Tara Whitman(she/her), West Orange High School’s Director of Theatre, is an alumna of West Orange High School and Thespian of Troupe 1983. Mrs. Whitman studied Theatre at Savannah College of Art & Design and earned her B.A. in Theatre Studies with a minor in Education from the University of Central Florida. Her West Orange directing credits include the high school premiere of "Bright Star" and Florida premiere of "Lilies on the Land." Mrs. Whitman is a member of FATE (Florida Association of Theatre Educators) and EdTA (Educational Theatre Association).

 

In addition to working the past thirteen years as the Resident Choreographer of West Orange High School’s Theatre Department, she has worked professionally with many of Central Florida’s theatre companies including Orlando Repertory Theatre, Garden Theatre, Bay Street Players, IceHouse Theatre, Rollins College, and Osceola Center for the Arts.

 

Mrs. Whitman most recently worked on mounting her production of "Pippin", which was chosen to perform as a Mainstage at the 2022 Florida State Thespian Festival. Mainstage is a prestigious invitation offered to only a select few schools out of the entire state to present their show in its entirety at the State festival. The previous year, the department's show "Lord of the Flies" was presented as a Mainstage, "Curtains" was also invited to perform at the State Thespian Festival, as was Mrs. Whitman’s premiere of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s “Bright Star” in 2018, which had the distinction of being invited to mainstage at the State level as well as the International level.  The department presented “42nd Street” as a mainstage the year prior, making “Pippin” Tara’s sixth consecutive Mainstage.