NEW YORK FACULTY

Charlotte Arnoux (she/her) is a Casting Director and acting teacher based in New York City. Her recent casting credits include Caddo Lake, dir. Celine Held and Logan George and produced by M. Night Shyamalan (release planned for 2024); Laurel Parmet’s The Starling Girl (Sundance ‘23, SXSW ‘23); Smoking Tigers (TriBeCa ‘23, Winner of Best Performance Award), and The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed (Cannes ‘23). In addition, Charlotte played a crucial role in casting the NETFLIX series Grand Army. A graduate of NYU’s Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute herself, her passion for casting emerged from her passion for teaching. The two now go hand-in-hand. She has taught scene study and Acting for Film/TV classes at GoodCapp Arts, Stonestreet Studios, Columbia University, and more. She is particularly proud to say that her private acting students star in series on ABC, CBS, NBC, Peacock, Netflix, Apple TV, Nickelodeon, and have graced the screen in feature films across the world. Charlotte is a member of the Casting Society of America.

Dwight Bacquie is an actor and Voice and Dialects teacher who’s been teaching for over thirty years. Dwight’s acting experience is extensive. A former member of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival acting company, he has performed a wide range of roles in Canada and the US.

Dwight is also a Voiceover artist. His most recent Voiceover job was as Rehearsal Voiceover Artist for Awakening at Wynn Las Vegas for which he recorded the role that would later be performed by Anthony Hopkins.

A graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, Dwight did Speech/Dialects Teacher-training with Deborah Hecht at NYU Tisch and The Juilliard School. Other post-graduate training in Voice and Speech/Dialects includes workshops with Richard Neoczym (Grotowski-influenced Voice performance), Patsy Rodenburg, Louis Colaianni, and KT Speech. Dwight has also taught Voice and Speech at First Act Drama School (Montreal), Voice at Fresh Elements School (Toronto), Voice at California State Summer School for the Arts/CSSSA, Accents and Dialects at Stella Adler Academy (Los Angeles), Voice and Dialects for Actors’ Comedy Studio, “American Speech” at Edgemar Center for the Arts, and was Head of Voice and Speech at New School of Drama (Toronto). He has also worked as a production coach and private Voice and Speech coach. His private students have included Samantha Mathis, Noah Silver, Megan Boone and Patrick Dempsey. Recent professional coaching credits include working on the world premiere of Donnetta Lavinia Gray’s Last Night and the Night Before at Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Merchant of Venice at Theater For A New Audience, and Richard III for The Public Theater at the Delacorte.

Dwight has been teaching at The Juilliard School for the past four years. Prior to being at Juilliard, he was the senior Speech and Voice instructor at CalArts/California Institute of the Arts.

Ignacio Borderes (aka Nacho) is a Psychologist / Actor / Director, A dual citizen of Argentina & USA, he grew up in Buenos Aires where he studied at the Fundación Julio Bocca and with director Luis Romero. He began his acting career in the Buenos Aires Players theatre group and made his TV debut on the hit teen TV show, Rebelde Way. He directed several musicals in Argentina, as well as teaching acting in Bilingual Schools. His TV work in the United States includes roles in CBS’s Instinct, My Sordid Affair, I Love You… But I Lied, and Scorned. Nacho had a significant role as the main character in Metallica’s music video “Am I Savage?”, working closely with directors Herring & Herring. 

He made his American feature film debut in the lead role of the 2018 release of Into the Valli. Off Broadway, he performed in the psychological thriller The Black Book. He recently wrote and directed his first movie Christmas Summer in Argentina. Nacho was a cast member of the Strasberg Institute 2015 production of Red Light Winter and traveled to Warsaw, Poland for the performance in the International Theatre Schools Festival (ITSelF.) He has acted in more than 65 commercials in the past 3 years and done voice-over work in English and Spanish.

Since 2019, he’s been working with the TV show WWE as a director and coach for Speech and Character Work. Other professional background includes being an entrepreneur who started 2 companies in Argentina. 

Zuhdi Boueri (he/him) is a NYC-based educator, Artistic Producer, and professional Actor. Committed to revitalizing New York City’s arts scene post-COVID, Zuhdi has made notable achievements behind the scenes, on stage, and on screen, with credits on Netflix, HBO, Apple TV, Amazon, and more. He has worked with industry legends like Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, and Adam Driver, and recently starred in 39 Steps in Chicago alongside Tony nominee Gavin Lee. As an Artistic Producer at Classic Stage Company, his projects included line-producing and casting Snow In Midsummer, black odyssey, and the New York Times “Critic’s Pick,” A Man of No Importance. Zuhdi has taught at Penn State University and Denise Simon Studios, developing courses on Auditioning for TV/Film, Scene Study, and Shakespeare.

Nick Cianfrogna is a New York-based actor and teacher specializing in speech, accents, and voice production. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch Drama as well as the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre in Scotland where he became designated as a Linklater Teacher in 2017. Nick has taught at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, The New School, Columbia University, CAP21/Molloy College, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Nick has dialect coached for theater, film, and television, working with actors including Emmy winner Ann Dowd (HBO’s The Leftovers, The Undertaker’s Children), Kathryn Hunter (Vicious), Sydney Chandler (Alien), and Louis Partridge (Pistol) among others. Nick is the author of the forthcoming book An American Accent Handbook and works with actors and non-actors alike from all over the world on American accent acquisition.

Lola Cohen trained with Lee Strasberg during the last five years of his life and has taught Method Acting for 40 years at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York, Los Angeles, and in private classes. After Lee’s passing, she continued her training with Method actress and teacher Kim Stanley, and acclaimed director and Eugene O’Neill expert Jose Quintero. Lola is a Lifetime Member of the Actors Studio.

