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.

Gina Bonati has been teaching Method Acting since 2001. Early studies in Stanislavski’s Method from high school teacher, Lewis Campbell as well as ACT Young Conservatory led to further pursuit. In 1981 she moved to New York to earn a BFA from the Dance Division of The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, she continued her acting studies, studying with John Stix. In 1982, she began studying Lee Strasberg’s Method Acting Technique with Sharon Chatten continuing with Sharon for years, Sharon being of most influence; further influences are Geraldine Baron and directors, Ildiko Nemeth, Lee Grant and Robert Woodruff. 

A lifetime member of the Actors Studio since 2003, she continues to bring work into sessions and holds her membership most dear. She has acted all over the world and counts her experience opening for the Centennial at The Strindberg Intima Theatre, Stockholm in August Strindberg’s The Stronger (directed by Lee Grant and Elizabeth Kemp) as one of her most memorable stage successes. She works as a theater artist with The New Stage Theatre. She creates Dance-Theater works in installation, dance, theater, image, and sound. She holds two master’s degrees. She teaches and creates work internationally. She loves the stage with all her heart.

Maria C Byers is elated to return home to LSTFI! She graduated with a BFA in drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied at LSTFI and the Experimental Theater Wing. She recently choreographed State Fair, Hello, Dolly!, Bye Bye Birdie, and Curtains. Some other past favorites include: Hairspray, The Producers, Anything Goes, and Oklahoma!.

Onstage, She recently played Lorraine Flemming in a regional production of her favorite show, 42nd Street. When she is not choreographing and performing, Maria is extremely passionate about theater education and also teaches at Stage Left Children’s Theater (Tappan, NY) and Young Peoples Theater Workshop (Swarthmore, Pa)

Sakile Camara graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts with a concentration in Musical Theatre. Soon after graduation she performed at The Kennedy Center numerous times, as well as Arena Stage and other theatres in the DC area. A few of the shows she has been a part of have won and been nominated for Helen Hayes Awards. She has also worked on various projects as a Voice Actor for Graphic Audio, where she has worked on many graphic novels, including Black Panther where she portrayed Black Panther’s sister Shuri. She then moved to NYC and has had roles on TV in shows on NBC, Showtime and Comedy Central. Along with acting she is a teacher at Meisner in Music and has taught at Pace University’s School of the Performing Arts. She has been teaching for 12 years and has continued her training in the city with teachers such as Ted Wold, Christopher Bayes, Midori Nakamura, Heidi Marshall and others. She has also worked with directors Phylicia Rashad, Aaron Posner and Onur Tukel and has acted alongside Awkwafina, Natasha Lyonne and Anika Noni Rose. 

Nick Cianfrogna is a New York-based actor and teaching artist in speech and voice. He is graduate of NYU/Tisch and CAP21 with a BFA in Drama as well as the Kristin Linklater Voice Center in Orkney, Scotland where he became designated as a Linklater Teacher. He teaches in the MFA program at Columbia University and in the BFA programs at The New School, CAP21/Molloy College, and The Lee Strasberg Institute at NYU. At CAP21 he was also the director of the Creative Ensemble Project that specialized in Voice, Movement, and Text. Nick’s talents specialize in dialect work, most notable with Emmy Award winner Ann Dowd for HBO’s The Leftovers, and with Jimmy Biberi for his role in the feature film Ocean’s 8. He was the dialect coach for the University of Delaware’s REP production of Our Country’s Good, NYU’s Safety Net (dir. Young Jean Lee), and numerous Off-Broadway productions. He assisted Susan Cameron with her book Perfecting Your English Pronunciation, published by McGraw-Hill, and recently recorded voice over for the 2nd edition. Nick also teaches accent reduction to students from around the world. As an actor, Nick has worked in television, online media, film, and stage. He can be seen in the short film The Professor, starring Betsy Brandt of Breaking Bad. He also starred in the web series Handsome Town and guest starred in Chaos Theory, both airing online at phoebetv.com. Nick is also the creator and host of the YouTube cooking show Fantasy Food Show.

