Friday morning, 9:00 am Session
Keynote Speaker Krista Carson Elhai
Krista Carson Elhai has been a Theatre Educator for 41 years and has directed 300+ productions. She is currently serving as the president of the Educational Theatre Association’s (EdTA) national board, is a mentor teacher for the performing arts in the Foothill Consortium in Southern California and supervises student teachers in theatre for CSU East Bay.
As chair of the Claremont HS Theatre program, she had over 500 students and produced 7-10 shows a year, with 11 sections of theatre. Her productions performed mainstage at both the CA State Thespian Festival (13 times) and the International Thespian Festival (3 times). Her program at Hemet HS and Claremont HS were both named an Outstanding School Theatre Program by EdTA.
Serving on the CA State Thespian board since 1993, Krista held three terms as the California State Thespian Director where she oversaw the 500+ Thespian Troupes in CA. She completed her second three-year term on the EdTA's Governing Board in 2020 before becoming President of the association. She also sits on the California Educational Theatre Association’s (CETA) board as Past President and is a trustee on the Educational Theatre Foundation board.
Krista has taught numerous workshops throughout the country as well her Theatre Teacher Bootcamp, an intensive workshop for theatre teachers and was on The College Board’s Pre-AP Arts Committee where she worked on designing theatre curriculum. Most recently, she was the keynote speaker for the Indiana Thespian Conference and the Georgia Theatre Educator Conference.
A two-time Finalist for the LA Music Center Bravo Award, Krista was awarded a Chase Fellowship from the LA Music Center. She has received the CA Educational Theatre Association’s Theatre Teacher of the Year (2008), Claremont USD’s Teacher of the Year (2011), and was inducted into the EdTA’s National Hall of Fame in 2009, and the CA State Thespian Hall of Fame in 2012.
Krista produced the EdTA west coast benefit Thespians Go Hollywood for many years and, in honor of that work, was named the EdTA National Volunteer of the Year in 2017. She has received CETA’s Theatre Teacher of the Year, the CETA Medallion for lifetime contribution to educational theatre. In the fall of 2022, she was awarded the EdTA’s Presidents Award for exceptional service to the organization.