Blog
Is EVERYTHING fodder for my creative work??
Hi lovelies, I hope I am catching you in a moment of ease, my friends. I am sitting at our little kitchen table, my toes getting cold on the faux hardwood floor while I wait for the heater to kick in, my tea gone cold writing this ditty on how we harvest and use ideas...
Rest & the Election
Hi lovelies, I’m back to thinking about rest again. A year and a half ago I was reading academic journals on burnout, black feminist writings on rest as an act of resistance, thick self-help books on self-compassion, old theater texts on ‘what it takes,’ and the...
Why teachers need to regulate their nervous system before they teach
Hi lovelies, One question I’ve been exploring these days is: What do I need to do, as a teacher, to be able to let go of the expectations I might be holding for the students in front of me, and re-focus my attention on meeting them where they are? Last week I went...
My Year of Planting Seeds
Hi lovelies, Ah, September! Hello. 🙂 This time, a year ago, I had just landed back in the U.S. after finishing my two-year graduate program in London. With no job, very little money, and an overwhelmed nervous system, I’m incredibly grateful for my community of...
Who gets to use the titles ‘Actor’? or ‘Dancer’?
Do you ever get a voice in your head whispering to you that you’re not really an Actor? Or a Dancer, a Teacher, an Improviser…A friend of mine wrote to me a few weeks ago that because of feedback they’d had about their body, they felt like they couldn’t call...
How to Curate a JOYFUL Headshot Experience
Hi lovelies, How do you feel about getting headshots? Do you get excited for them? Is it fun picking out what you’ll wear, planning your makeup, organizing the looks you want? Is there a bit of dread sometimes? Does the decision-making get overwhelming? Have you found...
A Bit About Me

Hi, I’m Caitlin, pronouns she/her and they/them. I’m a teacher and an artist, gathering wisdom on how we can build nourishing, sustainable creative lives in the midst of a white supremecist capitalist patriarchy.
I’m a white, queer, American theatre educator and practitioner, as well as the co-founder and Artistic Managing Director of Enso Theatre Ensemble based out of Portland, Oregon. I’ve taught, directed, and performed with a variety of companies in the U.S., including the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Ashland New Plays Festival, Third Rail Mentorship Company, and Enso Theatre Ensemble.
I'm back in the U.S. after completing my MFA in Actor Training and Coaching at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. While there, I researched socio-cultural contributors to student burnout in actor training, focusing on scarcity mindset and the Human Giver Syndrome framework, as articulated by Kate Manne and Emily and Amelia Nagoski. I argued for the integration of a 'love ethic' in higher education actor training as one possible response to the pervasiveness of student burnout. I also taught devising and resiliency skills to B.A. acting students as part of a class called 'Performing the Self' at Rose Bruford College.
My work intentionally straddles the boundary between creativity as an art form, and creativity as a therapeutic practice. Supporting my ability to traverse this boundary with care and responsibility is my 10+ year mindfulness practice. This includes years of self-study, as well as a 6-month yoga teacher training at Yoga Refuge, and the Mindfulness for Youth-Serving Professionals course with Peace in Schools. I also hold a certificate in Mental Health First Aid.
Outside the theatre, I'm an avid lover of table-top role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, tea drinking, ritual, and history, and enjoy long walks through the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
CONTACT
I work and live on the unceded lands of the Clackamas people, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla people, known by its colonial name of Portland, OR.
© 2022 Caitlin Lushington
Rest & Love in Creative Living
Let's chat! In this email "newsletter," I respond to your questions on finding sustainability and creative fulfillment in our wild and challenging industry. I'll also send along stories, musings, and other bits of inspiration. Submit your questions to caitlinlushington@gmail.com.