“It is so rewarding to watch my students take creative risks and challenge themselves,” says Associate Professor of Performance and Communication ArtsAnn Marie Gardinier Halstead. “It is such a joy to witness their growth as students, as artists, and as human beings.” 

For as long as Gardinier Halstead can remember, she has wanted to be a teacher.  The popular professor is devoted to cultivating meaningful relationships with her students, who she characterizes as “bright, creative and enthusiastic.” 

Eager to fuse her passion for the performing arts with college teaching, she earned her Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University after obtaining her bachelor’s degree from Le Moyne College.  Her extensive background in higher education and the performing arts includes reviving a community college theatre program in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Gardinier Halstead has designed many dynamic courses at St. Lawrence, including Beginning Acting, Characterization, Acting Styles, Directing and a community-based learning course called Children’s Theatre in the Schools. She has also directed The Vagina Monologues, The Importance of Being Earnest, Spinning into Butter, The Laramie Project, Black Comedy and Dead Man's Cell Phone.

Recently selected by the critically-acclaimed Tectonic Theatre Project (New York City) to direct a staged reading of their new play Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays at Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake, N.Y., she was among a select group of directors invited to direct the play on the same evening across the U.S., as part of a national theatre event.  Gardinier Halstead also directs for The Firehouse Theatre Project in Richmond, Va.  She recently acted in the film Five Census by alumnus and award-winning filmmaker Jim Powers ’10.  Her play, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, based on the popular children's book, was produced by Gifford Family Theatre in Syracuse, N.Y. 

“My students inspire me to be a better artist and a better teacher,” she says.