ACTING PROGRAM FACULTY
SOCAPA offers small classes and an accomplished teaching staff comprised of industry professionals with recent and ongoing production experience. Drawn from some of the top universities and film & acting schools, including the Ivy League, USC, the American Film Institure, NYU, and Columbia, the instructors at SOCAPA guide the students through the three-week program with delicacy and skill.
| Roger Manix (Acting Technique, NYC): Roger earned his MFA from Brooklyn College where he currently teaches scene study and movement within the BFA program. Roger was teacher trained at The Neighborhood Playhouse under the appreticeship of Richard Pinter. Roger currently teaches technique at both Weist Baron and The Network in New York City and has his own private scene study class. He coaches as well, his actors appearing on and off Broadway. Roger works with actors applying to college, assisting with the choice of monolgues, and working contemporary and classical text. Currently Roger is developing an actor training methodology based upon the teachings of Kundalini Yoga. |
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| Michael Samuel Kaplan (Acting Technique & Scene Study, VT): Michael has trained at the North Carolina School of The Arts, Yale Drama School, American Conservatory Theatre, UCLA, and with private instructor Nikolai Guzov in Los Angeles. He has a long list of stage credits in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, including "A Splintered Soul" (Theatre Three), "It's A Wonderful Life" (Hangar Theatre), and "Family Time" (Manhattan Theatre Source),. His television credits include Seinfeld, Saved By The Bell and Law & Order. From 2008 to 2011, Michael was as an Artist-in-Residence and Visiting Lecturer at Cornell University. |
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| Michelle Luchese (Acting Technique & Scene Study, LA): Michelle is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and holds a B.F.A. in Drama. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Michelle has several theatre credits and has done many short films. Her first feature, "212" competed at the Sundance Film Festival 2005 and is currently touring the festival circuit. Her most recent short films, "The Other Side of Maybe" and "He" are both in post production and due for completion at the end of the summer. You can also catch her in several episodes of Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy and upcoming episodes of Rosebay, a soapopera coming to public access cable. In addition to her acting credits, Michelle has stage managed, produced and scored film and theatre. She is also a singer/songwriter with band "Dollface." They are currently recording their first EP. |
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| David O'Connor (Acting Technique, NYC): David is an actor, director, screenwriter, and teacher. He recently completed a long run of a stage adaptation of Coppola's 'Rumblefish' in the UK. He has worked withvarious companies in NYC and internationally: PilotTheater Company, Circle Rep., Caravan Stagebarge, Mirvisch Productions. Some stage credits include: W;t, De la Guarda, Oleanna, American Buffalo, Macbeth, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet and The Runner Stumbles. TV/Film: He appeared for a TV season in PSI Factor, produced by Dan Ackroyd in and several featureand short films. He has had worked with such greats as David Mamet, Laurence Fishburne, and Austin Pendleton. Training includes: BA Philosophy, King's College, Diploma, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, MA Performance and Text, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. |
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| Bianca Bryan (Scene Study, Voice, Shakespeare, NYC): Bianca works professionally in New York City as an actress in theater, film, voiceover and television. Most recently, she was nominated as "Best Actress" by the RTCC for her performance in "The Clean House" in the role of Matilde. She has her Masters in Acting from Brooklyn College. In high school, Bianca attended the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts before moving to the Big Apple to major in Voice at the Manhattan School of Music where she focused on Opera and Musical Theater. Born to diplomate parents, Bianca spent her young life overseas in Africa and South America. |
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| Adrian Wattenmaker (Acting Technique, LA): Adrian has worked extensively in both theater and film for over 15 years. He received his B.A. in Theater Arts from Towson University and has since accrued numerous directing, theater, tv, and film credits. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at Brooklyn College. Adrian has teaching experience at the high school and college level, as well as leadership experience as Program Director at SOCAPA, Sierra Tahoe Institute, New York Film Academy, 36th Street Studio and more. |
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| Chris Reed (Making Your Reel, LA): With his BA from Harvard, a Master’s from Yale in Film Studies, and an MFA from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts in Film Production, Chris is SOCAPA’s resident film scholar. Chris has directed many short films, both documentary and narrative, including the award-winning "All About George." Chris has taught at the high school level at Exeter, Choate, and LREI, and at the college level at Long Island University, the Art Institute of New York, and currently at Stevenson University, in Baltimore. Chris works as a freelance director, cinematographer and editor. |
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| Heath Cullens (Acting Technique, Scene Study, LA): Heath is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and a recipient of the Garland Wright Directing Award. He received his MFA from the Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium. Some recent productions: Theatre: New York: Dahlia, The Blue Bird (Urban Stages) The Calamity of Kat-Kat and Willie (premiere-Babel Theatre); We Have Separation (HERE); Regional: Doubt, The Laramie Project, Know Dog by Kate Walat (premiere), (Hangar Theatre); Polaroid Stories (Williamstown Theatre Festival); talc (Kennedy Center); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth (Stephen Foster) |
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-Laura P., Santa Monica, CA