Michael Chekhov envisioned a new theatre with a heart. With his approach actors are able to make heart connections with the audience. It is self expression which is also real communication, human being to human being. This is why I am attracted to this work. -- Lenard Petit, Artistic Director

   

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Lenard Petit,
Artistic Director

LENARD PETIT is a director /actor who resides in New York City. He has been working in the the theater for thirty years collaborating with other artists to create original works for the stage , cinema, and television. He has directed plays and performance pieces on and off Broadway and in as well as out of the United States. As an actor he has performed in some works of such notable directors as Julie Taymor, Meredith Monk, Richard Foreman, Ping Chong, and many others. Mr. Petit is the Artistic Director of The Michael Chekhov Acting Studio. As one of a handful of teacher students trained by the original members of Michael Chekhov's Theater School his knowledge of the technique coupled with his gifts have brought him to be recognized as one of the foremost teachers of this technique in the world.

As a member of the international Michael Chekhov Association, he has been invited to teach Master classes at the Moscow Art Theater, The International School for Film and Television in Munich, Helsinki University, as well as acting workshops in Denmark, Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin, Zurich, London , Riga, and Irkutsk Siberia. For the past 14 years he has been teaching Chekhov Technique in the MFA Acting program at Rutgers University.

     
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TED PUGH began his career at the Arena Theater in Washington DC in the early 1960s. Soon after he became a founding member of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut under the direction of Jon Jory. He has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional theatres in the US. Ted is co-founder and co-artistic director of The Actors' Ensemble of New York. He was trained at the Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City, certified as a teacher by Beatrice Straight and Dierdre du Prey in 1983 and taught at the Studio for the last seven years of its existence. He has also taught workshops throughout the US, Europe and Russia.

 
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FERN SLOAN, an actress for over 30 years, is co-founder and co-artistic director of The Actors' Ensemble and has performed and taught the Michael Chekhov technique in the US, Canada and Europe. She was certified by the Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City to teach the Michael Chekhov technique and was on its faculty for the last three years of its existence. She was co-director and on the faculty of the Speech and Drama Program of Sunbridge College. Prior to founding The Actors' Ensemble, she played leading roles in numerous regional theaters in the US and Off-Broadway.

 

 
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MEL SHRAWDER has performed with the New York Shakespeare Festival under the direction of Joseph Papp, and appeared at Arena Stage in Washington DC, as well as being a regular performer for many years at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Most recently on the regional circuit Mel played the role of Victor Franz for Portland Stage in Arthur Miller's The Price. He has appeared in Film and TV in roles on Law and Order, Miami Vice, The Mississippi, and Critical Condition with the late Richard Pryor. Mel initially received his training at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He then went on to head the performance program at the University of Miami for a number of years where he received a faculty grant to study at the National Theatre of Great Britain. His early teaching centered around American method approaches such as Meisner, Strasberg and Hagen and improvisational training, until encountering the Michael Chekhov work. Mel is also a certified Reiki Master, and as well as teaching the Michael Chekhov approach today, Mel includes in his present teaching Energize components based on RYSE work, and character/personality transformation approaches based on holistic means.

Mel appeared in the new Michael Chekhov instructional DVDs, and he has developed a one person show, Homefront, which was presented at the International Michael Chekhov Festival at Amherst under the direction of Lenard Petit. He is a storyteller as well performing his pieces at Tellabration, and has worked with famed storyteller Jay O'Callahan.

 
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KATE UDALL is an actor and a teacher. As an actor she has performed off- broadway in New York City, at such regional theaters as Williamstown, George Street Playhouse and the Cincinnati Playhouse. Internationally she has played at the Edinburgh Fringe, in Germany and Italy.

She is a founding member of Vox, an international ensemble that was featured in the documentary Vox Erotica: The Actor's Journey. In 2006 Vox was invited to present Metamorphoses at the International Theatre Festival in Lisbon. Ms Udall trained for voice at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and was then designated as a teacher of Linklater Voice Technique in 2003. She spent six years as an Associate Professor of Voice/Acting at West Virginia University. She is currently on the theatre faculty of Sarah Lawrence College.

     
   

 

 

 
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