Rachel focuses on interdisciplinary and collaborative work. She uses applied drama to explore how voice, acting, and theatre interact with each other, and other disciplines such as criminal justice, voice therapy, medicine, or urban public affairs. Her research examines and uses theatre techniques and skills outside of traditional theatrical spaces, such as simulation, community presentations, and storytelling.

Rachel is the Associate Director of the Southern Police Institute’s Center for Training, Research, and Innovative Simulation (SPI TRAINS), an effort to enhance law enforcement training by coupling evidence-based training practices with realistic human-based simulations. SPI TRAINS creates a formal partnership between the UofL Department of Theatre Arts and Department of Criminal Justice. Her work has been published in The Voice and Speech Review, The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, and Theatre, Dance and Performance Training.

Rachel earned her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy: Voice and Speech from the Virginia Commonwealth University, and has a teacher certification in the Alexander Technique from The American Society of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). Rachel has worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky Shakespeare Theatre, Pandora Productions, and other theatres across Louisville. Prior to joining the faculty at UofL, Rachel was in Chicago where she worked with a variety of schools and theaters, including Roosevelt University, School for Theatre Creators, ChiArts, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. She is a current member of both VASTA and AmSAT.