Lola has trained and directed multitudes of actors in scenes and plays during her career in the theater. As a member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review, Lola made her film debut in Renaldo and Clara in 1975. Lola’s directorial theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Woodstock Youth Theater, Jean Genet’s The Maids at the Strasberg Institute, and Lewis John Carlino’s Snowangel while Artist-in-Residence at SUNY-Ulster. Lola is also an Associate Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School where for the last twenty years she has taught her class “Communication Skills for Attorneys”.

Lola’s first book, The Lee Strasberg Notes, was published by Routledge in 2010, done in close cooperation with the Institute and Strasberg family and is in multiple printings. Her second book, The Method Acting Exercises Handbook, was published in 2017 and is translated into Russian, Polish and Chinese. Lola has lectured at Pratt Institute, The National Film School of Denmark, and The Stanislavski Museum/Moscow, and has taught Master Classes at The American University in Washington, D.C. from where she was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education. Lola was designated a Fulbright Specialist Scholar in 2017 and taught at the Russian State Institute for the Performing Arts (RISPA) in Saint Petersburg. She has conducted additional Master Classes internationally at Beijing Film Academy, CH; Les Ateliers Professionnels De l’Acteur, Paris, FR; Accademia 09, Milan, IT; Act One For All, Lisbon, PO; Rose Bruford College, UK; Tell to Joy Theater, Copenhagen, DK; and the Chekhov International Theater School, Melikhovo, RU where she directed The Seagull and served on the faculty.

Vincent D’Onofrio studied Method Acting at The American Stanislavsky Theater and The Actors Studio. Between his work in the industry, he holds StrasbergTALKS and masterclasses at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. The Vincent D’Onofrio Award is also given at the school each year to recognize a current Institute student who embodies the characteristics of this great and versatile performer.

An acclaimed film and television actor, Vincent D’Onofrio is known best for his roles in Full Metal Jacket, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Men in Black. Among other honors, D’Onofrio is a Saturn Award winner, an Emmy nominee, and a 2018 Jay Award winner. In addition to his success as an actor, D’Onofrio also boasts credits as a producer and director. Most recently, he directed the 2019 feature film The Kid, starring Ethan Hawke and Chris Pratt.

Suzanne DiDonna was born and raised in New York. She has been a professional actor for more than 20 years. Suzanne began her studies at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute with George Loros, Robert Castle and Elizabeth Kemp. She is a life time member of The Actors Studio and worked/trained with Ellen Burstyn, Estelle Parsons, Harvey Keitel. She has performed in numerous plays at the Actors Studio including the premiere of Edward Allan Baker’s Free Gift Inside directed by Elizabeth Kemp, the premiere of Lyle Kessler’s First Born directed by Daniel Talbott, and The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Estelle Parsons. She has performed in dozens of Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway plays including the world premiere of Edward Allan Baker’s The Framer and Edward Allan Baker’s The Bride of Olneyville Square. She is a member of SAG, AFTRA and EQUITY. Her film credits include Hungry Ghosts Directed by Michael Imperioli, Trooper directed by Christopher Martini, Indiana directed by Toni Comas. Some of her TV credits include The $treet, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Jury, Brotherhood, and Sex and the City. She had a recurring role on The Sopranos and Magic City.

Michael Lawrence Eisenstein is a NYC based Equity Actor, Fight Choreographer and Martial Artist. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. Select Stage Credits: Arnold Epstein, Biloxi Blues (National Tour), Dewey, S4 (Provincetown Playhouse), Tyrrel, Richard III (NY Classical). Select Film Credits: Winter Has No Sun, Factory 91, Jersey Shore Massacre. Michael was taught by J. David Brimmer, and assisted him on the Made in Poland (Off Broadway). He is the resident stage combat instructor and choreographer at Brooklyn High School of the Arts and has taught stage combat for The Montana Rep, Sitka Fine Arts Camp and Saint David’s School. He has also choreographed for NY Classical, Flux, Dreamscape, and Boomerang theater companies. As a martial artist and master teacher, Michael is the founder and head instructor of Eisenstein’s Academy of Taekwon-Do and currently holds the rank of 6th Dan. Michael has been teaching Tai Chi for over fifteen years and is proud to continue the legacy of excellence established by Lee Strasberg over fifty years ago.

As a teacher and director, Robert Ellermann was influenced by Lee Strasberg, Robert (Bobby) Lewis, Kim Stanley, Frank Corsaro, David Garfield, Maria Knebel and Nikolai Demidov. In addition, he studied directing with Jack O’Brien, Adrian Hall, Michael Kahn and Gerald Freedman. Robert also worked with teachers directly certified by Mikhail Chekhov in the 1930’s to teach Chekhov’s work: Deidre Hurst du Prey, Felicity Mason and Beatrice Straight. In addition, Robert had the honor of knowing the last surviving original member of the Moscow Art Theatre’s seminal First Studio – Vera Soloviova. Madame Soloviova was one of Stanislavsky’s earliest students (starting in 1908) and the peer, acting partner and friend of Richard Boleslavsky. Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Mikhail Chekhov and Maria Ouspenskaya. Robert was able to discuss the work of Stanislavsky, Vakhtangov, Sulerzhitsky and Mikhail Chekhov, particularly their use of the ‘system’, with Madame Soloviova. Over the last five decades, Robert has exhaustively researched the work of Lee Strasberg, covering Strasberg’s nearly 60 year career; as well as, the profound influence of Stanislavsky in the US and Russian-Soviet-Russian theatres, especially the work of the Group Theatre and the various studios of the Moscow Art Theatre. In the former Soviet Union, the leading Stanislavsky scholar, Inna Soloviova, humorously referred to him as “the American Stanislavsky fanatic”. In 1983, he was invited by Robert Lewis to serve as co-director of the Robert Lewis Theatre Workshop in Los Angeles. In 1988, Robert was invited by Stanislavsky’s great-great grandson to the first International Stanislavsky Conference in Paris and in 1990 Robert was invited to the Soviet Union by the Moscow Art Theatre to observe classes and rehearsals in the leading Russian theatres and schools. In 2021, Robert introduced Lee Strasberg’s Method to the Russian Academy of Theatrical Art (formly GITIS) in Moscow via Zoom classes. Robert has taught private classes in New York, Los Angeles, Tucson and Houston. He is currently working on a book about the relationship between the work of Lee Strasberg and that of Konstantin Stanislavsky. Over the years, Robert has directed the plays of Michael Weller, Clifford Odets, Tennessee Williams, David Rabe and Horton Foote, among others. At the Institute, Robert presented a production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters after an intensive six month rehearsal process.

