SCONE High School's head teacher of English Samantha Schumacher is passionate about stories in all forms.
"I love reading novels, I love autobiographies, I love plays and in terms of drama, I'm deeply passionate about live theatre and the energy of live theatre," Ms Schumacher, 30, said.
"One of the great joys of my job is being able to share those stories with a whole range of different students and expose them to different worlds that, particularly in Scone, they might not have the opportunity to see otherwise."
Ms Schumacher taught Higher School Certificate drama last year, but the school has not had any senior students enrol in the subject this year.
"We're trying to ensure we're providing students with lots of opportunities to engage in those practical aspects of drama from early on and hook them right from year seven, so hopefully they can find that passion and find that love in order to be able to do it in those senior years."
It was one of the reasons she applied to join Bell Shakespeare's Regional Teacher Mentorship program.
"It was something I had wanted to apply for for the last couple of years," she said.
"Now without us having those couple of senior drama classes and we don't have a music class either, I thought this was an opportune time to help refresh my skills and update my knowledge, in order to make sure we're providing students with the best possible teaching of Shakespeare in particular, but theatre more broadly."
Ms Schumacher said she was "absolutely thrilled" and "incredibly grateful" to have been chosen as one of 30 teachers from across the country who will travel to the company's Sydney headquarters in March for specialist training in innovative and active teaching of Shakespeare; to collaborate with teachers from other regions; and to learn how to train others.
Once they return to school, teachers will receive ongoing support as well as access to in-school and in-theatre programs.
"Being a theatre lover, the opportunity to go and spend four days working with the great practitioners at Bell Shakespeare as well as being able to meet teachers from all over the country, it's such a phenomenal experience, I'm very excited," she said.
"The thing I'm most excited for is learning from the best... likewise collaborating with teachers from all over the country.
"Something I want to take from the program is learning how to introduce younger students to Shakespeare. Something that a lot of students find really challenging about Shakespeare is the language, and that for many students seems an insurmountable barrier, so I'm looking forward to looking at some different strategies.
"How can we engage those students and make their first experience of Shakespeare something that's not scary or intimidating or elitist, but helping them to recognise those deeply human stories."
She said she wanted to make Shakespeare "accessible and approachable for everyone", including students' families.
She said another challenge for regional students was the distance and the time required to travel to see live performances, but companies had increased access to filmed productions online.
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