troupe at Lennard High School since 2009. Teacher training consultant, facilitator, and board member of the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project at the University of South Florida. Actor, director, playwright, and published writer of short fiction. |
 | David Tate Hastings. Olathe, Kansas. Has served as co-chapter director for Kansas Thespians. Since 2002, has taught theatre at Olathe South High School, which won EdTA’s Outstanding School Award in 2013; previously taught drama, communications, and electronic media at the middle school level; and before entering the teaching profession, worked as a retail banker for several years. |
 | Scott Walker. Milwaukie, Oregon. A current member of the EdTA board of directors; served one term as Oregon chapter director and three terms as an Oregon chapter board member. Past president of the Oregon Theatre Educators Association. Has taught for 24 years at Milwaukie High School/Milwaukie Academy of the Arts, of which he was a founding member. Recipient of the Melba Day Sparks Henning Memorial Award. |
Ballot petitions
As provided in the EdTA Code of Regulations, any member may declare their candidacy for a seat on the board and petition to be included on the ballot. A valid ballot petition can be accessed here and must be signed by 15 voting members from each of three different state chapters. The submission deadline for ballot petitions for the 2017 election is June 16.
Candidates’ full résumés and responses to election questionnaires will be posted here after the ballot petition deadline. Electronic voting will begin in August and conclude during the EdTA National Conference in Nashville on September 15.
The Nominating Committee is chaired by past President Gloria McIntyre and includes: board Vice President Debbie Corbin; state chapter directors Martha Louden and Jeff Hall; at-large members Jo Lane and Ray Palasz; Executive Director Julie Cohen Theobald (nonvoting); and Director of Chapters and Communities Diane Carr (nonvoting). President Frank Pruet is an ex officio member.