Carmen Ezcurra is an Argentine actor, singer, director, producer and teacher. She graduated from UADE University with a BA in Performing Arts, trained as a singer and vocal instructor in Buenos Aires with Sebastián Mazzoni and finally moved to NYC to train at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in 2022. 

As a professional, Carmen started writing, performing and producing her own cabaret shows — Una vuelta a la niñez and Otra historia de Nueva York — in famous bars in her city. In theatre, she originated the role of Ophelia in the musical theatre adaptation of Hamlet: El resto es silencio. On TV she has been a guest singer in TV Pública’s “Argentina baila de noche” and “Somos Artistas”.

After moving to New York, she has performed in Noche Latina at 54 Below, originated the role of Amelia in Wheels: an Original Musical in its presentation at The Drama League and played Hero in an Off-Off Broadway production of Much Ado About Nothing. 

In 2024, she launched Cambalache Theatre Company alongside fellow Argentine actor and director Cecilia Wisky, to celebrate international artists and theatrical exploration. 

Accompanist

Dan hails from Old Hickory, Tennessee (just outside Nashville). He began playing piano and composing music at an early age and went on to study composition and jazz piano at Oberlin Conservatory. After moving to New York in 2003 to play jazz, he began writing for music theater as well. He spent four years in the BMI Lehman Engels Musical Theater Workshop. Furman is founder of Brooklyn Tavern Theater, which puts on original musicals in taverns in Brooklyn and beyond. He is composer/lyricist/bookwriter of Impossible But True, and composer and lyricist for Ybor City (with Anita Gonzalez, bookwriter) and Sign In the Six O’Clock Sky (with bookwriter Arnold Schulman). He is currently developing Walls and Windows, an immersive musical based on the work of Edward Hopper and The Proust Virus, a stage musical about video game characters who question the meaning of life after Proust’s work is uploaded into their game. He lives in Brooklyn with neuroscientist Kim Allen and two bunnies and works as a jazz pianist and vocal accompanist at clubs and acting schools in Manhattan. 

www.danfurman.com
www.brooklyntaverntheater.com

Rachel Griesinger is a Brooklyn based dialect coach and actor. Dialect credits include, but are not limited to TV: The Blacklist. Theatre: Top Girls (St. Jeans Theatre), Dracula, various productions at Ars Nova, and private clients, including prominent TV and Broadway actors. Acting credits include, but are not limited to TV: Fashion Victim, Lincoln Rhyme. Theatre: New Ohio (Trash Body Monkey House, Ukraine Project), Ensemble Studio Theatre, United Solo Fest, Anne Frank Center (tour), Golden Shards Productions, and other random things. She has an extensive background in creating devised theatre. Rachel spent her formative years growing up in São Paulo, Brazil. It was during this time she became fluent in Portuguese and found her love of studying language, and studied Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, finding her love of theatre. MFA: The New School for Drama. 

Accompanist

Robert Grusecki is a pianist, conductor, and composer/lyricist working in the New York musical theatre and teaching community. As a musician, his Broadway credits include shows with such artists as Bernstein, Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Yeston, Arthur Laurents, Baayork Lee, and Thommie Walsh. As a writer, he has produced many songs, musicals, revues, recordings, and songbooks with collaborator Anya Turner. Their Off-Broadway musicals Greetings From Yorkville and After All, a musical much ado were both named finalists for the Richard Rodgers Award. Their partnership is also the subject of the music documentary Dream On, a songwriting life by filmmaker Bill Hopkins. Recipients of a Bistro Award, an ASCAP Foundation Award, and a grant from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, Robert & Anya are currently recording their tenth studio album, Secret Lovers.

www.anyarobertmusic.com

Geoffrey Horne was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Cuba. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1954, is married and has nine children. Geoffrey studied with Lee Strasberg for many years beginning in 1954 and became a member of the Actors Studio in 1956, the year of his Broadway debut. He made his film debut in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Geoffrey has taught Method Acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute since 1978. He has directed a number of Alumni/Teacher productions including The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and most recently Othello. He is the co-founder of Shakespeare Downtown, a Shakespeare theatre at Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Shakespeare Downtown produced Romeo and Juliet in June 2016 and Richard III in June 2017.

In the fall of 2019, Geoffrey was awarded the Anna and Lee Strasberg Award for his 40 years of teaching at The Institute. Alec Baldwin, one of Geoffrey’s former students, presented this award at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration.

Jacqueline Jacobus was born in Paris and spent her early years in France and England. When 17, she had the great good fortune to begin her acting studies with Lee Strasberg in his private classes in NYC. Several years later, she became a member of the Actors Studio, where she had the opportunity to work with and be influenced by directors such as Arthur Penn, Elia Kazan, and Vivian Nathan, just to mention a few. As a young actress, she worked extensively in TV, Film, and the theater, both in NYC and Regionally. As a member of The Ensemble Studio Theater she worked along side of playwrights such as Jonathan Ringkamp, Rommulus Linney, and Lyle Kessler as they developed their scripts. Favorite roles were Laura in the The Glass Menagerie, Kim in Mama Sang the Blues, Nina in The Seagull, Florrie in Waiting for Lefty, Emily in Our Town, The Whore in La Ronde, Titania in A Midsummer Summer Night’s Dream, Portia in The Merchant of Venice just to mention a few. Most recently she played Marty in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation.