Susan Grace Cohen is a graduate of the Juilliard School. Formerly a professor at NYU/Tisch Film & TV Department, Ms. Cohen has been a faculty member at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute for over 15 years. In October, 2008, Ms. Cohen was honored to represent the United States in the work of Lee Strasberg, at the international Methodic Theatrical Festival in Tuscany. Guest master acting teachers and directors were represented from throughout the world. Ms. Cohen’s former students include James Gandolfini (Sopranos), Linda Hamilton (Terminators 1 & 2,) Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Arc), James Spader (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Boston Legal), Melora Walters (Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Big Love (HBO), Mel Harris (Thirtysomething), Justin Chambers (Grey’s Anatomy) Heather Juergensen (Kissing Jessica Stein), and most recently, Sarah Burns, (I Love You, Man). She is author of Bridging the Gap, Student to Professional Actor, and is a contributing essayist to Soul of the American Actor. Recently, Ms. Cohen received the James L. Hearst Guest Lecturer Award in the Arts and Humanities at the University of Northern Iowa. A newly published book entitled: Acting Teachers of America interviews Ms. Cohen about her studies with and teaching for Lee Strasberg. Susan teaches Method Acting at LSTFI.

Lola Cohen trained with Lee Strasberg during the last 5 years of his life and has taught Method Acting for 31 years at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in NY and LA and in private classes. Lola is an NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Strasberg Faculty member. After Lee’s death, Lola continued her training with Method actress/teacher Kim Stanley and the acclaimed director Jose Quintero. She 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 and in 2009 played Judge Kaplan in Rik Cordero’s Inside a Change, which won best film at HBO’s Latino International Film Festival in 2010. Lola’s directorial credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Woodstock Youth Theater; Jean Genet’s The Maids at LSTFI and Lewis John Carlino’s Snow Angel while at the 2009 Artist-in-Residence at SUNY-Ulster. Lola is also an Associate Adjunct Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School where for the last fifteen years she has taught her class “Intensive Communication Skills for Attorneys”. Lola’s first book, The Lee Strasberg Notes (Routledge, 2010) was done in close cooperation with the Strasberg family and is in multiple printings. Lola’s second book, The Method Acting Exercises Handbook, was published by Routledge in 2017. Lola has lectured at Pratt Institute, The National Film School of Denmark, 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 awarded with a Fulbright Specialist Scholar designation, 2017-2020. She has conducted additional Master Classes internationally in Milan, IT; Lisbon, PO; Copenhagen, DK; Moscow, RU and at the Chekhov International School, Melikhovo, RU where she serves on the faculty.

“Woodstocker Lola Cohen on Teaching Acting in Russia”

Carmela Corbett is an actress, writer and producer who sings. A dual citizen of the UK & USA, she grew up in London and went on to study acting at The Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City followed by The Juilliard School. She has performed on stage in major theatres in London’s West End and in both New York and Los Angeles. On-screen, she has appeared as Lola in the BBC series Undercover, and in the final season of the highly popular Mad Men. 

In October 2020, Carmela wrote, produced and starred in the British drama short film, Her Majesty, executive produced by Pete Townshend and directed by Rebekah Fortune. The film premiered at the Oscar/BAFTA qualifying LA Shorts 2021 and is a selection of the BAFTA qualifying Norwich Film Festival in the UK. Most recently Carmela won a best actress award for her work in the film at both The Strasberg film festival and the Midlands Film Awards UK. The film won Best Drama Short from the New Renaissance Film festival and Best of the Fest from Strasberg festival 2022. Carmela’s stage play version of Her Majesty was recently shortlisted into the top 1% by the BBC writers room 2021 (“as close to contemporary as possible… a unique piece of writing that finds the best in people without being sentimental”). 

In 2019 Carmela co-wrote, produced and starred in the pilot episode of DAUGHTERHOOD, a comedy set in Los Angeles and directed by Cecilia Albertini. It also features Evan Handler and Carolyn Hennesy and premiered at The HollyShorts Festival 2020. Her writing projects have been officially selected in numerous major international writing competitions such as the Academy Award Qualifying HollyShorts Screenwriting competition, Sundance New Voices Lab, ScreenCraft, Shore Scripts and Write LA. 

Carmela is extremely passionate about supporting women who have experienced, or who are currently experiencing domestic abuse and she is a Women’s Aid Community Ambassador. She is currently working on a play dealing with this subject. She is the director of production company, Corbett Productions, and lives in New York City where she mentors and teaches emerging performers both privately and in a class setting. www.carmelacorbett.com

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.

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.

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 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. Recent choral events include the GenOUT teen chorus performing their song “Caitlyn” in concert with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. Their partnership is also the subject of the recent music documentary “Dream On, a songwriting life” by filmmaker Bill Hopkins. Recipients of a Bistro Award, several ASCAP awards, and a grant from Meet the Composer, Robert & Anya are currently recording a new CD entitled “Listen”. 

