THE FACULTY

Nina D’Abbracci (Alexander Technique, Kinetic Awareness) is a choreographer, dancer, actor and a certified teacher of both The Alexander Technique and Kinetic Awareness. She has taught at NYU and the Ensemble Studio Theater where she directed projects for their Summer Conference.   She maintains a private practice on the Upper West Side and is a faculty member of the Kinetic Awareness Teacher Training Program. Nina teaches at Columbia University, The Linklater Center for Voice and Language and is also a teaching member of Alexander Technique International.  She has studied extensively with George Morrison.

Aditi Das (Administration) is an actor, writer and stage technician. Her most recent acting credits include the short film A Tryst With Destiny, which has collected accolades at several international film festivals. Aditi has appeared in or assisted in the production of over thirty plays in the city. Off-Broadway credits include her starring role in the world premiere of The Nature of Man. She holds a BA in Communications, Psychology and English Literature from Jyoti Nivas College in Bangalore, India and is a graduate of The Workshop.

Jason Hale (Sense Memory, Improvisation) is an actor, director and producer. He has performed across the United States with many regional theaters and ensembles including the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and was a resident actor with the Pennsylvania Stage Co.  Jason has acted, directed and produced Off- and Off-Off- Broadway with several companies including The Theatre Project Ensemble, an Off Broadway company he founded and directed from 2000-2004.  Jason is a graduate of the New Actors Workshop and has studied privately with co-founder Paul Sills since 1991. In addition to being a faculty member at the New Actors Workshop he has taught at Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York University and workshops with the Screen Actors’ Guild, New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Olusum Drama Institute in Istanbul, Turkey. Jason is Managing Producer with the theatrical development company, Collaborations Limited.

Kathy Hendrickson (Improvisation, Acting Technique, Head Administrator) is a performer, writer and director who  has been teaching acting and improvisation for over 15 years both in New York and in Minneapolis. Hendrickson is currently co-founder/artistic director for Exhibit A Performance Group, an ensemble company dedicated to investigating the meaning and significance of movement within a theatrical context, Exhibit A bends, blends, and blurs the boundaries  between theatre, movement, and dance. In addition she is a founding member  of the Resident Company with former members of  Second City, The Compass and Story Theater. From 2003-2006, Hendrickson was founder and director of Present Elevation, a critically acclaimed New York based transformational improvisation company.  She is also a former member of Collision Theory Theatre Company. Most recent directing credits include: 13 Kinds of Desire, Rise Up!, Butterflies Are Free, The Woolgatherer, and Desdemona: A Story About a Handkerchief. Acting credits include: The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It, Dance With Me Harker, Hello from Bertha, As You Like It, Time/Bomb, The Hungry Girls, How I Learned to Drive, as well as a handful of independent films, television pilots and sketch comedy webcasts.  She has written five Story Theater scripts produced in New York. She is currently working on the screenplay of her stage play, Lock 10. Kathy is a graduate of The Workshop and holds a Master of Arts degree in playwriting.

Kathryn Markey (Acting Technique) is an actor, writer, director and comic. She has appeared on Broadway in 3 From Brooklyn and in many New York and regional productions including Rain; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; Brighton  Beach Memoirs; Beau Jest; Isn’t It Romantic?; Sherlock’s Last Case; Story Theater and The Birds.  Her work as a comedy writer and performer has been part of the Toyota Comedy Festival, Marshall’s Women in Comedy Festival and numerous clubs and cabarets. As one-third of the celebrated country band, The Chalks, she has appeared in venues from Palm Springs to Dallas, as well as on Premium Blend for Comedy Central and The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon 2004. Kathryn has directed productions in and around New York and has written a sitcom pilot for Lifetime Television. She studied with George Morrison for over 10 years.