Jacqueline has been teaching acting, and specifically The Method as it was taught to her by Lee Strasberg, for the last 10 years. She is an accomplished pianist who treasures the literature for the piano as much as the literature for the actor.

Bella, a Zimbabwean born drama enthusiast first started acting in the National Theatre of Zimbabwe when she was a child. She has taken part in several workshops in London, Stratford Upon Avon and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Other productions include The Sound of Music, Les Miserables, and The Crucible. Bella performed in “Carnal Hall” Switzerland and was a finalist in “The Kids Voice” Switzerland (2018). She continues to sing. Her most recent roles were Eurydice in Eurydice (NYC), Anna in Anatomy of A Suicide (NYC), and Hamlet in Hamlet (NYC). Bella graduated from The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York (2022) and dedicates her energies pursuing the dramatic arts. Bella believes in looking through the other side of the telescope, and sees magic in almost everything. A quote she strongly lives by is “your attitude determines your altitude”.

Michael Kushner is one of NYC’s leading multi-hyphenates and the Executive Producer of the EMMY Nominated series Indoor Boys. His book How to be a Multi-Hyphenate in the Theatre Business was published by Routledge in January 2023. He served as the Director of Programming for The Green Room 42, providing the space with sold out programming post pandemic. He is the owner of Michael Kushner Photography and has photographed Hillary Clinton, Julie Andrews, Idina Menzel (to name a few) and has been published in NYTimes, Vogue, Playbill, etc. He is also the creator of The Dressing Room Project, where he photographs actors prepping for their roles on and off Broadway. Ithaca College BFA in Musical Theatre (2020 Outstanding Young Alumni Award), Founding member of Musical Theatre Factory. Exec Producer of XaveMePlease (Created by Wesley Taylor, Frameline 43 Festival Finalist). Active participant of Covenant House Sleep Out. Podcast: Dear Multi-Hyphenate with Broadway Podcast Network. Michael is also a performer (On The Town, Pre-Broadway Tryout Directed by John Rando at Barrington Stage) and a member of AEA.

Ana Carolina Lima is a Brazilian actress based in New York City. She is best known for the TV soap opera Uma Rosa com Amor and the film Espalhadas Pelo Ar for which she received three awards as Best Actress and which was exhibited in the “Semeine de la Critique” at the Cannes Film Festival. She also attended the Raindance Film Festival in London with the feature film Centro de Gravidade where she received exemplary reviews from critics.

Ana has been working in theatre since 2001 in a variety of styles including Comedy, Drama, Absurd, Experimental and Musical. She worked for SESI-SP Theater for five years – four with Nucleo Experimental de Teatro and one on tour around the state. She was also the leading role in a co-production between Rubens Ewald Filho and Satyros in Sao Paulo, Brazil and worked alongside great names from Grupo Tapa such as Norival Rizzo, Caca Amaral and Riba Carlovich.

Ana came to NYC after working in Brazil’s industry for 12 years. She has been training in Method Acting at The Institute for 10 years where she continues to develop her craft. She has performed in two Shakespeare Downtown productions directed by Geoffrey Horne and was part of the Convergences Theatre Collective. In addition to training as an actor, Ana has become a teacher in order to pass along important techniques and skills to her students for their own success.

Ana’s full credits for film and TV can be found on IMDb and her website.

George Loros won the SAG Award in 2000 for Best Ensemble as a member of the cast of The Sopranos, in which he played the role of Ray Curto for six seasons. George received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the New York Film Fest 2004 for his portrayal of Harvey in Clean, which won the Best Film Award in 2004. As Mitch in Mitch and Barbara, George won the Cine Golden Eagle as Best Actor in a Short Film, 1972. George has performed and directed on Broadway, Off Broadway and with theatres across the country. As a director, George won the Dramalogue Award – Best Director for The Phone Call, 1978, and Prowlers, 1979, both done at the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre. George studied with Lee Strasberg and is a Method Acting teacher at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. He directed the Alumni production of Tennessee Williams’ Period of Adjustment in October 2012. George has been acting for 45 years, and teaching for 42 years. He is a member of Actor’s Equity, SAG/AFTRA, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, The Actor’s Studio, and is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more info, go to georgeloros.com.

Mitchell McCoy is a Fight Director, Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Cooridnators, Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, actor, and Reiki Master based in New York. He has assisted with the violence for Pretty Woman (Broadway), Therese Raquin (Broadway), Aladdin (Broadway), Aladdin (Japan), the first U.S. national tour of Newsies, and Cleveland Playhouse’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robinhood, and made his Off-Broadway Intimacy Direction debut with Camp Morningwood.

As a teacher he has taught at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the State University of New York: Purchase, The New School, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

Sam Morales is a NYC-based Actor who made her professional debut in 2016 at Theatre for a New Audience in Sir Trevor Nunn’s PERICLES. Since then, she has worked at The Public Theater, BAM, Red Bull Theater, TFANA (many times!) & select regional theatres. In February of 2020, she starred opposite Rose Byrne & Bobby Cannavale in MEDEA at BAM for one night only as she was lucky enough to go on for the role of Clara, a part she was understudying. You can see her on reruns of Law & Order: SVU, FBI & Blue Bloods. Currently, you can watch her alongside Rachel Weisz in Dead Ringers streaming on Amazon Prime. As a Director, Sam most recently worked on Lauren Gunderson’s Emilie: La Marquise du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight at the University of Scranton. Sam is a faculty member, as well as the Academic Department Director, for On Camera Acting & Auditioning at AMDA. Sam is also a certified Intimacy Captain. Lastly, she can impersonate both Grover & The Count which brings her son great delight. She’s thrilled to be joining the NYU Tisch at Strasberg family. 

