I strive to help you transform your audition, character work, or devised material into memorable, boldly theatrical performances.
My Background
I have an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International, served as senior faculty at the Clown Conservatory of San Francisco, Movement Designer for UC Berkeley’s TDPS Dept., Director of Physical Comedy for Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, and currently, I’m an Assistant Professor of Physical Performance at Emerson College and I lead Naked Empire Bouffon Company. My training and professional experience includes bouffon, tragedy, commedia, clown, melodrama, realism, mask performance, puppetry, Viewpoints, Shakespeare and other heightened texts, and community-based theater based upon Cornerstone Theater’s methodology. I have a deep interest and curiosity about the actor’s physical poetry, about awareness and availability, and bold dynamism.
Why I Coach
To rid the stage of talking heads! I don’t believe theatre is a text-based art form, but an art form based in action and metaphor centered upon the actor. I believe a command of time and timing, the dynamic use of one’s body and gesture in space, and wielding one’s poetic imagination should have equal prioritization to the delivery of text. I also believe that this is what audiences and directors yearn for, though they may use different words to describe it. It’s certainly what I hope for at every show I attend and every audition I run. I’m not trying to propose anything new, rather the opposite. In fact, with this description I’m attempting to pay homage to several of my mentors who are all a part of a lineage of theater practitioners who believe in an ancient, visceral, and populist approach to performance. I believe this approach make acting thrilling, both for the performer and the spectator.
How I Coach
Pro Voce = For Your Voice. I believe the most spontaneous and creative work comes from actors who take great joy and ownership of their performance, so your auditions will be YOUR creation, not mine. I won’t be making choices for your pieces, but rather facilitating the unearthing of YOUR vision. Through physical improvisations, text analysis, creative exercises, and a constant state of playful inquiry I’ll help you mine your monologues for their moment-to-moment theatrical might.
Let’s Get Started
$100 per 90-minute session
4-session package: $360 (10% discount)
6-session package: $480 (20% discount)
To arrange for coaching simply send me an email via the contact page with the subject “COACHING”