Lester Thomas Shane (Speech, Voice) is a director, writer, actor and teacher. Trained by Edith Skinner, he has worked in New York and Regional theater.  Dialect Coach: Orpheus Descending, Escape From Happiness, (T. Schreiber Studio), New Music (Mint Theater). Speech Coach: Merchant of Venice (w/ Morris Carnovsky). Voice &Movement Master: Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Directing credits include: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Sweet Phoebe, Science Gets Serious (Cleveland Public Theatre); Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Hamlet (Theatre Jacksonville); Last Chance For Happiness (T. Schreiber Studio); The White Whore and  the Bit Player (Core Group); Hedda Gabler, Summer & Smoke (Manhattan Theatre Club); Pretty Witty Nell, Grit in a Sensitive Instrument (Vineyard). Director in Residence: The Basic Theatre, where he directed Shaviana, Bertolt Brecht: In Dark Times, Santa Monica Threeway and Titus Andronicus. He was nominated for Best Director at the Wonderland Festival in New York for his production of Asylum. His award-winning one-man show, Mortal Coil, continues to tour. He is  co-author of Seven Keys to Success Without Struggle and Rupert: Just Being Me. Lester is also on the faculty at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York Film Academy and the TADA! Ensemble. He is a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers of America.

K. Tanzer (Movement Improvisation) is an interdisciplinary theatre-maker and director/choreographer. She is currently the director for, and co-founder/artistic director of Exhibit A Perfromance Group. An ensemble company dedicated to investigating the meaning and significance of movement within a theatrical context, Exhibit A bends, blends and blurs the boundaries between theatre, movement and dance. Tanzer is also the director of Pop Up Performance—an ongoing series of site-specific movement inquiries exploring the relationship between movement, the body and the environment, as well as the permeable line between spectator and performer. From 1996 to 2005 Tanzer served as the co-Artistic Director of Collision Theory, an award winning performance company that created and produced image-saturated physical theatre using the company’s own choreographic style. With Collision Theory she collaboratively conceived/created and directed/choreographed all of the company’s work. Tanzer’s work has been represented by Pentacle (booking and touring). She has twice been an Artist-in-Residence with New York Theatre Workshop (Dartmouth and Vassar), and is a proud NYTW Usual Suspect. In addition to her work at the New Actors Workshop, Tanzer has given lectures and workshops at New York University/Gallatin School, Towson University, Bennington College, and the School for Film and Television. She has also taught various forms of performance within the New York public school system, with particular interest in classes for special needs students. Tanzer is a Certified Movement Analyst, a graduate of the Laban Institute for Movement Studies, and a certified Pilates instructor.

Suzanne Toren (Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement) has appeared on and off Broadway, and in regional theatres throughout the country. She has performed in works by classical authors (Shakespeare & Moliere), contemporary ones (Arthur Miller & Neill Simon), and most recently in Door to Door, off-Broadway.She occasionally appears on Television (Law & Order), and is an award winning narrator of hundreds of audio books. Suzanne became a certified Feldenkrais  teacher in 1991, and has been teaching this wonderful work at NAW ever since.

David Turner (StoryTheater Guest Director 2008) Broadway credits include: Terrence McNally's The Ritz (dir. Joe Mantello), In My Life, Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love (dir. Jack O'Brien) and this season's highly anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize-winning Sunday in the Park with George. National Tour: Sir Robin in Monty Python's Spamalot (Helen Hayes Award nom.) Off-Broadway:  Gutenberg! The Musical!, The Butter and Egg Man (Atlantic Theatre Company), ...Shakespeare (abridged), The Last Sunday in June. David has also appeared in the American premiere of Frank McGuinness’ The Bird Sanctuary (Pittsburgh Public) and spent five seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is the writer/director of a film called The Debut and a composer/lyricist recipient of BMI’s Jerry Harrington Award for outstanding creative achievement.

Guest Instructors Have Included:

Brian Bedford, Breanna Benjamin, Frank Buxton, Edie Falco, Garry Goodrow, Andre Gregory, Gene Hackman, John Pinchon Holmes, Doug Jeffers, David Mamet, Charles Marowitz, Elaine May, Csikzent Mihalyi, S. Mihalyi, Gregory Mosher, Richard Schoal, Michael Shurtleff, Bob Smith, Howard Storm, Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Sweet, Stanley Tucci and Arnold Weinstein.

The New Actors Workshop reserves the right to substitute teachers if necessary.