Hassiem Muhammad, a graduate of The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, is a New York City based actor, movement specialist, and teaching artist (New Victory Theater | Lincoln Center Theater). Hassiem can be seen on CBS’s Blue Bloods, FBI, and Madam Secretary. He has also appeared in regional theater productions around the country, most recently winning the 2023 Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Performer for his portrayal of Caliban in Round House Theatre’s The Tempest. Hassiem is managed by Cyrena Esposito at Red Letter Entertainment, and is represented by HCKR Agency. www.hassiemmuhammad.com

Tom Nielsen’s early career brought him to NYC to study acting with Lee Strasberg (1977-1980). He also studied with Kim Stanley and Anna Strasberg, who became his mentor. After performing in several LSTFI productions, Tom eventually landed a recurring role on the daytime drama Guiding Light. For over six years he was known to millions as “Floyd Parker”. Initially comic relief on the drama, Tom’s character, in typical soap opera fashion, rose from hospital custodian to rock star. But the life of a “rock star” on a soap was destined for disaster and after 620 episodes, “Pretty Boy Floyd” was sent off to prison with no chance for parole. Tom eventually returned to Guiding Light as a freelance director. It was then that Anna Strasberg offered Tom an opportunity to teach Lee’s Method.

While teaching at the Institute, Tom enrolled in the NYU Film school. During this time, he was hired to direct live multi-camera concert videos at the famed Village club, The Bottom Line. Artists ranged from Kris Kristofferson to Dizzy Gilliespie. Tom continued his work as a multi-camera director with an ear for music. A live concert broadcast of Mick Jaggers’ solo album, Wandering Spirit, at Webster Hall in NYC won Tom a Gold Camera Award from the International Film and Video Festival. Some of the artists Tom has had the opportunity to work with have been Prince, Pete Townsend & Richard Daltry, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Duran, Duran, Green Day, Huey Lewis, Tom Jones, Paul Simon, and many more. Tom has been fortunate to have been around, seen, heard, and worked with some of the world’s best performers, artists, and teachers. This invaluable experience infuses his love and passion for the performing ARTS.

Alex Notkin is a Russian born, New York based actor, stage & film director, producer and casting director with over 20 years of experience in the industry. He graduated from The Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy as well as The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

He has over 50 credits in theatre, film and TV series in Europe and the US. His roles include Netflix, HBO and FX TV series such as: The Americans, Madam Secretary, The Punisher. In addition to his theatre and film works Alex is a renowned voice talent in feature and animated films produced by Disney, 20^th Century Fox, Warner Bros, and other Hollywood studios. He is the Russian voice behind Jake Sully in James Cameron’s AVATAR 1 and 2. As well as dubbing voice behind characters played by Sam Worthington, Christian Bale, Colin Farrell, Benedict Cumberbatch and many more. 

Alex Notkin’s credits as stage director and filmmaker include European and New York productions such as The Letters of Vertinsky, ART, Defendant Maurice Chevalier, The Green Carriage, Faust, Talk to me Kiddo!, and Mom is That You?. He is excited to share his wide experience in the industry with LSTFI students.

Janice Orlandi is a Movement Specialist in Psychophysical Techniques and Character Transformation, including: Williamson Technique, Period Styles, Period Dance, and Physical Dramaturgy. Williamson Period Styles specialities include Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, Elizabethan, Restoration, Classical, and 1920s-1950s. She is a certified teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique and has trained with Mary Overlie, Anne Bogart, Tina Landau and SITI Company in Viewpoints and Suzuki. She has additional training in Rasaboxes, Alba Emoting, and Laban Fundamentals.

Movement Director credits include The Other Mozart (London St James Theatre, Here Arts Festival, Cherry Lane Theatre Solo Festival, Berkshire Fringe Festival), The Contrast (Mirror Repertory Company), An Ideal Husband and Tartuffe (Sonnet Repertory). Movement Consultant for Red Velvet (Lantern Theater Company).

Directing credits include Mozart & Salieri and The Brute (Westside Theatre), Evening with Stephen Crane (Manhattan Rep, Crane House Museum), Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. James Theatre, Theater Row, Laurie Beechman, 59E59 Theater), Garbo Dreams (Red Room), Uncle Vanya (Expanded Arts Theatre), and The Three Sisters (New Vaudeville Theater).

Orlando teaches at Atlantic Acting School, HB Studio, Rose Bruford College (UK), New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and Tom Todoroff Conservatory. She has taught around the country and world at institutions including University of the Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Williamstown Theatre Festival, BAM, De Lindenberg Centre (Netherlands), State Theatre School (Denmark), Ophelia Theatre School (Copenhagen), and New York State Summer School of the Arts.

Founding Member of Expanded Arts & Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Featured in Backstage and American Theater Magazine on the current trends of movement training in theater education.

Member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, SSDC Associate.

Atticus Orsborn is a New York-based film and theatre director trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. He has taught at leading conservatories in New York City and London, such as NYU, LAMDA, and the Globe Theatre. His work explores the existential horror of being a social creature, typically through comedy, and has been recognized with multiple Best Feature awards on the international festival circuit. His debut feature, The Three Little Proletariat Pigs, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Drawing on conservatory training in both the British and American traditions, he brings a rigorous, practitioner-led approach to voice and speech work.

