Ms. Rachel Ladutke is Prep’s new Theatre Pathway teacher! She started last April and has been teaching for the past 10 years. She graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and also received graduate degrees from Hunter College and NJCU.
Ladutke taught early childhood before she came to Prep. She hopes to bring a new definition to theatre and get kids to want to be interested in every department of theatre, not just acting!
TBO: Why did you choose to become a teacher?
Ms. Ladutke: I became a teacher because I wanted to share my enjoyment of theatre with students and my love of teaching.
TBO: What are some of your favorite productions?
Ms. Ladutke: When I was a kid I saw the original production of “Annie,” not the original cast but the original production three times, and I really like “Waitress”, “Come From Away”, and “Fun Home” as well.
TBO: What do you like most about Prep’s Theatre Pathway?
Ms. Ladutke: It gives me the opportunity to build with you guys and to make it into something that the students are going to be invested in as well and want to learn more about theatre.
TBO: What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Ms. Ladutke: So I actually like to listen to music as well as I’m a playwright and my husband and I do home brewing, where you make your own beer.
TBO: What is an interesting fact no one knows about you?
Ms. Ladutke: I’ve been married for a long time, 27 years!
TBO: Which plays will Prep put on this year? What are the keys to making a great student show?
Ms. Ladutke: The key is for the students to be invested as well as the teachers and we’re going to be doing the Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon this fall, which is like a fairy tale mashup and it’s crazy. Then we’re doing the musical “The Addams Family” in the spring! We’re also going to be doing a concert reading written by teenagers about gun violence as an assembly for the Middle School.
TBO: What is your favorite food and why?
Ms. Ladutke: I really like short ribs and sweet potato fries, that’s probably one of my favorite meals!
TBO: What is your favorite holiday and why?
Ms. Ladutke: Halloween because it is just fun to be silly, I always like the fun stuff and the candy and cute decorations. I don’t like the gory stuff, but I’m a huge fan of the movie “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
TBO: What are your favorite movies and TV shows?
Ms. Ladutke: I enjoy the Marvel movies even though my husband and my daughter like to pick them apart. On TV, I like this show called “Schitts Creek”, “Quantum Leap”, and “Only Murders In The Building.”
