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Adjunct Profiles
P SETH BAUER, CLASSICAL TRADITION & PLAYWRITING P Seth Bauer was recently named one of the “People of the Year” for making an impact on the New York theatre scene. His plays include EARLY IN THE MOURNING, OVER THE LINE, DAHLIA, IPHIGENIA, THE KARMA COOKIE, THE UMBRELLA PLAY, THE BURGLAR OF SUBURBIA, and THE TIP. In New York, his plays have been presented and developed by New Group, Signature, EST, the Actors Studio, Epic Theatre Ensemble, TheAtrainplays, 24 Hour Play Co., The Lark, the WorkShop, PSNBC at HERE, Hypothetical, 78th St. Theatre Lab, Drilling Company, Boomerang among others. Regional credits include New York Stage and Film, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Sundance, Cleveland Public Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Eureka Stage, Hangar Theatre, Iron Wings Theatre Company, frontera@hydepark, 1812, Brat Productions, Capitol City Playhouse and George Street Playhouse. His work has also performed in the UK, Germany, and Italy. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Smith & Krause, Algonquin, and New York Theatre Experience and Fisher Verlag. Screenwriting/TV credits: WET, THE PILOT, A.R.C., THE UMBRELLA STORY. He holds a BA from Oberlin, and an MFA from University of Texas at Austin where he was the recipient of the James A. Michener fellowship. He also teaches at University of the Arts.
BOBBI BLOCK, THEATER WORKSHOP Bobbi Block has been performing, teaching, producing and directing Improvisational Theatre in the Philadelphia area for the past 16 years. She is the Founder /Artistic Director and performs with the reality-based longform improv company, Tongue & Groove. In 2007 Bobbi conceived and directed LEAP: The Actors’ Improv Experiment, for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Bobbi was the Co-Producer and Education Director of the Barrymore Award-winning improvisational theatre company, ComedySportz Philadelphia, for 15 years, and was Artistic Director of the company for 2 years. In addition, Bobbi has been performing longform improv for 11 years with LunchLady Doris, and performed with the interdisciplinary improvisational theatre company, Playback Philadelphia, for four years. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Bobbi got her Masters degree in Theatre from Villanova University, and has since trained with master improvisers in Chicago, NYC and LA. Bobbi has taught improv at the University of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, Bucks County Community College, the Wilma Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, ComedySportz, Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) and private classes. She currently teaches Improv at Temple University. As a Communications Skills Consultant, Bobbi travels the world using acting, improv and theatre techniques to train corporate executives in leadership and team development skills.
DEBORAH BLOCK, THEATER ARTS AND CREATIVITY As a director, dramaturge or choreographer Deborah has worked on over 50 professional and 40 educational productions with a professional emphasis on new plays and movement based theater. Her work has been seen in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Alaska. Deborah was one of the founding organizers of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe and was the program director for nine years. Some awards include the Independence Fellowship in the Arts, The Albert Benzwie Memorial Scholarship in Playwriting. She is currently the co-artistic director of Theatre Exile and received her MFA in Theatre at Temple University.
NANCY BOYKIN, ACTING Nancy Boykin has worked as an actress in the professional theatre for more than twenty years. She has performed a range of roles from Shakespeare, the classics, contemporary and new plays in theatres such as The Long Wharf, New York Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She was honored by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle as Best Actress for her portrayal of 'Juno' in Juno and the Paycock. In Philadelphia, Ms. Boykin has worked at the Wilma, the Arden, Interact and Act II Playhouse. She holds her MFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
MARLA BURKHOLDER, VOICE & SPEECH Marla Burkholder holds a BA in English and Theater from Eastern Mennonite University and an MFA in Acting from Temple
University. She teaches Voice and Speech for theater majors at Temple University and Muhlenberg College, along with dialect coaching productions at various Philadelphia area theaters. Marla is a members of Actor's Equity Association
and the Co-Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Clark Park.
TIM CRASKEY, MUSICAL THEATER DANCE Tim Craskey, originally from Philadelphia, began his professional career as a dancer with Jean Anne Hughes and the JazzWorks dance company in Center City at the age of 15. Tim has most recently appeared on the first national tour of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". Tim's Broadway credits include “Sweet Charity” with Christina Applegate and Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Aida” where Tim was a featured dancer. Other film and television credits include Whitney Houston’s “Cinderella” and “Anastasia” in which Tim acted as live reference for the animators of the feature film…as well as numerous national commercial appearances. Tim has also performed as a principal singer and dancer in “Enter the Night” at the Stardust hotel on the Las Vegas strip and has appeared in numerous corporate industrial shows all over the world. Tim was a scholarship student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet and has studied with Charles Kelly, Frank Hatchett, Gus Giordano and Joe Lanteri to name a few.
Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey, lECOQ TECHNIQUEs Emmanuelle Delpech-Ramey (www.emmanuelledr.squarespace.com) was classically trained at the Ecole Superieur d’Art Dramatique de la ville de Paris, and studied physical theatre at Ecole Jacques Lecoq. A member of Pig Iron Theatre Company for eight years, Emmanuelle has been a performer/ co-creator of such critically-acclaimed productions as Gentlemen Volunteers, Flop!, Hell Meets Henry Halfway, and James Joyce is Dead and So Is Paris, for which she won a Barrymore Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. She co-created and performed Madame Douce-Amere, a wordless duet at the 2005 Lives Arts festival, which was also produced by 1812Productions for a month in October 2006. Emmanuelle is currently working on Oedipus at FDR an urban adaptation of Oedipus at Colonus for the 2008 Live Arts festival.
Emmanuelle has taught in many schools and University including Clown at University of the Arts, Moliere and Racine at Swarthmore College and organizes clown workshops in Philadelphia for professional or non-professional actors. Emmanuelle is also part of the new Headlong Performance Institute. www.headlongperformanceinstitute.org
Dirk Durossette, design Dirk has been teaching and designing in the Philadelphia area for the last ten years. He has designed scenery for Temple Theaters, Temple Opera Theater, University of the Arts, Villanova University, Drexel University, West Chester University, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Painted Bird Productions, New City Stage Company, Theater Horizon, Freedom theater, MumPuppettheatre, Gas and Electric Arts, Amaryllis Theater Company, Lantern Theater, and InterAct Theater.
MICHAEL FRIEL, LITERATURE and theater arts Michael Friel has won two national playwriting competitions and has had works produced locally and
throughout the country. In 1995 he appeared on Broadway in Terrence McNally's "Master Class". He holds an MFA in Playwriting from Temple.
DIANE GAARY, ACTING, VOICE, MOVEMENT Diane Gaary teaches speaking voice and movement and has a particular interest in how body use affects the speaking and singing voice. With a BA in Theatre and English from Smith College and an MFA in Acting from The University of Virginia, Diane has teacher certification from The American Society of the Alexander Technique (AmSAT), Alexander Technique International, and the Lessac Institute for Voice and Body Training, as well as Feldenkrais Practitioner certification from the Feldenkrais Guild®. Diane’s training also includes classical singing, numerous theatrical voice and speech techniques, and speech pathology which she studied on the graduate level at the University of Virginia. Diane gives lectures, classes and workshops both nationally and internationally, and she maintains private studios in both Philadelphia and New York City where she teaches professional actors, singers, and dancers who work on Broadway, off Broadway, in regional theatre, and at the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and cabaret.
neill hartley, acting Neill Hartley is involved in several aspects of professional theater. As an actor, he has appeared with many regional companies including the Arden Theatre, InterAct Theatre, and the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival. He shared a best ensemble Philadelphia Barrymore award for Batboy, The Musical for 1812 Productions. He has four one-man shows that he regularly presents: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Spirit of Lindbergh, Sherlock Holmes and The Speckled Band and P.T. Barnum: The Master Showman. His work can also be seen in commercials and films, and he is a spokesperson for Spray-N-Grow, a national gardening company. Neill is the artistic director for Acting Without Boundaries, a theater company for young adults with physical disabilities. He has also directed for Philadelphia Young Playwright’s, the University of the Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, Arcadia University, Luna Theater and New City Stage. He recently directed The Real Inspector Hound at Ursinus College and Madagascar for Isis Productions. He teaches both acting and speech for the University and has acted as a speech/dialect coach for several professional theater productions. Neill holds an MFA in Acting from Temple University.
JENNIFER JACOBS, THEATER HISTORY Jenny Jacobs holds an MA in Theatre from Villanova University, a B.A. in Theatre, Dance, and English with a Musical Theatre minor from Santa Clara University. She is the External Relations Associate for Theatre Exile in Philadelphia, a teacher at the Wolf Performing Arts Center, as well as a dramaturg, director, choreographer, and performer. She teaches in the areas of Musical Theatre, Theatre History, Dance, Voice, and Acting.
