Professional Profile

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• Actor, director and teacher with an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts

• Wide range of teaching experience with all ages and backgrounds, including many international groups, as well as all ages, from 6 to 60

• Specialties include Classical Texts, Scene Study, Acting Technique, Monologue work, Directing the Actor, On-Camera Audition Technique

• Students have gone on to achieve great success in TV, Film and Theatre and have been accepted into top training programs

• Extremely positive evaluations from all students

• Highly sensitive to the individual needs of each student, whether in the classroom or as a private coach. My goal is to give each student an experience of success through achievable challenges and encouragement, and to foster a sense of play, joy and improvisation.

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Education

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NYU Tisch School of the Arts / MFA Acting

Acting: Janet Zarish, Richard Feldman, Mark Wing-Davey, Cigdem Onat, Rosemarie Tichler; TV: Joanna Merlin; Film: Jay Anania

Directors include Rachel Chavkin, Mark Wing-Davey, Jerry Ruiz, Lisa Rothe, Jack Fletcher

Clowning: Chris Bayes; Movement: Jim Calder; Games: Giovanna Sardelli; Michael Chekhov: Joanna Merlin; Voice and Speech: Deb Hecht, Scott Miller, Bev Wideman, Shane-Ann Younts; Shakespeare: David Hammond; Devised work: Oskar Eustis

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Barnard College, Columbia University / BA 

Major: English Literature; Minor: Film Studies

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National Alliance of Acting Teachers / Acting Teacher Congress

Workshops with Benny Ambush, Peter Jay Fernandez, Carol Rosenfeld, Fay Simpson, others

 

 

Honors and Awards

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• NYU Recipient: Tony Kushner’s Sylvia Kushner Grant for Excellence

• Graduated Magna Cum Laude with Departmental Honors, Dean’s List all 4 years, from Barnard College

 

 

Relevant Experience

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West Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT

Instructor / Fall 2017

• Taught semester-long class on Acting for TV/Film to college students pursuing their BFA

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Stella Adler Conservatory, New York, NY

Instructor / Summer 2017

• Taught 10-week class on Acting for TV/Film to college students enrolled in the summer Acting program

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Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

Instructor / Fall 2016 - Present

• Teach a 13-week class on Directing to filmmaking students every fall

• Focus on communicating with actors and analyzing a script

• Taught rudiments of honest, clear storytelling

 

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Florham Park, NJ

Instructor / June 2016 - present

• Taught an 8-week course on Shakespearean Text Analysis and Scene Study to college and graduate students enrolled in the training program, giving students an in-depth understanding of scansion, imaging, and acting the text and focusing on language as a revelation of character, making it visceral, personal, physical

• Co-taught fall weekend Shakespeare Intensive with Bonnie J. Monte, Artistic Director of the Theatre to professional actors, teaching Fundamentals of acting Shakespeare through monologue and scene work

• Will teach workshop to professional actors in the touring company as well as another Intensive with Bonnie Monte in Spring 2017

 

The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education & Medical Affairs, NY NY

Standardized Patient / Summer 2016 – present

• Play the role of patients for the purposes of doctor training

• Evaluate and advise student doctors on bedside manner, including presence, communication skills, and professionalism

 

Artists Striving to End Poverty, NY NY

Instructor / July 2016 - present

• Teach 1-day workshops to 5-8 year olds living in shelters due to domestic violence

• Perform sonnets, teach games, and lead art projects

 

Stella Adler Conservatory, NY NY

Director / April – present

• Directed students in Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias

• Process-oriented directing (rather than result-oriented); challenge students to find their characters through questions rather than commands

• Stage manage, schedule and organize rehearsals

• Meet with designers and oversaw all operations regarding production

• Will direct American realist play in Spring 2017

 

NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Stella Adler Studio, NY NY

Director / March 2016 – present

• Will direct American realist play to Tisch 3rd-year students in Spring 2017

• Directed Trojan Women in fall 2016

• Directed 3rd year BFA students in Beth Henley’s The Wake of Jamey Foster

• Process-oriented directing rather than result-oriented

• Stage manage, schedule and organize rehearsals

• Meet with designers and oversee all operations regarding production

 

Private Coach, NY NY

Acting Coach / July 2012 – present

• Coach students in person and over Skype for audition preparation and general craft

• Coach non-actors in public speaking for interviews, presentations, etc.

• Tailor lessons to the needs of individual students from ages 5 to 60

• Coach in specific subjects, including: auditions for film/TV, Shakespearean text analysis and performance, auditions for plays and musical theatre, auditions for college and graduate school, public speaking for non-actors

 

Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ

Voice-Over Actor / 2011 – present

• Read and record conversations and lectures as a Social Sciences professor for the TOEFL and other graduate school entrance exams’ listening portion

 

The Dalton School, NY NY

Instructor / May 2016

• Taught 2-day workshop on Michael Chekhov’s Psychological Gestures to juniors and seniors at NYC’s prestigious Dalton School

 

Colt-Coeur Theater Company, NY NY

Instructor / April 2016

• Co-Taught 1-week Monologue Workshop for Australian high school seniors with Charles Socarides (Section 1) and Adam Harrington (Section 2)

 

New York Film Academy, NY NY

Instructor / September 2013 – March 2016

• Taught 2nd years students text-based acting, both period and contemporary

• Taught 1st year students Scene Study, Voice, Text in Action, and Audition Technique

• Directed 1st year students in many one-act contemporary plays

• Directed 2nd year students in one full-length period drama (Antigone)

 

Goldengrove Academy, NY NY

Drama Instructor / April 2015

• Taught On-Camera Audition Technique through exercises, lecture, discussion and scene work to visiting Australian high school students in 3-day workshop

 

Taller Siglo XX Yolando Hurtado, Santiago Chile

Instructor / March - April 2015

• Taught On-Camera Audition Technique to professional Chilean actors and casting directors in week-long workshop

 

Scott Freeman Studio, NY, NY

Assistant / Summer 2013

• Assisted and shadowed Scott Freeman, founder and head teacher at Freeman Studio

 

The Princeton Review, Princeton, NJ

Tutor and Classroom teacher / 2001 – 2002

• Tutored high school students individually in SAT Verbal section

• Taught weekend workshops in SAT II Writing Skills Section

• Taught classes in SAT Verbal section

 

Ensemble Theatre Community School, Eagles Mere, PA

Acting Teacher / Summer 2000

• Taught classes to high school students at summer camp

• Taught and managed community outreach program to young children in the town

 

America Reads Program, P.S. 125, NY NY

Reading tutor / February – December 1998

• Tutored third graders, both individually and in groups, in basic reading skills

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Professional Affiliations

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• AEA/SAG-AFTRA

• BPSS NY State Teaching License

• Member, National Alliance of Acting Teachers (www.actingteachers.org)

• Company Member and Art Board Member, The Actors Company Theater (TACT)

• Founding member, Valpo Productions

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Writing

• Contributor to www.health-warriors.com, including “How To Support a Student That Has an Invisible Illness"

• Blog: www.nastywomenandbadassbitches.com