Thank you for listening to noseyAF! So happy to have your ears!

This Conversation was recorded live for Lumpen Radio

Ep #104: Joe Schupbach: Care Is the Curriculum

SUMMARY

What does care really look like — beyond Valentine's Day chocolates and heart-shaped cards? In this episode of noseyAF, Stephanie Graham sits down with Joe Schupbach, a mission-driven educator, theater maker, and instructional coach with over two decades of experience in public education, nonprofits, and community-centered theater. Together they explore care as a daily practice: in classrooms, in collaborative creative spaces, in our neighborhoods, and in ourselves.

Joe shares how he stumbled into creative leadership, what trauma-informed teaching really means in practice, and why experiential learning matters more than ever in today's schools. The conversation moves through faith and identity, the joys of cooking as connection, and ends with a rallying call to get nosy about your local schools — and to support live, in-person art.

WHAT WE GET INTO 💬

You know when a conversation just goes everywhere in the best way? That's this one. Here's a taste of what Joe and Steph cover:

00:26 — Introduction to noseyAF

01:15 — Care as a daily ritual: not just something you perform on Valentine's Day, but how it shows up in classrooms, rehearsal rooms, and community spaces every single day

08:35 — How Joe accidentally fell into creative leadership — starting as a teaching artist right out of college and slowly becoming the person leading the room

18:06 — What trauma-informed teaching actually looks like on the ground, and why instructional coaches like Joe are changing the game in Chicago high schools

27:02 — Art-making during and after COVID-19 — how the pandemic forced a reckoning with what live, communal performance means and why it still matters

32:29 — Faith, identity, and how the personal bleeds into the professional for educators and artists alike

41:43 — Cooking as a love language: a genuinely delightful tangent about how preparing food for people is one of the most caring acts you can do

53:11 — How non-parents and non-teachers can meaningfully support local educators — including the surprisingly powerful role of Local School Councils (LSCs)

THINGS WE MENTIONED 🔗

Embarc Chicago — Joe's organization, working with 17 high schools in the Chicago area → embarcchicago.org

josephschupbach.com— Joe's personal site for artistic work, directing, and collaborations

Change Collective Fellowship — the leadership program Joe and Stephanie both participated in

Looking Glass Theatre — one of Joe's longtime artistic collaborators

PlayMakers Laboratory, The Neo-Futurists, The Ruffians, Salonathon, The Paper Machete — Chicago theater orgs Joe has worked with

DonorsChoose — mentioned as a way to directly support classroom supply needs

Local School Councils (LSCs) — the elected, community-based governing bodies of every Chicago Public School (and yes, you can be on one even if you don't have kids in the school!)

ALL ABOUT JOE SCHUPBACH 🎭

You're gonna love Joe — he's a two-MFA-having, theater-making, trauma-informed teaching wizard who genuinely believes care is the foundation of everything.

Joe Schupbach is an educator, writer, and director with 22 years of experience in public education, experimental community-based theatre, and nonprofit administration. He is a facilitator and instructional coach and currently serves as Head of Experiential Coaching at Embarc. Joe has been a frequent artistic collaborator with The Midwives, The Neo-Futurists, The Paper Machete, PlayMakers Laboratory, Pocket Guide To Hell, The Ruffians, and Salonathon. Joe holds two MFAs and is a proud Chicago Public Schools graduate. He was a 2024 fellow with Change Collective and is currently leading the Chicago Cohort of Change Collective fellows.

SPONSOR SHOUTOUT 💖

Come work with us at Artist Admin Hour , and get your work done.

CONNECT WITH JOE

Website: josephschupbach.com

Instagram: @joeschupbach

More ways to connect:

Email: stephanie@missgraham.com

Check out my work

Follow me on Instagram @stephaniegraham

Listen to more episodes

Support & Feedback

Share noseyAF with friends