Trenda Marie Loftin
Photo Credit: Boricuander Photography
Consultant | Actor | Director | Playwright | Artivist
GLSEN Massachusetts
Trenda is a consultant and the Co-chair and Youth Engagement and Arts Integration Specialist of GLSEN Massachusetts. As a board member, she assists with and presents at annual conferences, facilitates regular meetings, and strives to offer youth leadership opportunities within GLSEN MA programming. In November of 2016, she was invited to join GLSEN National's Race and Privilege Committee where she works with folks from across the US to advise the organization on ways to strengthen their racial justice work in service of their mission of supporting safe and affirming schools for all students. On October 1st, 2016 she chaired her first conference "Context: Exploring connections in Identity, Art & Activism." It was a beautiful gathering of about 200 youth, educators, and artists.
While she often finds herself working on various projects, she finds time to enjoy the sunshine, write, strum her guitar, and catch up with friends and family. She is grateful for those people who help to keep her feeling positive, hopeful, engaged, and motivated to stir things up.
While she often finds herself working on various projects, she finds time to enjoy the sunshine, write, strum her guitar, and catch up with friends and family. She is grateful for those people who help to keep her feeling positive, hopeful, engaged, and motivated to stir things up.
As an artist
With a B.A. from Smith College in Political and Social Theatre, Trenda has been working to integrate understandings of social issues and performance techniques since 2005. Some of her work includes acting in The Media Education Foundation Film “Flirting With Danger,” and the plays “Legal Tender: Women and the Secret Life of Money,” and “The Lonely Soldier Project.” She is the author of the short play “When The System Swallows You” and the children's theatre piece "And Then...A Quest For An Original Story." She is currently a governing member of Real Live Theatre Company based in Sunderland, MA.
As a facilitator
As a facilitator, she is committed to providing various strategies for critical thinking, self, community, and world reflection, and instigating positive change. She believes very much in the power of storytelling to not only to shed light on reality but as a way to envision the world we wish to live in. She believes that the most effective changes come through education, understanding how identities intersect to affect our experiences of the world, and a commitment to compassionate dialogue and effective action plans.