Studio Faculty
Faculty
Liz Anderson
Biography
Liz Anderson is an actor, filmmaker, and teaching artist. She is a graduate of the San Francisco School of the Arts theater program and holds a B.F.A. in theater from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has served as a bilingual arts educator and curriculum designer in public schools in Los Angeles and San Francisco, master teaching artist for the Brava Theater Academy, theater department chair for the Academy of Arts and Science, and program director for the Stonestreet Studios NYU Tisch LA Intensive Program. Liz has worked with numerous Bay Area theater companies, and is a company member with the Leela Faculty Armando Ensemble and PlayGround at Berkeley Rep.
Heidi Carlsen
Biography
Heidi Carlsen is a director and experimental theater artist whose 15 years teaching experience spans kids to adults in New York, California as well as Poland. She most recently directed You Can't Take It With You and Into The Woods in the Bay Area. Carlsen has presented work in numerous venues including: BAX, NYTW, The New School, Ontological-Hysteric, HERE, Judson Church and in L.A. at REDCAT and Highways. Carlsen received a Fulbright Scholarship to Poland where she created a dance/opera titled, +--Infinity. She graduated with an MFA in directing from CalArts. Heidi is a Feldenkrais practitioner who specializes in working with performing artists.
Julie Douglas
Biography
Julie Douglas is a Bay Area actor, teacher, and clown. She holds an M.F.A. in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from Dell'Arte International and a B.A. in Theatre from UCSC. She has taught students of all ages for a variety of organizations including A.C.T., St. Mary's College, We Players, S.F. Shakes, Cal Performances, Stanford Live, Spotlight: Girls, and more. Julie is a certified instructor of the Michael Chekhov Technique. She has performed in the Bay Area with Idiot String, We Players, Impact Theatre, SF Shakes, Shotgun Players, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Medical Clown Project, and more.
Frances Epsen-Devlin
Biography
Frances Epsen-Devlin has performed for the past 30 years in national tours and regional productions of musicals and plays, working with Houston Grand Opera, Pasadena Playhouse, Westchester Broadway Theatre (NY), Starlight Theater (KS), Spreckels Theatre (SD), A.C.T., 42nd Street Moon, Woodminster and San Jose Stage Company. Since 1998, Ms. Devlin has served on the faculty of Studio A.C.T., STC, A.C.T.’s M.F.A. Program and Young Conservatory, teaching Voice Building, Musical Theater, Acting, Voice and Speech, and directing the Spring Cabarets. Frances holds a B.S. in Theater /Vocal Performance from Northwestern University and an MFA in Acting from A.C.T.
Deb Fink
Biography
Deb Fink has been an acting teacher and career coach in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and New York, since the early 1990’s. She currently teaches, coaches and consults on camera acting through her program Comfort On Camera, in group classes, to corporate clients and in private and semi-private sessions. Deb teaches, or has taught, for The Waterfront Conservatory, the San Francisco Acting Academy/SFAA (Casting Networks), Voice One, UC extension, Marin Shakespeare Company, JE Talent as well as on set for TV, Commercial, Film and Industrial shoots. While in New York, Deb coached on camera auditions for clients at the William Morris Agency (WME). A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Deb is a professional actor in Theater, Film, TV and Voiceover.
Paul Finocchiaro
Biography
Paul Finocchiaro has taught at Studio ACT since 1989. He has performed at ACT, Berkeley Rep., The Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Eureka Theatre, Marin Theatre Company and has worked with Word For Word Performing Arts Company for over 20 years in San Francisco and Europe. He is a Vietnam veteran, a long time musician in various ensembles and holds an MFA in playwriting.
Margo Hall
Biography
Margo Hall is an award winning actor, director, and playwright who has performed and directed in theaters throughout the Bay Area. She has taught and directed in the A.C.T. MFA program, and appeared on the Geary Stage. She is a founding member of Campo Santo, an award winning multi-cultural ensemble, where she has directed, performed and collaborated on several new plays with artists such as Naomi Iizuka, Jessica Hagedorn, Phillip Kan Gotanda, and Octavio Solis. She received her MFA from Catholic University of America teaches acting at Chabot College and UC Berkeley. www.margohall.com
Maya Herbsman
Biography
Maya Herbsman is a theatre director, intimacy director, and teaching artist. She is also currently the Associate Artistic Director at Cutting Ball Theater. She received her BA in Theater from Wesleyan University, where she was awarded the Rachel Henderson Memorial Prize for excellence in directing. As an intimacy director, she has worked with Shotgun Players, Aurora Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Crowded Fire Theater, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Quantum Dragon Theatre, Custom Made Theatre Co., and Golden Thread Productions. She is currently an apprentice with Intimacy Directors International. Favorite intimacy credits include Women Laughing Alone with Salad (Shotgun Players) and La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theater).
