By Marilee Griffin, October 2008
Photo By Zachary Bennett
As a little girl, Kara Winslow always looked forward to A Christmas Carol at the Hippodrome State Theatre. In fact, the production was one reason she wanted to work there since she was 4 years old. But her family’s holiday tradition didn’t just consist of the play. Every year, her parents had to drive separately because halfway through the show Winslow would become so terrified of the ghosts that her dad would have to take her home.
It’s safe to say she’s put that fear behind her because today, Winslow is one of the Hippodrome’s youngest staff members. In addition to handling sales and subscriptions, she is a theater specialist in the education department, where she visits nearby high schools to teach drama students how to address critical social issues, such as teenage pregnancy and drug abuse, through performance in an award-winning program called Hippodrome Improvisational Teen Theatre. Some of her most enthusiastic students had been on the verge of dropping out before they got involved in HITT, she said.
Winslow said she is “blown away” by how calm the young actors are after the initial giggles. Under her direction, the students perform skits for other high schools. Last year, one of her classes acted out a scene about condom use in front of 300 college students.  With straight faces, they held up cards featuring safety tips such as this: check the expiration date.
“I don’t think I could have done that in high school,” she said.