#actingteacher

Winter 2026 It’s so nice to be back in NYC after many years in California. The sun shines in the artists here. I am happy to report I am working with a selected group of actors again and looking forward to it. If you feel like doing some method work in a very safe space let me know. If you’d like to connect message me here. [email protected]

I’m sitting here minding my own business, listening to a YouTube loop of jazz music combined with rain, creating an ambience akin to that of a favorite coffee joint around the corner. I’ve been in my share of these; warming my hands with a latte while people-watching, wondering quietly about the lives the people around me must live.

On this day or all days, when it’s clearly the summertime in this part of the world, while I’m seated quietly doing next to nothing, why did your face... that thoughtful, smiling, freckled face that infused any and every room you occupied with palpable joy... why did it just pop into my mind?

As far as I know, it’s not your birthday. You and I weren’t actually close to one another by any stretch of the imagination, so for sure no one is celebrating a significant occasion. Not an anniversary, not a graduation, nothing. My last image of you was of a memory... I was sitting in on an acting class you were teaching. Some new faces, some more familiar, all of them devastatingly beautiful. There was a late night powwow that followed, I no longer remember where. All I know was that I was saying good-bye to my life in Los Angeles, and I know that I needed to say good-bye to you, as you were in some way a big enough part of it.

I never really got to thank you, you know? Not in any way that would’ve really mattered. And I know that you can’t hear me anymore since you’ve passed away. God, that’s way too benign a way to describe how you left this mortal coil. You “passed away.” I’m still angry, you know? Angry that it happened at all.

And yes, I’m grateful that our paths crossed at all. I remember you clearly when I see my classmates being their badass selves. Misha, Sumalee, Joe, Kate, just to name a few. When I see them, I think of you. And I’m grateful.

I miss you. I know, it’s been a minute, but I miss you. I was going to take a class with you again, just to do a checkup of my chops. But mostly just to see you. But it never happened, be it due to jet lag, or schedules or whatever.

I was so proud when you created your own studio. Yes, a space to call his own! He’s going to touch so many lives in the way he touched mine, and I couldn’t help but feel my heart filled with glee at the thought of that.

But you’re gone. It’s a loss they will never know, a loss that those you have touched will feel for, maybe forever.

I don’t know why you’re haunting me today. Maybe it’s because I have a self-tape to do in a few hours, and you would’ve been the one to guide me through it (I’ve been aided by someone truly excellent, so I’m in safe and able hands, don’t you worry). I remember the one time I sought you for a private coaching session; you knew how to make me feel safe and ready to take on that audition panel. No, I didn’t get the job, but it didn’t matter. You made acting feel like it wasn’t as intimidating as I once thought. And every time I act now, I keep you at the forefront of my mind, as if you’re right there behind me, guiding me through it.

I’ve rambled on enough, I think... this long-winded post is my roundabout way of telling you how much I valued you as my teacher. If your spirit is still floating around somewhere, I want you to know that.

Acting Classes

Only the imaginative, risk-taking, transformational actor can inhabit new emotional, physical and vocal territory. Therefore, the goal is to expand the self to encompass the character, not to contract the character to the limited self.

And so, training in the theatre is all about opening and revealing. Even “technique” or skill classes of quality should have as their goal the releasing of the heart, mind, and soul of the actor. For, in the end, true creativity and a singular vision can only come from the deepest sources of personal intuition and impulse. And an artist of vision will ultimately have a greater impact than an artist of competence. To achieve these goals, students are encouraged to approach their work boldly and with a spirited sense of play. They are trained to be in the habit of experimenting and working without fear. Only risk-taking will lead to those rewards. After all, revising the insignificant or the habit is an empty exercise.

Passion and commitment are not only required of the professional. A student’s commitment is at least as important as his/her talent level. We’ve all seen first-year conservatory students with great facility who are either too unmotivated or unfocused to follow-through on their promise. The committed student, on the other hand, discovers that hard work, perseverance and the love of a challenge will lead to a life of earned rewards.

Finally, it is my task to train the student to think and create independently of his teacher. Therefore, we do not concentrate on temporary results, but on the power of the working process. If I can impart the tools of the trade to my students and those students can employ those tools to create wondrous things from the richest part of his or her experience and imagination, I will know that I have done my job.

I provide many acting classes including actor improvisation, acting with the camera, auditioning on camera, multi-scene study, character masks, and more. To learn more about all my actor workshops and classes, contact me today!