Dr. Tamara Montgomery has been a professor at the University of Hawaii since 1971 where she is Director of the graduate program in Youth Theatre, Puppetry and Drama in Education. As a summa cum laude graduate, she received her MFA from Arizona State University with a major in Youth Theatre. She completed her PhD in Communications, with a minor in Early Childhood, at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Montgomery's two children, Ian and Tara, now adults with careers of their own, inspired her to write books. She derives new inspiration today from her grandson Sage Kupono and granddaughter Gisele Hi'ileimeahemakanimaKa'au. She has authored two Hawaii creative coloring books and five books on educational puppetry including the classic text Puppetry in Early Childhood Education as well as Celebrate: Puppets and Creative Drama, and Pocketful of Puppets: Mother Goose and Greenpoems: Animals Around the World. Articles by her and about her work have appeared in the national Puppetry Journal, Instructor Magazine, and Stage.
Dr. Montgomery has worked with the Hawaii Department of Education both as a resident artist and as a puppetry consultant teaching for the State Library Services and the Special Education Division. She wrote the Drama and Theatre Standards for implementation in the State of Hawaii school system and has taught teachers on the neighbor islands of Maui, Kauai, and Molokai and Lanai.
Known for her work in multi-cultural theatre, Dr. Montgomery's plays and musicals are performed annually on the University Kennedy Theatre main stage. Her puppet shows have toured statewide and her work has been featured many times on the Hawaii PBS affiliate, KHET. In l998 she was selected by Walt Disney Imagineering to attend an Imaginations conference at the Disney Imagineering Center in California. Dr. Montgomery's former students are now professional puppeteers with Sesame Street and Eureka's Castle and have also appeared in The Muppet Movie.
Dr. Montgomery specializes in the development of quality youth programs for the cruise industry. She has been a consultant with American Hawaii Cruises and a lecturer with Seabourn Cruise Line. Dr. Montgomery's love for travel has taken her around the world. She has traveled to Europe (Germany, France, Austria, Italy, England, Scotland, and Wales), the Mediterranean (Greece and Turkey), Scandinavia (Finland and Norway), the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), Asia (China, Korea, Japan), Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia), Mexico, Alaska, and the Aleutians, West and East Russia, the Pacific (Hawaiian Islands, Samoan Islands, New Zealand, Australia), the Middle East (Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Kenya), and the North Atlantic (Shetland Islands, Faero Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland).
When not involved in professional pursuits she enjoys basket weaving and the outdoor activities of scuba diving, kayaking, hiking, sailing with her husband Cliff, chasing her grandson around the park and watching her new granddaughter grow!
You can learn more about Dr. Montgomery by going to her website at www.tamaramontgomery.com.
|