Lorca Peress has been on the LSTFI Faculty since 2000, and NYU-Strasberg Faculty since 2001. Lorca is the Founder/Artistic Director of MultiStages, a multicultural, multidisciplinary theatre company that has developed new works since 1997. She has directed over 50 theatre, opera, musical, and hybrid multimedia productions in NYC (The Public Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Acorn at Theatre Row, Theatre for the New City, et al), regionally in Los Angeles, and at LSTFI-NY, NYU, et al. Lorca is also a writer and performer. Awards and Grants include: LPTW Theatre Women Award, LMCC Creative Engagement Awards, Institute of Puerto Rico Award, NYMF Next Link Project, Women in Arts & Media Collaboration Awards, National Opera Prizes, Taino Areito Award, HOLA Zaldivar Outstanding Production Award, Dramatists Guild Fund Award, and La MaMa Inky Award. Lorca was Co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women for three years. She has been a featured panelist at the Yale Summit Arts Track, CUNY Grad Center, NYU, Theatre Resources Unlimited, and for numerous panels on diversity, gender parity and the state of the arts. Lorca curated the NYU hotINK Fest for eight years and served on two NYU Production Committees. She is a graduate of Bennington College (BA in Drama) and National Theatre Institute. Professional studies with Shelly Winters, Gene Frankel, Leonard Melfi, at LSTFI with Irma Sandrey and Charlie Laughton, and in LPTW YAP. Unions/Memberships: AEA, SAG-AFTRA, SDC, LPTW, NTC. www.lorcaperessdirector.com

Julia Marie Peterson is a professional actor, director, and acting teacher whose work spans international film, Off-Broadway, and national tours.

Her film credits include Bacurau (Cannes Jury Prize winner), screened at the New York Film Festival, Lincoln Center, and BAM, and The Ra’s (Indie Series Award winner). Off-Broadway, she has played leading roles in Electra and Iphigenia in Tauris at Theater Row, Lula in Dutchman, and Hattie in Laundry & Bourbon at The Barrow Group. She has also toured nationally and internationally, including at the Edmonton Fringe Festival.

Julia trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, holds a BFA from NYU Tisch, a Classical Acting Diploma from LAMDA, and is a certified Alexander Technique teacher. She was entrusted to carry forward the rehearsal methodology of Alice Spivak, a direct collaborator of Uta Hagen, teaching advanced scene study at OnTheRoad Repertory to professional actors. Her training and teaching represents a living lineage of three master traditions: Strasberg, Hagen, and the Alexander Technique.

Her private students have booked Broadway, national tours, and major streaming series. Her directing work has been recognized at the Michael Chekhov Festival, Theater Row, Abrons Arts Center, and OnTheRoad Repertory Company.

Julia is a member of AEA, the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, and Alexander Technique International. She is a Certified Intimacy Captain and serves on the Board of OnTheRoad Repertory Company.

Heather Petruzelli has appeared with New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, The Astoria Music Society’s Big Band, Opera With a Twist, Cantiamo Opera, Liederkranz Opera Theater, Henry Street Opera, New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera, The Astoria Symphony, Opera Northeast, The Opera Company of Astoria, The Civic Orchestra of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and as part of the Simply Grand Concert Series radio broadcast presented by WVIA of Northeastern Pennsylvania. She has performed and taught many styles from classical to musical theatre. Ms. Petruzelli serves as the Head of Voice and Music for the Molloy College/CAP21BFA Program and has taught for the former CAP21 since 2008. She also has been teaching at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy of NYC since 2001. Ms. Petruzelli holds a BM from Wilkes University and a MM in Voice Performance from Boston University where she studied with the late Phyllis Curtin. Ms. Petruzelli is an Equity Membership Candidate. Additionally, Heather is a certified Positive Psychology Life Coach.

A native of New York, Michelle is an accomplished dancer, actress and director. As a dancer, she began her training at The Dance Theatre of Harlem. As early as her pre-teens, she became a member of the Marie Brooks Children’s Dance Theater, a professional children’s dance company devoted to researching dance forms from other countries. She has had the opportunity to travel to such places as Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Martinique, Suriname, Ghana, Italy and Brazil. The recipient of the coveted Harry Belafonte Performing Arts Scholarship, she went on to attend the State University of New York at Purchase where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. After graduation, her talents were sought after by many prestigious dance companies: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Bucket Dance Theater, The Dance Theatre of Harlem and The Eleo Pomare Dance Company. But that was only until she set her sights on Broadway.

From Europe to Broadway, Ms. Robinson has appeared in such musical theater productions as Ain’t Misbehavin’, Can-Can, For Colored Girls…, Jelly’s Last Jam, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sophisticated Ladies, They’re Playing Our Song, Sweet Charity, The Tempest, and the smash Broadway musical revival of Chicago where she remained an original cast member for the first twelve years. In addition, she has had the opportunity to work alongside such notables as Bebe Neuwirth, Gregory Hines, Patrick Stewart, Joel Grey, Debbie Allen, Melanie Griffith, and Brooke Shields, just to name a few. Ms. Robinson admits that one of her most memorable show biz moments was becoming a Radio City Rockette. She acknowledges that nothing gave her as much joy and pleasure as when her mother could say, “Now, no matter where my child is on that kick line, I will be able to find her!” No stranger to film and television, her television credits include appearances on Deadline, Law and Order, New York Undercover, Third Watch, and HBO’s Lackawanna Blues. Ms. Robinson has also had a long running, recurring role on the daytime soap opera, One Life to Live. On film, she can be seen in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Flawless starring Robert DeNiro, and Chris Rock’s cult movie Pooty Thang.

