“Play is the highest form of research.”

A member of Stanislavski’s First Studio of The Moscow Art Theatre, Michael Chekhov was an actor, director and teacher whose approach to the craft was intensely psycho-physical. He devoted his life to developing a healthy, imaginative method centered on gesture, impulse, transformation and creative individuality. Most people who discover his work are in awe of the simplicity and ease his techniques open up in them. I trained and certified with Master Teachers Lisa Dalton and Wil Kilroy of the National Michael Chekhov Association. Chekhov’s framework underpins all my teaching.

Based on the eight key emotions identified in the Natyasastra, a Sanskrit text dealing with theatre, art and music, Rasaboxes training was developed by Richard Schechner at NYU. The rasas invite the performer to work holistically — breath, body, mind, voice — to explore the simplicity and complexity of human emotions, individually and in community. I learned the Rasaboxes from Michele Minnick, who guided my use of the method in my university teaching and I continue to offer this incredibly creative and freeing work to professional actors in my private classes.

Inspired by Kristin Linklater’s Sound + Movement progression, Louis Colaianni created the phonetic pillows as a way to elevate and invigorate the dry, one-dimensional, narrow dialect training usually offered to actors in conservatory programs. Borrowing from Maria Montessori’s work, Louis invented a system that employs the use of phonetic symbol-shaped pillows to bring deep connection and true physicality to vocal work. I trained directly with Louis in a one-on-one mentorship over several years and am certified to teach his work. I am also the proud steward of my own set of pillows, which I joyfully lug with me far and wide to share this method. It is visceral, sensual, profound and incredibly freeing.

As artists we are asked to access, expose and express all the parts of ourselves, known and unknown. And we often find ourselves bumping up against discomfort, shame and frustration when we “can’t deliver” and don’t know why. I believe that part of our job is to turn over the rock, face what’s there and integrate it into the whole. Carl Jung said “one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” The work I do with actors and writers in this realm is a blend of Michael Chekhov’s archetypal and psychological gesture, Jungian coaching and my own creative process tools. It is intimate, illuminating and transformative.