Mark Jackson
Biography
Mark Jackson is an award-winning theater maker whose work in theater, dance, and performance has been seen in the Bay Area at the American Conservatory Theater M.F.A., Art Street Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theatre, Encore Theatre Company, EXIT Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Potrzebie Dance Project, San Francisco International Arts Festival, SF State University, Shotgun Players, and Z Space; Nationally at The Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), The Catamounts (Denver), and Hunger & Thirst (NYC); Internationally at Arts International Festival IV (Japan), Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Bread & Roses Theatre (UK), English Theatre Berlin and Deutsches Theater Berlin (Germany). markjackson-theatermaker.com
Warren David Keith
Biography
Warren David Keith is an actor, teacher and director. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama and has served on the faculties of Barnard College, The New School, UC Davis, American Conservatory Theater, The Nueva School, and as a Teaching Fellow for the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to theaters in NYC and across the East Coast he has also appeared at A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Theatre Company, SF Playhouse, TheatreWorks, and Word for Word. Onscreen appearances include: Haiku Tunnel, Love and Taxes, Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and A Serious Man.
Drew Khalouf
Biography
Drew Khalouf has a wide range of experience teaching students of all ages and abilities. For two years he toured nationally as an actor and interpreter, teaching hearing and deaf students in both spoken English and American Sign Language. Terry Gross interviewed him about his work with inner-city students in Cleveland's public schools for NPR's Fresh Air. Drew has acted in over forty productions with touring and repertory companies in the United States. In the Bay Area he has performed at A.C.T., Golden Gate Opera, Sierra Repertory Theatre, and in The Muse, a musical he wrote, composed and performed. Drew is a graduate of A.C.T. MFA.
Peter J. Kuo
Biography
Peter J. Kuo (Conservatory Director, Director of A.C.T.'s San Francisco Semester) is a director, producer, writer, and educator focused on raising the visibility of marginalized communities. He just finished a First Stage Residency at The Drama League and was recently named one of Theatre Communications Group's Rising Leaders of Color. Recently, he was the social justice programs coordinator at The New School, where he founded the NSD: Affinity Groups program and was involved with several equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. He taught the class “Acting Beyond Marginalization” at HB Studio, and has directed students in productions at the Atlantic Acting School and Redhouse Arts Center. Kuo previously worked as an art administrator at South Coast Repertory, East West Players, Soho Rep., and LA STAGE Alliance. He is the co-founder of Artists at Play, a Los Angeles Asian American Theatre Collective. As a director and assistant director, he has worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Play Company, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, East West Players, South Coast Repertory, Geffen Playhouse, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Leviathan Lab, Ma-Yi Theater Company, and Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, among others. He holds a BA in drama with a minor in business management from UC Irvine and an MFA in directing from The New School’s School for Drama.
Carolina Morones
Biography
Carolina Morones is an Actor and Bilingual Teaching Artist who returns to the Bay Area after 7 seasons in residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. A proud graduate of Santa Clara University (BA) and Kent State University (MFA), she earned a teaching certificate in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique from the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium. In 2020 she was honored to be the Choreographer and Cultural Consultant for Octavio Solis’ Retablos: Life on the Border with Word For Word at Z Space. Most recently she was cast in a virtual classical play reading series with Shakespeare in Detroit. This fall she will play the role of Ginny in Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue at The Pear Theatre.
Thaddeus Pinkston
Biography
Thaddeus Pinkston has been a member of the YC and Studio A.C.T. faculty for 12 years. As the YC Cabaret Program accompanist, he plays and arranges music for the Musical Ensemble, Cabaret Ensemble, Middle School Cabaret Ensemble, and a number of special events and musical theater classes. Thaddeus was musical director and co-composer for “Saint Tous” which premiered at La Mama along with Broadway Legend Andre De Shields. He also musical directed and toured with the Fifth Dimension’s rendering of “Ain’t Misbehavin” and served Musical Director for The Color Purple's Benefit Concert in San Francisco. He has accompanied a host of stellar performers and ensembles for American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Telluride Jazz Festival, Jazz Legend Stan Getz, Blues icon singer Koko Taylor known as the “The Queen of the Blues,” American folk singer Joan Baez, Maurice Hines, Freda Payne, and Jennifer Holiday.
Mark Rafael
Biography
Mark Rafael is a writer, teacher, and actor. Bay Area appearances include Jihad Jones and the Kashalnikov Babes and ReOrient Fest for Goldenthread, Ted Kaczinski Killed People with Bombs, Schrodinger’s Girlfriend, and Joe Goode’s Body Familiar for the Magic Theatre. Film and Television credits include Titanic, Star Trek Voyager, The Practice, Babylon 5, Trauma, and Chance for Hulu. He teaches at the University of San Francisco, Studio A.C.T., and at the Academy of Art University. He received a BA from Brown and an MFA from Yale University. He is author of Telling Stories: A Grand Unifying Theory of Acting Techniques.
