A Stage of Joy

“The stage should be a place of joy and security, if art is to be made well,” says Jessica (Laaveg ’02) Chipman.

Many times throughout her teaching career, Chipman has received accolades for art made well. Last February she received the 2023–24 National Federation of High Schools Outstanding Theatre Educator Award for Section Five, which includes Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Nominated by a fellow theatre educator, Chipman became the Minnesota nominee through the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), which oversees secondary athletics and activities in Minnesota. The MSHSL is an affiliate of the National Federation of High Schools, which presented the award.

In teaching and directing high school students, Chipman emphasizes teamwork and process. Colleagues call her visionary and her approach extraordinary. Success in Chipman’s group productions include taking the top award, seven years in a row, in the MSHSL one-act play competition.

While helping others grow in skills and knowledge, Chipman says, “I am always looking to learn, and there’s always something for me to learn when I step into a teaching role.” As for finding joy within education, she says, “There can be joy in problem-solving, in analysis, in line memorization, in crafting of props and puppets and set pieces, and certainly in the relationships built along the way.”

Recently bowing out of full-time teaching, Chipman is teaching one class, Acting and Improvisation, at Alexandria Area High School this semester. Otherwise, she leads acting workshops for young people through Wild Gem Theatre Company, which she started “to tell important stories well.”

Chipman says she has taken her cues from “some wonderful Northwestern professors who exemplified the curiosity, excellence, good humor, rapport with others, and thoughtfulness I have tried to emulate as an educator and director. Among them are Joonna Trapp, Carl Vandermeulen, Tim McGarvey and Karen Barker.”

Chipman’s experiences within Northwestern’s Black V improv team taught her to trust herself as an artist and collaborator. “Improvisation is about jumping in before you are ‘ready,’” she says, “and seeing what happens if you try.”