Kirsten Russell is a director, producer, screenwriter and actress. She attended the New World Theatre for the Arts in Miami, Florida, California Institute of the Arts and studied acting with numerous NY teachers until meeting Method teacher, Robert Castle, who she continues to study with to this day. Kirsten starred in Virgil Bliss and Milk and Honey, which both premiered at Sundance. She has worked continuously on stage, in film and television until she moved to the other side of the camera in 2005 to become a multi award-winning filmmaker. She approaches directing as a Method director.

Michael Ryan trained as a dancer with Martha Graham, Hanya Holm and Merce Cunningham. As an actor he has worked extensively in his native Australia winning a best actor award for his work in Marat Sade at the Adelaide Arts Festival as well as Germany where he worked at the Theater am Goetheplatz in Die Perle and created his own environmental work Wonderland. He has studied with Eugenio Barba, Jerzy Grotowski and Wynn Handman. In New York, he was a long-standing company member of Creation Production Company, with whom he created lead roles in Chromatic Spectacles, Ice Station Zebra, The OBIE Award winning Abandon, The Bessie Award winning Memory Theatre of Guilio Camillo, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Propaganda, Nighttown, The Inferno, The Tower and Man Made. Also in New York: Uncontrollable Elements at The Kitchen, Blood Button at The American Place Theater, as well as his own original works The Pasolini Tapes at The Knitting Factory, Enter The Dragon at Second Stage and Escalator, a performance piece for the renowned architects Diller & Scofidio at The Museum of Modern Art.

At The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute NY, where he has been on the faculty since 1998, he has directed John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi and a Shakespeare adaptation midnight’s dream as well as his original pieces Moist Tiny Elephants and Eveningland as well as acting in Romeo and Juliet and A Seagull in the Hamptons. He has taught Movement / Feldenkrais for The Tisch School for the Arts NYU, Strasberg LA, The School for Film and TV/NY and Fordham University at Lincoln Center. He is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner (2002-2006 training with David Zemach-Bersin, Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais’ 1st American student) He maintains a private coaching business in both NY, LA and London working with actors for Film and TV. Among his recent clients have been Adria Arjona (Andor, Hitman, Father of the Bride, Irma Vep) Leila George ( Animal Kingdom, He ain’t Heavy, Disclaimer) and Henry Garrett (Poldark, The Son, Dark Money, This England).

Maryn Shaw (pronounced muh-RIN) is an LA-raised, NYC-based actor, director, writer and teacher. She holds a MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Acting, a dual concentration in Acting Performance and Directing from Fordham University and is also a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. Maryn began her artistic life as a classical violinist and singer before continuing her studies in acting. Maryn has performed Off-Broadway in The Skin of Our Teeth (Theater for a New Audience) and at many regional theaters including in The Wolves (Studio Theatre DC), Indecent (Arena Stage, Baltimore Centerstage, Kansas City Rep), Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Acting Company), Twelfth Night and premieres of The Book of Will and Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice, (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). She can be seen in Friends from College on Netflix, 5stages for Elite Daily, promos for Comedy Central, and various independent shorts and commercials.

As a director, Maryn has directed for United Solo Festival and has completed 3 short films entering the festival circuit. She is also writing and developing an original TV script.

She volunteers as an actor and director with The 52nd St Project, where she believes some of the best theater in NYC is made. She is also a certified yoga and pilates instructor and uses a movement-based perspective and encourages a heart-forward sharp point of view throughout her teaching and her artistic work.

Yoshiko Usami Sienkiewicz (Yokko) is an actor and an interdisciplinary artist from Japan specializing in Butoh, Theatre, and Movement. Yokko has performed in, devised, and choreographed local and international productions and films, earning various accolades. Her show Butoh Medea has won awards including “Best One-Woman Show,” “Best Choreography,” “Best Physical Theatre,” and “Best Actress” in festivals such as United Solo NYC at Theatre Row (2014, 2015), the Hollywood Fringe (2018), and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2015). Her production Hide Your Fires: Butoh Lady Macbeth premiered at Pan Asian Rep’s NuWorks (2017), winning “Best Physical Theatre” at United Solo NYC (2017) and “Best International Show” at Hollywood Fringe (2019). Her ensemble work SHINKA received “Outstanding Premier Production of a Play” and “Outstanding Choreography and Movement” at The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (2019). Recently, Yokko’s Butoh work has been featured in music and arts videos such as I Don’t Know Where We Went Wrong (HOKO, 2020), Ready To Let Go (Cage The Elephant, 2019), and The 8 Dissolutions (Erik Bergrin, 2022).

Yokko has conducted workshops in the USA and Europe since 2014. She has taught at institutions including SUNY New Paltz, City College of New York, Stella Adler Academy of Acting (Los Angeles), The Actors Studio (NYC), and Shakespeare & Company. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Brooklyn College, The New Group/LIU Brooklyn, Pace University, Dell’Arte International, and Atelier Teatro Fisico (Turin, Italy).

With her collaborator Dr. Brian Rhinehart, Yokko published the article “Why Butoh Theatre: Thoughts of the Actor, Questions from the Director” (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2020). She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Butoh Theatre Group, RenGyoSoh (2014-), and the producing artistic director of Unfix NYC Festival (2016-).

Jimmy most recently completed filming Joker: Folie a Deux directed by Todd Phillips and set for release in the fall of 2024. He has starred in three shows at The Kennedy Center, Guys and Dolls (Harry the Horse), The Music Man (Jacey Squires) and most recently as Sir Bedevere in Spamalot. Other credits include, Broadway: Billy Elliot, The Little Mermaid, To Be or Not To Be, Damn Yankees (Encores), The Phantom of the Opera, Man of La Mancha, The Full Monty. Television: Doom Patrol (recurring), Black Monday (recurring), Erase (opposite Denis Leary), The Sopranos, Better Things, Corporate, Oh Jerome No, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Greys Anatomy, Bones, Rizzoli and Isles, Parks and Recreation, Hot in Cleveland, Law & Order: SVU, Sam and Cat, Jessie. Film: Rebel in the Rye, The Island, Step Up 3, The Producers Movie Musical.