Jackob Hofmann has been working professionally in theatre since the early 1990s. His NY directing credits include an array of Off-Broadway productions and staged readings for Abingdon Theatre including the NY premieres of John Morogiello’s Engaging Shaw (NY Times Critics’ Pick) and Blame it on Beckett. Additional NY directing credits include productions of: Unwrap Your Candy, Tower of Toys, Xavier Speaks, Tracking Gertrude Tredwell, and The Speed Date. Notable acting credits include Theatre Row productions of: Marat/Sade, Holy Ghosts, Dark of the Moon, Footprints on the Moon, and The Tempest. Also a playwright, Jackob’s drama, A Persistent Memory, was produced Off-Broadway at The Beckett Theatre, in 2016, by MBL Productions. He is a two time finalist in Samuel French’s OOB Short Play Festival. Honored to be a faculty member at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Jackob also works as an adjunct theatre professor/director at Fairfield University. His Theatre Fairfield directing credits include: Avenue Q, Rhinoceros, Authenticity, The Thanksgiving Play, and Silent Sky. Jackob graduated with his BFA from The New School and his MFA from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. AEA, SAG-AFTRA, SDC

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.

Hayley Jannielli (they/she) is an actor, director, and Designated Linklater Voice Teacher working toward the embodiment of freed expression in safe, inclusive spaces. A San Diego native, Hayley earned their M.F.A. in Acting from UC Irvine where they studied directly with Phil Thompson of Knight-Thompson Speech. Hayley also has an extensive improv background, and trained with Joe Bill and Tara DeFrancisco at iO Chicago. Hayley was the Swing and Dance Captain on the National Tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and upon moving to NYC in 2016 played Lady Macbeth in over 250 performances of the Off-Broadway hit Drunk Shakespeare. Regional credits include Mill Mountain Theatre, PCPA Theaterfest, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Davis Shakespeare Festival, and Moonlight Stage Productions. (AEA, SAG-AFTRA) hayleyjannielli.com 

“Discovery is a quest to uncover what is already there.” – TJ & Dave

Tate Kenney is a working actress, producer and teaching artist. She holds an Honors Bachelor’s degree in English and Film from the University of Western Ontario and graduated from the Two Year conservatory program at LSTFI NY, where she was the recipient of the Vincent D’Onofrio scholarship award. Since graduating, Tate has worked steadily on numerous film and television shows. Leading up to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Tate was working on the latest season of American Horror Story: Delicate, with Emma Roberts and Kim Kardashian. Most recently, she was a lead walker in the premiere episode of AMC’s Walking Dead spin-off, Dead City, and she played Chloe Jones in Rian Johnson’s Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne and Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Peacock. She will appear on ABC’s 20/20 next month in a special about the Long Island serial killer. For more on Tate, visit www.tatekenney.com.

Pat Kiely is a writer/director/actor. He has directed 10 feature films, mostly in comedy and romantic comedy. Some of note include ANOTHER KIND OF WEDDING, starring Kathleen Turner, Wallace Shawn, and Frances Fisher. THREE NIGHT STAND premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. WHO IS KK DOWNEY?, which he also starred in, opened with the highest per screen average in Canada and won him four best director awards at fests around the world. John Anderson at VARIETY called it “A truly funny movie.”  As an actor, Kiely recently appeared alongside Gabriel Byrne in the feature film, DEATH OF A LADIES MAN. He played a key role in Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL, which was nominated for BEST PICTURE at the Academy Awards. He also appeared in THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN F. DONOVAN starring Kit Harrington and Natalie Portman. He has acted in numerous television shows – some notables include BEING HUMAN (Syfy) and SEED (Rogers). Kiely got his start as a founding member of KidnapperFilms, a punk-rock film group that mounted live comedy shows. Kidnapper toured around North America, playing stages like UCB (NY), Comedy Central Stage (LA), and earned a showcase at the Just for Laughs Festival (MONTREAL).

Michael Kushner is NYC’s leading multi-hyphenate and the Executive Producer of the EMMY Nominated series Indoor Boys. In true multi-hyphenate form, Michael’s book How to be a Multi-Hyphenate in the Theatre Business, published by Routledge Publishing is arriving fall of 2022. 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

Midori is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher. She has taught Voice for the Maggie Flanagan Studio, Molloy/CAP21, New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, and the New York Film Academy, as well as coaching private clients in both acting and voice. As an actor, she has worked in film, TV, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, for Shakespeare in the Park, at the Kennedy Center, at the RSC, and in regional theater —working with George C. Wolfe (three times), Philip Seymour Hoffman (three times), Alec Baldwin (two times). She has also acted alongside Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, Angela Bassett, Bill Irwin, Keanu Reeves, Michael C. Hall, Liev Schrieber, Karen Allen, Del Close, Kim Cattrall, Jennifer Anniston. Directors she has acted under include Morgan Freeman, Lena Dunham, Barry Levenson, Peter Sellars, Nicholas Hytner, Austin Pendleton, James Lapine, Jerzy Grotowski, Joe Chaikin. Midori co-directed, co-produced, and co-edited T’an Bakhtale, a documentary about the Russian Roma, which received awards from the American Association of Anthropology and the Royal Anthropological Institute. She assisted Karen Allen in her directorial debut, A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud.