BENJAMIN LLOYD, ACTING Benjamin Lloyd is an actor and teacher based in Philadelphia. He has a B.A. in Theater Studies from Yale College, and an M.F.A. in
Acting from The Yale School of Drama. He teaches acting at numerous training programs attached to professional theatres, at local schools sand universities and privately through coaching and his own classes. He is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at People's Light & Theatre in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he performs regularly. In addition to performing at every major theatre in Philadelphia, Ben has acted and directed in New York; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Prague, the Czech Republic. His book, The Actor’s Way: A Journey of Self-Discovery in Letters, was published by Allworth Press in May 2006. He has had articles and book reviews published in New Theatre Quarterly and Theatre Topics.
david o'connor, creativity David completed his MFA in Directing at Temple in 2007. Since arriving in Philadelphia, David has directed numerous productions around town including “Master Harold” … and the boys at Lantern Theater Company, for which he was nominated for a Barrymore Award. Previous to coming to Temple, David worked in theatres in and around Connecticut, especially Seven Angels Theatre, where he directed several productions including Dancing at Lughnasa, for which he was nominated for a Connecticut Critics Circle Award. David has a BFA in Theatrical Production Arts from Ithaca College.
ian rose, stage combat Ian Rose has been staging fights in the New York and Philadelphia areas for over twenty-five years. A Fight Master with Fight Directors Canada, he is also recognized as a Certified Instructor and Fight Director with both The Society of American Fight Directors and Fight Directors Canada.
Ian has worked for Riverside Shakespeare and Interborough Repertory Theatre
in New York, The Whole Theatre in New Jersey, MTM Studios in Rome, to name a few. Closer to home his credits include The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, the Philadelphia Theatre Company and Novel Stages. Ian has taught at six Canadian Nationals, and is one of the creators of the esteemed workshop at Ryerson University in
Toronto. Ian is an adjunct professor at Temple University and Arcadia University. For more information see Ian's website: www.ianrosefights.com
RYDER THORNTON, THEATER ARTS Ryder Thornton received his MFA in directing from Temple, and his BA from the University of Wisconsin. Further performance studies include training programs at the American Conservatory Theater and The Dell Arte School of Physical Theater. Before coming to Philly, he was a Fulbright Scholar in Budapest, where he acted and directed for various English and Hungarian companies, including The Merlin Theater, The Vidam Theater and The Budapest Baroque Orchestra. He has directed and assistant directed at venues in Austria, Hungary, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. He has also worked as an educator at local theater camps and serves the theater community as a Barrymore Award nominator. He is a co-founder of the Philadelphia based company, Kaibutsu— known for site specific theater and selected four times to participate in the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, most recently in 2007 with An•'tis•a•lon which he wrote, directed and produced.
cheryl williams, acting A regional theater actress for over 25 yrs., Cheryl has worked with numerous companies throughout the country, particularly enjoying working on 27 productions of Shakespeare. A sampling of these companies would include Chicago Dramatists, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Purple Rose Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Meadow Brook Theatre, Madison Rep and the Three Rivers, Antioch, Orlando and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals. She received her MFA in Acting from Wayne State University in Detroit while performing with the Hilberry Repertory Theatre. She was honored to receive a Princess Grace Theatre Fellowship for her work with the Attic Theatre, which enabled her to act with the company, while teaching at the Attic Conservatory and in the Detroit Public Schools. Cheryl has lived in NYC, Chicago, and Dayton, Ohio, serving as artist-in residence for Sinclair Community College, where her directorial debut of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure was selected as an ACTF Region III Finalist. Cheryl has also taught at DePaul University in Chicago, Wayne State and conducted various Shakespeare workshops for professional companies.
OTHER FACULTY MEMBERS INCLUDE:
MICHAEL CARLETON, ACTING
ANNE CORLEY, ACTING
PETER DELAURIER, ACTING
MADI DiSTEFANO, ACTING
LISA JO EPSTEIN, WORLD OF THE PLAY
MILLIE HIIBEL, MAKE-UP
WARREN HOFFMAN, DRAMATIC IMAGINATION
ALBERT INNAURATO, PLAYWRITING
DUDLEY KNIGHT, SPEECH
CEAL PHELAN, ACTING