Educator

I believe it is my mission to prepare students for a rich, varied, valuable life in the American Theatre. It is my aim to give acting students students a “way of doing” that is practical, repeatable and concrete, as they enter the highly competitive and uncertain career of acting.


We meet in the work

In my classroom, students are asked from the first day, “Why act? Who is this for?” I want my students to see themselves in the larger context, as part of a community that needs to be told stories, to learn about themselves or even simply to be taken out of their own lives for a few hours and have the burden of life lifted off them.

Applause and accolades do not sustain an actor throughout a career. Having a sense of responsibility, of power, and of importance helps give an actor’s life a shape and trajectory.

My approach to teaching acting is fundamentally technique-driven. I want my graduating actors able to be good by choice, not by chance. I want them to be able to walk into any audition or rehearsal room and feel like they have a collection of tools at their disposal. I want my students to feel a level of empowerment and freedom as they tackle the real-world challenge of finding work that is meaningful and sustaining.

A Healthy Discontentment

My work in the classroom always starts with the self – an actor’s own personal identity and experience. I believe it is very important that actors start a program of training knowing that they are enough, that they are capable of creating a body of work they are proud of. Stella Adler teaches us the notion of “healthy discontentment” with the work, a philosophy that says there is always work to be done, more depth to find, another moment to tune. Students learn that a life in the theatre is not a finish line to cross, but a path to be walked. I believe strongly that this understanding can lead to an incredibly fulfilling life as an artist.

For further information regarding course syllabi, specific classes, workshop opportunities, and my complete CV, please feel free to contact me.