After two years in the Theater Department as a teaching fellow, Eve La Puma will bid farewell to the Valley. Before Deerfield Academy, Ms. La Puma earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford University and is currently earning her Masters in Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
At Deerfield, Ms. La Puma co-taught a number of acting classes, founded the fall playwriting co-curricular program, and is currently directing the 2023 spring play, Kate Hamill’s Little Women. She described her time here as both “joyful” and “educational,” especially when working with the writers in the fall playwriting workshop.
Will Sussbauer ’23, who enrolled in the fall playwriting co-curricular, described the workshop as “a space of comfort, collaboration, and exploration.” He added that “[Ms. La Puma’s] leadership and kindness and deep empathy enabled me and my peers to be as creative as possible, figuring out our minds and hearts through those of our characters.” Ms. La Puma believes that she will carry “the memories of both years of workshops far beyond Deerfield, likely farther than I will anything else I participated in throughout my four years.”
From the residents of Poc 3 who enjoy Ms. La Puma’s snacks of fried chicken and garlic bread to the chamber group(s) where she played the bassoon, Deerfield will miss this cherished faculty member. However, Ms. La Puma is excited to start her journey at the Quarry Lane School in Dublin, California, where she will serve as the Director of Theater.