Radhika Rao
Biography
Radhika Rao is an actor, improviser, storyteller, director, writer, and arts educator/consultant. She has performed theater in the United States and abroad. She has an Ed.D from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and specializes in creating curriculum that integrates theater into diverse learning situations for various populations and organizations. Her work is steeped deeply in respect for life and social justice. Her collaborations include work with American Conservatory Theater, Cutting Ball Theater, Young Audiences of Northern California, Noorani Dance, Leela Improv, Enacte, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Eth-Noh-Tec Storytelling, Berkeley Repertory Theater, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Larkin St Youth Services, Life Theatre Services, Green Art Workshop, University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, Samuel Merritt University, Stanford University, Adyen, Cisco, and HCL America. radhikarao.org
Kate E. Ryan
Biography
Kate E. Ryan is a member of the OBIE-winning playwrights collective 13P, an Affiliated Artist with Clubbed Thumb, former Co-Chair of the Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab, and Co-Founder of Machiqq, a women's experimental writing collective. Her work has been produced or developed by Bay Area companies including Crowded Fire, The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Playwrights Foundation, and Z Space, and in New York City by Clubbed Thumb, Soho Rep, The Vineyard, Target Margin, and others. Her career has received support from sources including Gerbode-Hewlett Foundations and California’s Creative Capacity Fund. MFA from Mac Wellman’s program at Brooklyn College. kateeryan.com
Fumi Sasa
Biography
Fumi Sasa is an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher with over 20 years of experience. She is also a movement coach, certified health educator, ergonomic consultant and an accomplished Argentine Tango dancer. She teaches the Alexander Technique at performing arts schools such as Studio A.C.T., A.C.T. Summer Training Congress, Academy of Art University's School of Acting and School of Motion Pictures & Television, Bay Area Dance Week, SF Zen Center, Albuquerque and San Francisco Tango Clubs. She also travels to teach in Berlin, Philadelphia, as well as Northern California. Her specialty is working with professional performers for theater and opera auditions, ballet competitions, triathletes and musicians with repetitive strain injuries. She is an expert on teaching how to walk and move in high heels on stage for models and actors. Her clients include headliners from Met Opera, Royal Opera, SF Opera, Opera San Jose, West Edge Opera and finalists from Prix de Lausanne, Youth America Grand Prix and International Ballet Competition. Fumi also has her private practice in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. www.alexandertechsf.com
Chauntee’ Schuler Irving
Biography
Chauntee’ Schuler Irving is a Broadway actor and professor who recently moved to the Bay Area. Favorite NY and professional credits include: The Lion King, The Producers, Dreamgirls, Applause, Murder Ballad, Everyday Rapture, Party Come Here, Smokey Joe’s Café, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, As the World Turns, and national commercials. She has trained and worked with The Actors’ Studio Drama School, The Barrow Group Theater Company, Alvin Ailey, and the Virginia Governor’s School for the Performing Arts prior to receiving her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University. chauntee.com
Elyse Shafarman, MA
Biography
Elyse Shafarman is faculty at American Conservatory Theater MFA program, Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, and San Francisco State University. She attended SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, and choreographed and performed in the SF Bay Area for 10 years. She holds an MA in Physiological Psychology from San Francisco State University and Alexander Technique Teacher Certification from ATI-SF, under the direction of Frank Ottiwell. Ms. Shafarman maintains a private practice in San Francisco & Berkeley teaching Alexander Technique and Yoga, and writes frequently about Mind-body connections as they relate to wellness, mobility, and performing arts on her blog. https://www.bodyproject.us/blog-body-project/
Laura Wayth
Biography
Laura Wayth received her MFA from the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School Institute in Russia. Ms. Wayth is the author of two books: The Shakespeare Audition and A Field Guide to Actor Training. She was a 2002-2003 Fulbright Fellow to Moscow and a 2012 Senior Fulbright Scholar to Romania. She has worked internationally as a teacher and coach in Italy, Morocco, China and London. Ms. Wayth is currently Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Actor Training Program at San Francisco State University.
Valerie Weak
Biography
Valerie Weak is an Equity actor, teaching artist and communications coach with 20 years of teaching experience with companies such as Word for Word’s Youth Arts, California Shakespeare Theater, and ACT’s Young Conservatory. She has performed everything from Shakespeare to world premieres at theaters including CenterREP, Shotgun Players and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. Valerie also works in indie film, commercials, and voiceover, and can be seen as Mrs. Miller in Season 2 of 13 Reasons Why on Netflix. Additionally, she is a Theatre Bay Area TITAN winner, has trained at Skidmore College with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company, and holds a BA in Theatre Arts from UCLA. valerieweak.com