Acting Coaches

Specialties: Audition Prep (TV, Film, Stage, Voiceover),Career Coaching, Home Studio Tune-Up, Materials Tune-Up

I truly love helping actors get out of their own way to find their unique, authentic essence.  I focus on diversifying an actor’s skill-set, so whether you are new to the biz, or a seasoned performer, we’ll elevate your audition experience in any & all genres of the industry. As an artist you are the CEO of your business – I’m here to help you sharpen your brand & elevate your game. Competitive Home Self-Tape & Voiceover studios are essential now – let me help you zhuzh your space & gear to maximize efficiency & quality. Up-to-date & strong materials are of paramount importance as well – I will narrow down your headshots, sift through your footage & even edit your reel or design a website to hone in on your distinctive brand as an artist. Let’s play!

About Drew:

Bicoastal actor & Syracuse University graduate. Some highlight credits include… TV: NCIS: New Orleans, Blue Bloods, South of Hell, One Life to Live, & the pilot Avenues. Film: Blind, V/H/S, Fair Market Value & The Wrong Path. Stage: Drew originated the role of ‘Paul Owen’ in American Psycho The Musical on Broadway & ‘Christian Grey’ in the National Tour of SPANK! The Fifty Shades Musical Parody. Videogames: Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 5, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3. Plus, dozens of national commercials, voiceovers, animation & print work. DrewMoerlein.com.

Most college programs ask you to prepare contrasting monologues for your audition. It’s important to practice your pieces with a coach to ensure they are a) definitely contrasting and b) showing off your full potential! Book a session with Katie to fine tune your pieces!

About Katie:

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.

My teaching philosophy is rooted in the idea to not just “get out of your head” but be in your body as well. I am interested in the actor’s process and sense of play. I guide my students to approach, develop, and refine their craft with a fearless consciousness by learning to identify and honor habits and patterns so new choices can emerge. My students take ownership in their own journey of play to speak text with authority and move with ease. I encourage them to embrace their glorious failures and glorious successes so they may utilize these experiences as a resource for further reflection and refinement of their craft’s journey.

About Elke:

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.) 

A Creative- fearless – imaginative and physical approach to the audition process.
Exploring Character Monologues from both Contemporary and Classical or Period audition selections.

Learn how to explore and apply a variety of effective acting techniques and tools, that inspire endless acting discovery and possibilities. Building the actor’s performance confidence though physical ease, creative imagination, transformation into character and artistic expression. The actor can then bring this sensibility to the creation of a character, with the physical and emotional exploration of the text to both create and embody a connected and inspired Monologue Audition .

Each session begins with a warm-up specifically designed to develop the actors audition and stage presence.  Through the application and practice of Michael Chekhov, Williamson and Hagen acting technique’s core principles and exercises

About Janice:

Movement Specialist Character Transformation, Williamson Technique & Period Style and Physical Dramaturgy, Michael Chekhov Technique Specialist. Movement Consultant RED VELVET at Lantern Theater Philadelphia PA, Movement Director & Period Style Choreographer for: THE OTHER MOZART London St James Theatre, Here Arts Festival NYC, Drama Desk Nominee, Cherry Lane Solo Festival, Directing: MOZART & SALIERI and THE BRUTE at The Westside Theatre, EVENING WITH STEPHEN CRANE, Manhattan Rep Best Solo Show Award, Crane House Museum, Asbury Park, BETTE DAVIS AIN’T FOR SISSIES (Five Stars at Edinburgh Fringe Festival), St. James Theatre Studio London UK, Theater Row, Laurie Beechman, 59E59 Theater in NYC, Director Solo GARBO DREAMS Red Room NYC. Movement Director THE CONTRAST, Mirror Repertory Company, St Clements NYC, AN IDEAL HUSBAND and TARTUFFE Sonnet Repertory NYC, Director: UNCLE VANYA Expanded Arts Theatre NYC, THE THREE SISTERS New Vaudeville Theater NYC. Edwardian Period Style Salon The Players, Artistic Director Actors Movement Studio Conservatory Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory 

Specialties: Linklater Voice, Shakespeare’s Structure and use of Rhetoric, Actioning and Targeting text, Character Development, Presence

I teach from a place of curiosity and practicality, laying out the actor’s toolbox while activating the imagination.  I teach a clear path with which to create a character, to analyze text, and activate text.  I offer tools which help create spontaneity and inspire confidence.  I use my background in dance, mask, LeCoq, and clown work to teach students how to have a sense of play, to energize the body, to work with ease and release tension. I teach students to be physically relaxed and engaged in their bodies, to distinguish between effort and energy, and to play.  I teach my students to find the joy in their acting.

About Dave:

Bicoastal actor and Syracuse University graduate. Some highlight credits include… TV: NCIS: New Orleans, Blue Bloods, South of Hell, One Life to Live, and the pilot Avenues. Film: Blind, V/H/S, Fair Market Value and The Wrong Path. Stage: Drew originated the role of Paul Owen in American Psycho The Musical on Broadway and Christian Grey in the National Tour of SPANK! The Fifty Shades Musical Parody. Videogames: Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 5, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3. Plus, dozens of national commercials, voiceovers, animation, print work, and a thriving, fulfilling side hustle of being an acting coach.

Specialties: Contemporary and Heightened text, Shakespeare technique, Clown, Games, Lecoq Movement Technique

My primary focus is on facilitating an experience for the actor in which they can embody the circumstance of the character.  I’m interested in helping the actor release the wisdom of their own body so they can stretch their emotional imagination and support the demands of whatever circumstances they are playing.  Using exercises and games rooted in Theatrical Clown, Jaques Lecoq’s movement techniques, and Shakespeare’s Folio technique we will work to access the source of each artist’s playfulness, so they can embody the text and realize the needs of the character in an authentic way.  Jump into your body and cultivate your own virtuosity so you can illuminate whatever character you are working on in the singular and unique way that only you can.  

About Christopher:

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. He studied Clown and Commedia d’ell Arte extensively with Bayes, at The Funny School of Good Acting, before being invited to study under him as his teaching apprentice. Tramantana assisted Bayes at Yale School of Drama, The Juilliard School, and The Funny School of Good Acting, and is one of a small number of teachers Bayes has mentored.  Directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Metamorphoses, Our Town, You Can’t Take It With You, Antigone, Sweeney Todd, and Into The Woods. Christopher holds a BA in Performance from Fordham College at Lincoln Center and an MFA in Acting from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. www.christophertramantana.com