FACULTY

Katie McHugh is a New York based director, teacher and producer of theatre and film with a B.A. in Theatre from Florida State University and an MFA in directing from The New School for Drama. She is the Founding Director of the Southeastern Teen Shakespeare Company, Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory at the Actors Movement Studio, and Co-Artistic Director of Les Exportables, a theatre company in New York and Quebec. Katie is an award-winning director who specializes in devised and experimental theatre. Her enthusiasm for educational theatre earned her a nomination for the Champion of the Arts Award in 2006, and the Big Read Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 2007. New York directing credits include: Travis Winters by Nick Gandiello in the New York 15-Minute Play Festival (Winner of Best Play, Audience Choice Award, and Best Director), The Author’s Voice at The Cell Theater, Euripides’ Medea in the New School for Drama’s New Visions festival, Jubilation Mississippi by Stephen Bittrich in the Drilling Company’s Happiness Festival, Producer and Director of The Winter Comedy Fest at Theatre 54, Dim Sum by Deborah Savadge in the Drilling Company's Debt Festival, and The List by Jennifer Tremblay in the New York International Fringe Festival 2012 (Winner of Overall Excellence in a Solo Performance).  The List was chosen to perform internationally in the first Mexican Fringe Festival of San Miguel de Allende, October 2013.  Film credits include: Co-director of “Off Off the Webseries” www.offoffwebseries.com, Director and Associate Producer of “Internet Affairs” www.internetaffairs.tv.  Katie is an Associate Member of the League of Professional Theatre Women and producer of the Playwright’s Gallery reading series 2013-2014. She is also a four-time director for the Writopia World Wide Plays Festival sponsored by David Letterman, as well as a guest director with the NYU dramatic writing program. After directing her second production in Mexico in February of 2015, Waiting for Goddreau preceded by Shut up Kathleen, Katie was named an Artistic Ambassador of the Mexican Fringe Festival San Miguel.  View Full Bio here.

Elke Van Dyke is a New York based teacher, director, actor, aerialist and producer of theatre and Shakespeare. She is the Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory NYC at the Actors Movement Studio and Co-Founding Artistic Director of Gotham Shakespeare Co. She trained as a teacher and actor at Shakespeare & Company with Founders Tina Packer and Dennis Krausnick and is a graduate of Brooklyn College 's MFA Performing Arts Management and The New School University's BA Theatre programs. In addition to coaching professional and young professional actors in workshops and private sessions, she has also headed three high school theatre programs (nationally and internationally, including Mexico.) Elke also served as the Theatre Education Special Projects Manager at the New York City Department of Education where she co-authored American Voices (a theatre curriculum for high school teachers) and collaborated with the Royal Shakespeare Company's Education Department to bring Shakespeare into NYC classrooms for the RSC's summer residency at Lincoln Center. Elke continues to teacher facilitate in the NYCDOE’s Professional Development workshops where she trains teachers in theatre pedagogy and physical theatre techniques. Directing credits include: Servant of Two Masters (University of West Florida), Tempest (Shakespeare & Co. Fall Festival) and Everywhere I Look (International Applied Theatre Conference, London, UK).  Stage credits include: Titania in The Dream Project (Yonder Window Theatre Company, NYC), Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pensacola Shakespeare Theatre), Alva Vanderbilt in the Grand Ball in the Belle Epoch (Actors Movement Studio, NYC), Tamora in Titus Andronicus (Gotham Shakespeare Co. NYC), and Emma in Fefu and Her Friends (20% Theatre Company, NYC). Elke has also been an avid improv performer with London’s Hoopla group. Elke performed her first professional aerial silks performance in Oct 2017 and continues to train in aerial silks for Yonder Window Theatre Company's ongoing production of The Dream Project.

JANICE ORLANDI

Master Movement Specialist
Williamson Movement Certified
Viewpoints & Composition
Michael Chekhov Acting Technique

Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory, Movement Specialist in Psychophysical Methods of Training, Character Transformation, Physical Dramaturgy and Period Styles. London Premier Movement Director & Period Style Choreographer: THE OTHER MOZART at St. James Theater, London, Winner Outstanding Solo Show, Innovative Theater Awards, Drama Desk Nominee, Off Broadway Alliance Nominee Best Solo Performance, Here Arts Festival NYC, Cherry Lane Theatre ALL FOR ONE Solo Festival, Berkshire Fringe Festival. Directing credits include: View Full Bio Here 

DAVE DEMKE

Linklater Voice Technique

Mr. Demke received his BA in Theatre Arts from Minnesota State University, and his MFA in Performance from the University of Maryland. He was the Artistic Director of Stark Raving Theatre in Portland, OR; the Associate Director of Training for Shakespeare & Company; and a principle dancer with the Red River Dance Company in Fargo, ND. As an actor he has appeared in productions in New York and regionally, as well as performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in Beijing, China. As a director he has worked extensively in Portland, OR, and at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. He has guest directed at
View Full Bio Here

CHRISTOPHER TRAMANTANA

Clown

Christopher Tramantana is an actor, director, and educator. A proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, he has acted professionally in theatre, film, and television.  He has taught Clown, Games, and Play at NYU Tisch’s Meisner Studio, The Graduate Acting Program at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, The John DeSotelle Studio in NYC, and at Queensborough Community College. He studied with Jane Nichols, Aitor Basauri, and Jim Calder; head of Movement for The NYU Tisch graduate acting program. But the most life changing experience occurred when he met Christopher Bayes; master teacher of Clown and head of Physical Acting at Yale School of Drama. View Full Bio Here

ANDREW HAYES

Stage Combat
SAFD Certified Teacher

Professor of Communication and Theatre at DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana).  Twenty-five year higher education professional teaching, acting, directing, producing, and designing over thirty university, community, and professional productions in Nebraska, Virginia, Indiana, and Massachusetts.  Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors since 2001. Fight Direction for over twenty university and professional theatre productions and independent films. Certified teacher of the Society of American Fight Directors.

MARI LYN HENRY

The Profession of Acting
Author of How to be a Working Actor

MARI LYN HENRY, author, teacher, actor and theatre historian founded the Society for the Preservation of Theatrical History to reacquaint today’s actors with the great actresses and visionaries of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  www.SocietyPTH.com.

Her workshops on on-camera techniques, script analysis, auditioning and impression management have been very successful in cities and universities across the country. CAREER INTELLIGENCE Seminars about “The Business of the Business” are based on her best-selling book How To Be A Working Actor,  (Howtobeaworkingactor.com). View Full Bio Here

JONAS KOBBERDAL

Administrator

Jonas is a Norwegian actor/artist. He is currently exploring life as a digital nomad but considers New York his true home. Jonas is a graduate of the Company Program at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts NY and the founder of Copper Valley Productions. Jonas is passionate about the power theater has to connect people and of sharing that magic with the world. He is thrilled to be helping the next generation of performing artists through the New York Teen Shakespeare Intensive. Jonas is also the co-founder of Stagepunch.