Whitney Klaas, M.A.

Whitney teaches Intro to Theatre and is a proud alumni of the Jewell Theatre Company. She is ecstatic to bring her years of experience back to their beginnings in the theater that kick-started it all. She spent her years after graduating from Jewell teaching speech, theatre, debate and playwriting in both high school and middle school settings where she has directed and designed plays, musicals and talent shows. She attended the Master of Arts: Theatre program at UMKC where she was able to act as dramaturg for Sam Shepard’s "A Lie of the Mind" and William Shakespeare’s "Timon of Athens." She delved into the world of theatrical ambiguity by researching and subsequently writing a published thesis over American playwright Sarah Ruhl. She was able to design and direct Ruhl’s "Melancholy Play: a contemporary farce" as a result of these efforts. In addition to obsessing over the subject of theatre to her friends and family, she spends her time with her daughter, husband and plants lounging on the back patio of their Overland Park home.