Ron NaVarre has been teaching at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute for more than twenty years. As an actor, dancer, singer, director and choreographer, Ron has worked on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Regional Theater, Film, Television, Commercials, and Industrial Theater. As an adjunct Professor, Ron has taught tai chi at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York University, and the Pacific Institute of Chinese Medicine. Along with Madeline Jaye he is also the co-creator of Actors Launch, an audition prep and career guidance training program for actors and performing artists. Ron is the founder of Stress Defense, Inc. and has taught seminars on stress management, self-healing and effective communication to fortune 500 companies and health clubs. A lifelong martial artist he has trained in Tang Soo Do, TaeKwon Do, Hapkido, Aikido and Tai Chi Chuan. In the healing arts, Ron has taught mindfulness meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, Reiki and Rei Qong for over thirty years. For the last ten years, Ron had been working with cancer patients and post surgical patients as an energy therapist and spiritual counselor.

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.

Charles Nuckolls is a writer, director and producer of theatre, film and television. His programming has been seen on national cable, PBS and local broadcast networks. La MaMa, The Blank Theatre and Ensemble Studio Theatre have presented his theatrical productions in Los Angeles and New York. His other exhibitions include Urbanworld Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Williamstown Film Festival, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Video Frontiers Festival, Perugia; The New Foundation, Seattle; and PRX- Public Radio Exchange.

His awards include: Emmy Award Nomination, National Academy of Television Arts And Sciences; Best Documentary, National Federation of Local Cable Programmers; Silver Cindy Award, Association of Visual Communicators; Best Long Documentary; New York University Video Festival – Two Consecutive Years. His foundation support includes grants from the American Film Institute and the Writers Guild of America.

He has developed work in Europe, Asia, North America and the Caribbean and teaches film at the School for Visual Arts in New York and dramatic writing at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. He holds a BFA in Film and Television Production from Tisch School for the Arts, New York University, a MA in Theatre from Hunter College and is a member of the Playwrights/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio and The Dramatists Guild.

Azudi Onyejekwe is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, justice advocate, and proud first-generation Igbo-American. As an actor, he has performed in numerous productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at multiple Tony award-winning regional theatres across the country including the Guthrie Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, and the American Repertory Theater. He is a member of the original Broadway casts of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and Violet (where he was the standby for the role of Flick opposite Sutton Foster). His TV/Film credits include Madam Secretary and HairBrained. Azudi holds an honors degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a double major in Theatre and Africana Studies. As a writer and justice advocate, his most recent essay which he penned for The Theatre Times in the wake of the murder of George Floyd (“The Dangers of Optical Illusionary Performative Activism”), was translated and republished by Korean Theatre Journal, the official association of the Korean Association of Theatre Critics. In addition to LSTFI, Azudi is also on the acting faculties of Molloy College/CAP21 and LIU-Brooklyn/The New Group Education. He also serves as a vocal coach for Voice Academy NYC and a teaching fellow for Musical Mentors Collaborative (a non-profit arts program devoted to providing free access to professional instruction for young people from systemically marginalized communities). Azudi privately coaches monologue work, audition prep, and vocal performance. 

Lorca Peress has been on the LSTFI Faculty since 2000, and NYU-Strasberg Faculty since 2001. Lorca is a director and performer specializing in new works. She is the Founder/Artistic Director of MultiStages, a multicultural, multidisciplinary company that has developed new works since 1997. She has directed over 50 theatre, opera, and musical productions in NYC (The Public Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Acorn at Theatre Row, Theatre for the New City, et al), and at LSTFI and other universities. Lorca performed and toured for many years as an actor and singer. Awards and Grants include: 2017 Institute of Puerto Rico Award, NYMF 2017 Next Link Project, Women in Arts & Media Collaboration Awards, National Opera Prizes, 2015 Taino Areito Award, HOLA Zaldivar Outstanding Production Award, Manhattan Community Arts Grants (LMCC/DCA), Dramatists Guild Fund Award, La MaMa Inky Award. She was Co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women (2011-14), and a featured panelist and moderator for theatre organizations focused on diversity and gender parity. She curated NYU hotINK Festivals for LSTFI (2002-10), and served 2 years on NYU Production Committee. A graduate of Bennington College (BA in Drama) and National Theatre Institute. Professional studies with Shelly Winters, Gene Frankel, Leonard Melfi, and at LSTFI with Irma Sandrey and Charlie Laughton, and YAP. Unions/Member: AEA, SAG-AFTRA, SDC, LPTW, NTC.

