Ms. Kostecka: Teacher, Director, Actor

By Michael Pascual

November 15, 2023

Many people know Ms. Kostecka as the 10th grade English teacher and drama director here at MBHS. However, she has also had a prolific acting career, starting when she was only seven years old, playing a sea snail in The Little Mermaid. “I’ve been doing it [acting] constantly since then, I mean there would be years when I'd be in like one show during the year, but most of the time I'd be in an average of three to four productions a year.” 

This consistency hasn’t always been easy, with acting taking up huge chunks of time. Kostecka talked about how she used to spend all day teaching, then be out until 9 or 10 directing and acting. On top of being mentally draining she’s had her fair share of injuries, including getting a broken rib on stage, during her school’s production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Despite the broken rib, she fought through the pain and performed in the next four showings of the play. 

Despite the mental and physical difficulty that has come with her acting career, Kostecka talks about how rewarding it has been. When she had a lead role in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, she loved having her students come out to support her, saying, “it was so fun to see different faces in the audience each night.”

Her impressive acting career has also been highly valuable when it comes to her role as the director of the school productions. “Directing has been the perfect blend of teaching and of the performance that I love so much.” Kostecka is able to easily convey to the student actors what to do, since she understands their perspectives as an actor. She wants her student actors to understand that acting doesn’t need to be super serious, it’s much more fun when you don’t let people’s opinions of you affect your performance, but just going for it and being weird leads to success in the biz.