Voice & Movement Coaches

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

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 in Psychophysical Methods of Training , Character Transformation, Physical Dramaturgy and Period Styles. London Premier Movement Director & Period Style Choreographer: THE OTHER MOZART at St James Theater London, Winner Outstanding Solo Show, Innovative Theater Awards, Drama Desk Nominee, Off Broadway Alliance Nominee Best Solo Performance” Here Arts Festival NYC, Cherry Lane Theatre ALL FOR ONE Solo Festival, Berkshire Fringe Festival. Directing credits include: 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, GARBO DREAMS (Red Room NYC). Movement Director THE CONTRAST (Mirror Repertory Company St Clements), AN IDEAL HUSBAND and TARTUFFE (Sonnet Repertory NYC). Certified Teacher & designated teacher trainer of Williamson Physical Technique, Period Style Specialist including Period Movement, Character and Dance in ; Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, Elizabethan and Restoration, classical and 1920-1950’s. Certified teacher Michael Chekhov Technique, Extensive training in Rasaboxes, with founder Dr Richard Schechner, trained extensively with Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, SITI Company in Viewpoints/Composition & Suzuki, trained in Laban Fundamentals and Yat Malmgram/Laban system of character analysis. Artistic Director Actors Movement Studio NYC, Co-Founder of the Teen Shakespeare Conservatory and has taught movement as Assistant Professor of BFA Movement at University of the Arts Philadelphia, PA, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts; Rutgers State University; Williamstown Theatre Festival; BAM Summer Programs, Atlantic Theater Company at NYU Tisch, and Internationally at; De Lindenberg in Netherlands; State Theatre School in Odense, Denmark; Ophelia Theatre School in Copenhagen and Summer 2016 at Rose Bruford College London, Founding Member of Expanded Arts & Shakespeare in the Parking Lot NYC. Featured in BACKSTAGE “The Physical Approach” to Shakespeare and AMERICAN THEATER MAGAZINE in 2011 on the current Trends in Movement Training in theater education. Currently writing a book on the history and trends in Movement and Physical Technique for the Actor & Character Transformation THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION ©- CROSSING PEDAGOGY. Member of SAG/AFTRA, AEA, SSDC and The Players Club.