Accompanist

Noriko Sunamoto is an award-winning composer, orchestrator and music director based in New York. Broadway: for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (Associate Conductor), Paradise Square (Keys Sub), Funny Girl (Rehearsal Pianist, Keys Sub), The Griswolds’ Broadway Vacation (in the works, Rehearsal Pianist). U.S. Notable: Radio City Christmas Spectacular 2021 (Standby Conductor, Keyboardist), Pixar in Concert with Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Debbie Allen’s Playlist with Oakland Symphony. Broadway National Tour: White Christmas (Associate MusicDirector), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Associate Music Director). International (Tokyo Broadway): Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked. International Notable: Jason Howland’s musical Ikiru (Conductor), Tokyo Disney. Upcoming: White Rose: The Musical (Music Director). Her original musicals include OMOTENASHI Journey (at Carnegie Hall and Central Park) and The Journey of the True Colors (at Tokyo Rainbow Pride.)

www.norikosunamoto.com
@norikosunamoto

Tramantana is an actor, director, writer, and educator. A proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, he works professionally in theatre, film, and television. He was a founding member of The Commedia Company, a NYC based company devoted to reimagining and updating performances in the Commedia dell’arte tradition. He is also a founding member of the WüfPak, a NYC based comedy ensemble dedicated to creating funny shows with it roots in the Clown/Commedia tradition.

Tramantana currently teaches Clown at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He has also taught Clown, Commedia dell’arte, Games, Play, and Acting at Rider University, The Graduate Acting Program at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, HB Studio, Chautauqua Theater Company, Tom Todoroff Studio, Completely Ridiculous Conservatory, and more.

Some Clown masters he has studied with are Jane Nichols, Aitor Basauri, David Shiner, Emmanuelle Delpech, Norman Taylor, and Jim Calder; head of Movement for The NYU Tisch graduate acting program. He trained extensively in Clown and Commedia dell’arte with Christopher Bayes; master teacher of Clown and head of Physical Acting at The Geffen School of Drama at Yale (formerly Yale School of Drama), before being personally invited to study under him as his teaching apprentice. Tramantana assisted Bayes at the Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School, and The Funny School of Good Acting (now called Pandemonium Studios), and is one of a small number of teachers Bayes has individually mentored.

Directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Metamorphoses, Our Town, You Can’t Take It with You, Antigone, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods.

BA Fordham University, Lincoln Center. MFA University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

BFA Point Park College, Pittsburgh Pa.; MFA Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. John has served as the dialect coach for many of Tisch Drama StageWorks productions including The Who’s Tommy, Cabaret, Ragtime, Born Bad, The Secret Garden, Engaged, and Blue Stockings. John’s coaching credits at various Department of Drama’s studios include: Top Girls, Mad Forest, Cloud Nine, Our Country’s Good, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Norman Conquests, Nine and many others. Professional coaching credits include the Cirque du Soleil production of Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall, the national tour and the Mallz Jupiter Theatre production of Cabaret, and the Off Broadway production of The Shanghai Gesture. John has also served as the dialect coach for Christine Lahti in Pride in the Fall of Autrey Mill and for Concetta Tomei in Fallaci.

Isuri Wijesundara is a multi-faceted Sri Lankan artist based in New York. While she is an actor by default, she also has credits in producing, directing, casting and advocacy. Isuri has worked with and coached actors of all ages from all around the world. Her approach to her work starts at the core of the actor and centres around the humanity of the person first. She works as an actor both on screen/stage and off with her voice. Featured in commercials and audiobooks, Isuri is excited to offer training in the art of Voice Over Acting as well as exploring how to make Shakespeare fun. Theatre credits include Robert Icke’s The Doctor at Park Ave Armory. Film credits include Little America S2 on Apple TV+. Audiobooks include Island Witch by Amanda Jayatissa. (Training: MFA – Yale School of Drama, BFA – Adelphi University, Classical Acting – LAMDA.)

Debra Wiley is an internationally acclaimed acting teacher, performance coach, and a singing voice specialist (M.A. Acting and Vocal Performance, NYU). She has a long affiliation with the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, having studied early with Lee Strasberg, and then for many years with Irma Sandrey (as well as Ed Kovens and Elaine Aiken). Debra joined the LSTFI acting faculty in 1994, and has also taught performers at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, Montclair State University, New York University, Marymount Manhattan College, Harlem School of the Arts, and Henry Street Settlement.

She has directed plays and numerous classical recitals, and given master classes and seminars at organizations including the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Disney Theatrical Productions, SAG Conservatory, Danish State Theater School, Danish Actors Union, Chamber Music America, Operafest, Songfest, AFTRA@Work, Mannes College of Music, and NYU Steinhardt.

She was a featured stage performer in professional companies in New York and regionally across various disciplines including theater, opera, musical theater and cabaret. Debra is grateful to LSTFI — her artistic home — for offering a comprehensive acting technique, which she has proudly taught all over the world.

Ted Zurkowski was made a lifetime member of the Actors Studio by Lee Strasberg where he trained with him. At the Studio he also trained with Elia Kazan, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Shelley Winters and Ellen Burstyn. Ted did his Shakespearean training with Patrick Tucker of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Ted has been an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, as well as a casting associate at MCA/UNIVERSAL where he worked with Bonnie Timmermann. Ted co-founded the Frog & Peach Theatre Company, a New York City-based Shakespeare company with Lynnea Benson, his wife and fellow Actors Studio member, and served as its Artistic Director and Lead Actor. The Company just celebrated its 23rd season. Ted is thrilled to pass on everything he has learned from Lee to his students.