Henrico's Top Teachers – Kyla Zabala, Hermitage HS

Kyla Zabala starred in her first theatrical performance at the experienced age of 3. By third grade, she was regularly pretending to be a teacher while playing with her friends.

Was it any surprise, then, that she was destined to become a drama teacher?

Between her start as an actor and her first year teaching drama at Highland Springs High School 13 years ago, Zabala directed her first show at the age of 17 in Blacksburg, then later founded the New River Stage theatrical group there, which continues today.

She brought her passion for the arts with her to Henrico, where she spent a decade teaching drama at Highland Springs (where she won an REB Award for teaching excellence in 2016) and the past three years doing so at Hermitage High School. Ask her, and she’ll tell you that what kept her coming back each year was the knowledge that she could reach one student.

“There’s always somebody that I go to school for,” she said. “There’s always that one kid who needs me. It’s about making sure that you’re there for that one person who needs you.”

Of course, she’s reached many more than that.

“Her compassion, her enthusiasm, and her sense of righteous discipline allowed me to grow as a performer, a student, and a person,” a former student wrote of Zabala. “I owe much of my success to the soft skills of communication and presentation that she taught me.”

In the world of theater, Zabala explained, sometimes students don’t know right away if the industry is one they actually want to enter. She recalled one student at Highland Springs who took her class and only spoke once all year – during a presentation.

“The next year, she came into Drama II and was like, ‘It’s Drama II now, I’ve got this,’ and I was like, ‘Where did that come from?’” Zabala recalled. That student ended up majoring in theatre at a college in New York and now works in the industry.

Another former student from Highland Springs, Muslima Musawwir, won a daytime Emmy award for her role in The Girl in Apartment 15. Several recent students are working in prominent political roles. Their success doesn’t surprise Zabala.

“Even if they don’t do theatre, theatre is so integral to what they do next anyway,” she said. “It makes you more empathetic, it makes you more viable at a job – you can change at the drop of a hat. Improv skills are real.”

Change is coming for Zabala herself, who is leaving Hermitage to focus on completing her master’s degree, with plans to teach college drama courses and pursue a Ph.D. She’ll also be working with Broken Leg Theatre in Chesterfield, where it seems likely she’ll continue to have a positive impact on all those around her.

Leaving her public education experiences behind is a bittersweet reality for Zabala, who was quick to heap praise upon her former and current students (noting that all of this year’s shows at Hermitage were student-directed) and Hermitage Principal Michael Jackson for his support of the drama program.

“I love my kids,” she said of her students. “I adore them. I’m always working on a really cool project with kids – it just makes it so much more fulfilling.”

“Mrs. Zabala has consistently gone out of her way to accommodate and innovate her teaching . . . before, during, and after the lockdowns,” her former student wrote. “Working tirelessly to instruct, support, and encourage her students, she has created an unparalleled theatre program where the students are comfortable and free to express their artistry.”