Faculty Spotlight: Teaching Truth through Drama, Leilani Mueller

Mrs. Mueller’s love of stories and characters began at a young age. Homeschooled during her K-12 years, Mrs. Mueller and her sister wrote plays together, convincing neighborhood children to perform different parts. She loved performing in church plays as well. As she grew older, she developed a love of stories, history, and theater. She decided to study humanities at Biola University, spending her senior year at Oxford. Studying great books permanently changed her worldview.

During her undergraduate studies, Mrs. Mueller’s interests in Christianity, politics, and Shakespeare produced a love of drama. She began teaching drama at a classical high school in California, developing her talents there for seven years, eventually starting at Live Oak in the Logic/Rhetoric school two years ago. Between her studies of politics, history, Christianity, and literature, Mrs. Mueller enjoys teaching students about the realities of human life.

With a growing awareness of the importance of drama, an increasing number of students at Live Oak now desire to become professional actresses and actors. Mrs. Mueller strives to provide the tools she can to encourage her students. She now offers a summer camp to those interested in acting professionally. But, most importantly, she always tries to explain to students that their actual identity and those they imitate must remain separate. By learning from the virtues and vices of the characters they perform, students can grow in substantial personal development.

Mrs. Mueller loves drama because of its positive impact on young people, not just as a means of entertainment. Drama, she notices, creates confident, insightful, and determined team players who are well-prepared for adult life. In addition to building character, acting teaches truth; by inhabiting different characters, students develop understandings of human nature in a deep way.