Sara K. Menssen is a High School English and Theatre teacher at Glacier High School in Kalispell, MT. She also coaches competitive Speech & Debate while working as a director, technical director, and designer for the school's Wolfpack Theatre Company.
There is no shortage of theatre opportunities at Glacier High School. The school produces 8-10 shows a year and Sara finds herself on all sides of production. The Theatre Arts class she teaches is charged with building sets and maintaining the theater throughout the year. In addition, the class learns about all areas of design and puts those skills to practice under Sara's mentorship.
As a Speech & Debate coach Sara has coached numerous state champions since Glacier's inception and was awarded AA Speech Coach of the Year in 2020. She coaches three different events - Memorized Public Address, DUO Interpretation, and Program Oral Interpretation.
Sara graduated from The University of Idaho in 2007 with a B.F.A. in Technical Theatre; emphasis in Stage Management and Lighting Design. After graduating she moved back to the Flathead Valley to help build the Theatre and Speech & Debate programs at the newly open Glacier High School. During her time at the school as an extracurricular coach and theatre assistant, she was awarded two different internship opportunities. In 2011 Sara was selected to be a stage management intern at South Coast Repertory, in Costa Mesa, CA, where she worked with directors like Warner Shook, John David-Keller & Shelly Butler. Additionally, she was given the opportunity to stage manage the SCR Young Players production of Snow Angel under the direction of Hisa Takakuwa.
After briefly returning to the Flathead Valley and Glacier High School Sara was accepted in 2013 to the FAIR program at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Here she was a stage management assistant for the production The Heart of Robin Hood directed by Joel Sass. At the end of this experience, she was given the opportunity to stage manage the FAIRexpressions Project that was directed by Dawn Williams.
At the conclusion of her time at OSF Sara realized there was one piece of her theatre journey that was missing and that was working with students. She made the decision to return to Glacier High School and pursue a teaching career. In 2015 she was officially hired as a teacher but also had to go back to school full time to obtain a teaching license. In 2018 she graduated from the University of Providence with a double major in Secondary Education and English: Secondary Education. She now teaches, coaches, and participates in theatre full-time.