“Your path in life won’t look like anyone else’s.”
Thurayya UmBayemake is the Spark Lead Actor-Teacher in support of the Arts Grow SC program at SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. She delivers literacy-based drama programming to public schools to encourage “creative thinking, divergent thinking, and overall motivation to read.” UmBayemake earned a degree in drama studies at South Carolina State University (SC State).
About
Thurayya UmBayemake was an athlete in high school, doing cross country and track and field, until she hurt her back her junior year. Still injured her senior year, she decided to get involved with a newly opened African community theater in town. “I was involved in a theater that embraced me for who I was and told stories that I could truly relate to,” UmBayemake said. While she couldn’t relate to every single story, she always felt culturally connected to the theater. She became an assistant director, stage manager, and eventually, an actress. UmBayemake moved to South Carolina to study drama education at South Carolina State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.
After graduating, she traveled the country and opened her own theater with friends: the Ma’Sue Theater in Akron, Ohio, which focused on African American stories and social justice. UmBayemake then moved to New York City, where she took a break from theater work, saying, “You have to experience life to tell stories. That’s what I was doing in New York.”
UmBayemake is the Curriculum Coordinator Actor-Teacher Coach for a program called Spark, which is a literacy-based drama program based in the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. “We go into elementary schools…we show students how to take stories from picture books and add drama and acting in there to show characters, to show settings, to show plot, to reinforce the literacy-based learning, but also creative thinking, divergent thinking, and just overall motivation to read,” she says. UmBayemake also works to show teachers how to take the same artistic approach to teaching, even without an artistic background.
UmBayemake credits her current position to her storytelling abilities and her wide variety of previous experiences. “I know some people feel once they get out of college, they should only work in their field,” she says. “But you’re missing out!” She advises those seeking a job in the arts to be patient with the process and not get discouraged if it takes time to land a dream job. She also emphasizes the importance of building a strong community. “Make friends with any and everybody, just to learn about their life experiences and what they went through. It will help you learn that your path won’t look like anyone else’s.”
Media
Thurayya UmBayemake Interview