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.

Mira Rakhmanova a New York based actress, stage director and producer. She currently works in film and TV, projects include The Americans and House of Cards. She holds an MA in Economics from prestigious Moscow State University where she also started her professional training in acting. She studied acting also at the Moscow Art Theatre School.

Mira has worked in leading theatre companies in Russia, including Pyotr Fomenko Theatre, Vakhtangov Theatre, Gogol Center Theatre, Meyerhold Theatre, and Bolshoi Theatre. In 2012, she graduated from The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York and went on to work in the industry in the US. 

Mira’s technique rests upon the combination of the Lee Strasberg Method, Stanislavsky tradition, and first-hand experience of working with top directors. She believes that discovering individual talent and natural uniqueness in each one of her students is key to building their actor’s craft. She knows how complex and fragile this path may be, and she provides enormous support and personal attention to every student.

Sarah Rayani is a professional singer, dancer and vocal coach. She specializes in speech and accent reduction and teaching the dialects of the British Isles. Sarah received her MA in the Practice of Voice and Singing from the Guildford School of Acting in her native United Kingdom. Sarah feels passionately about drawing on wisdom from both the speech and singing sides of the voice world in order to make her student’s healthy and effective professionals. Sarah performed as both a solo artist and as the lead singer of Blue On Wax for seven years, appearing at numerous venues in New York City as well as in the UK. Sarah also has recording and songwriting credits. She has appeared in various music videos as well as Sex and the City 2.

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.

Alicia Rodis (she/her) is an NYC-based fight director, intimacy director/coordinator and stunt performer. She is a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, and pioneered the role of intimacy coordinator in the US. She serves as the intimacy coordinator for HBO studios where she has served on productions such as And Just Like That, The Deuce, Mare of Easttown, Insecure, Watchmen, Betty, High Maintenance, amongst others. Recent intimacy and fight direction credits include The Juilliard School (Indecent, Cardboard Piano, Plano, Life is a Dream), Columbia University (Where Do We Live), Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (August: Osage County, 1984), the Yale School of Drama (Slave Play) and most recently consulted for Come From Away’s post pandemic return to Broadway. Alicia is the creative director of Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC) which specializes in training performers and industry professionals to better approach intimate scenes. 

Tom Rowan is a playwright, author, and director. He has taught for NYU/Stella Adler Studio and TVI, Inc., among other studios. His many directing credits include A Little Night Music, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Denver Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Director), Landscape of the Body (Westword Award for Best Director), Master Class, Fifth of July, Coastal Disturbances, and the fortieth anniversary New York production of A Chorus Line (Queens Kudos Awards for Best Director and Best Production of a Musical, 2016). He has directed eighteen full productions of Shakespeare plays for venues including The Mirror Players, Princeton Rep, Theater 1010, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Tom is the author of the books A Chorus Line FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Broadway’s Singular Sensation, and Rent FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Broadway’s Blaze of Glory, both published by Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. His produced plays include Kiss and Cry, The Second Tosca, and David’s Play (all recently published by Next Stage Press), The Blue Djinn, and Faye Drummond. Tom has an MFA in Directing from the University of Washington School of Drama and completed a directing fellowship with the Drama League. He is a lifetime member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he has worked as Literary Manager and Casting Director; he has also done casting for other companies, including the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Austin Shakespeare, and Urbanite Theatre of Sarasota.

www.TomRowan.net

Michael Kevin Ryan trained as a dancer with Martha Graham, Hanya Holm and Merce Cunningham. As an actor he has worked extensively in his native Australia as well as Germany where he studied with Eugenio Barba and Jerzy Grotowski. 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 most recently in Man Made at The Ohio Theater NY. Also in New York: Uncontrollable Elements at The Kitchen, his own The Pasolini Tapes at The Knitting Factory and Enter The Dragon at Second Stage and Escalator, a performance piece for the architects Diller and Scofidio at The Museum of Modern Art. At The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute NY, where he has been on the faculty for 18 years 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. He has also 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 Josh Bowman (Revenge, Time After Time) Adria Arjona (True Detective, Emerald City and Good Omens) and Henry Garrett (Poldark, The Son).

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

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.