FACULTY

Andrei Malaev-Babel

Bethany Caputo

Bethany Caputo studied at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1997 where she was introduced to the Chekhov Technique. She now teaches the work for the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), the Michael Chekhov School of Acting, Terry Knickerbocker Studios, The New York Drama Center, The New School, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and this Fall she will teach a workshop for the Graduate Acting Program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. Ms. Caputo has taught internationally at the University of the Arts in Zurich, Shanghai Theatre Academy in China, Victoria College of the Arts (VCA) in Australia, and at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. Ms Caputo was an actor in the Master Classes DVD series produced by MICHA. Bethany is now the Artistic Director of Chekhov Studio NYC in Manhattan. chekhovstudionyc.com

Chuk Obasi

Chuk Obasi is an actor, writer, and director who works across disciplines of theatre, film, television, dance, opera, and live poetry. He is also an arts educator, having served as a Movement Project Director at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, a Musical Theatre Adjunct Professor at Drew University, and a frequent guest teacher for the Black Arts Institute and LAByrinth Theatre among other engagements.
Obasi is a founding member of the theatre company TÉA Artistry (www.tea-artistry.org) and currently serves as Co-Director. He is also currently a company member with the People’s Theatre Project (www.peoplestheatreproject.org). Other organizations that he has worked with include The Private Theatre, Broadway Dance Center, National Dance Institute, and Mind The Art Entertainment (MTAE).

In conjunction with his artistic work Obasi is a social justice advocate, and has taught workshops based on several social themes as well as on using art for social justice at colleges, high schools, and professional organizations - most recently including Fordham University, University of Montana, Fieldston Ethical Culture, and Girl Be Heard.

Obasi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Geneseo. He was also the recipient of the 2019 Zelda Fichandler Award - a full scholarship to study with the Michael Chekhov Association, where he has also served as a faculty member.

A son of Nigerian immigrants, Obasi resides in his birthplace of New York City with his family.

Connie Rotunda

Connie Rotunda is a somatic practitioner, actor, and educator. She is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner since 1999. She has worked as a training program practitioner/organizer for the Feldenkrais Professional Training Program (FPTP), and as a teacher at the Feldenkrais Insititute in New York City. Connie is professor emerita and the former associate chair of the theatre department at SUNY New Paltz. She synergizes her Feldenkrais practice with her background as an actor, movement coach, director, and intimacy coordinator. She is currently on the faculty and the board of the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA). She continues to teach theatre courses as an adjunct, offers private Feldenkrais lessons and group classes to the public, as well as developing and teaching workshops focusing on weaving the Feldenkrais Method with Chekhov Technique and the Viewpoints. Her current study is in training with Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés and compassionate presence with the Peaceful Presence Project.

Craig Mathers

Craig is currently a Professor of Performing Arts at Emerson College where he serves as the head of the BFA Acting Studio and teaches Chekhov and Stanislavsky based approaches as well as Shakespeare text. He has taught Chekhov workshops for Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramatico (RESAD) and Estudio Vertigo, both in Madrid, the Warsaw Academy of Drama; Gdansk University; the Interior Theater of St. Petersburg, Russia; Teatro Argos in Havana, Cuba; Teatro Alumbra in Lima, Peru; Escuela Nacional de Arte Teatral and Icaro Compania Teatral, both in Mexico City; and for Michael Chekhov Europe in Groznjan, Croatia. He serves on the board of the Michael Chekhov Association, and is also a faculty member of the Michael Chekhov School in Hudson, NY, and is a designated Linklater teacher. Craig is a graduate of Yale Drama School.

Dawn Arnold

Dawn Arnold is an actress, deviser/director, and teaching artist focused on the Chekhov Technique. She is the founder and Artistic Director of The Moving Dock Theatre Company and Chekhov Studio Chicago. With Moving Dock Theatre, she directs/devises original theatre pieces using the Chekhov Technique as her creative process. Her professional work includes working with theatre companies as a rehearsal coach, guiding companies in the early stages of rehearsals for scripted or devised theatre projects. She has been on the faculty teaching movement, acting, and voice in the undergraduate and graduate theatre programs of Roosevelt University’s Theatre Conservatory, Northern Illinois University, and The Theatre School at DePaul University, and coached opera singers at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. In addition to her ongoing teaching at Chekhov Studio Chicago, she is a member of the faculty of MICHA (Michael Chekhov Association) and appears in MICHA’s series Master Classes in the Michael Chekhov Technique. She has also taught with Michael Chekhov Acting Studio NYC, Michael Chekhov Europe, Michael Chekhov Studio Tokyo, The Chekhov Collective, and in guest workshops and residencies for colleges, high schools, and theatre companies. https://movingdock.org/chekhov-studio-chicago-1

Fern Sloan

Fern Sloan is an actress for over 40 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, Croatia, Ireland, England, and Europe. She was certified by Beatrice Straight to teach the work of Michael Chekhov and was on the faculty of the original Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City for the last three years of the studio’s existence. She was co-director and on the faculty of the Speech and Drama Program of Sunbridge College. Before founding The Actors’ Ensemble, Ms. Sloan led roles in regional theaters in the US and Off-Broadway. Together with Jessica Cerullo, Ms. Sloan wrote the MICHA Workbook to assist those practically studying the Chekhov technique. Along with her faculty role with MICHA, she is currently teaching with the Michael Chekhov School in Hudson, NY.

Jessica Cerullo

Jessica Cerullo is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose training and career are rooted in the theater. Harnessing the arts and taking a somatic-based approach, she guides collaborators into their creativity in ways that begin to repair the body’s response to stress so they can hone their presence as listeners, speakers, and creators. For over two decades, Jessica has taught and facilitated international arts-based retreats and trainings for artists and educators at MICHA, the Michael Chekhov Association. She co-authored the MICHA workbook, edited the expanded edition of Chekhov’s Lessons for Teachers and guided the translation and publication of Chekhov’s original story. “A Tale About Lies and How Swiftly They Spread Across the Earth.” She is an actor in MICHA’s masterclass series. Jessica is the director of Connecticut’s “Connect To Create”. Her independent community-based projects enjoy partnerships with groups such as an immigrant rights coalition, poverty alleviation advocates, pandemic caregivers, the incarcerated, arts and culture organizations, historical societies, public schools, and universities. Her book, Some Stranger Somewhere documents one of her many projects. A former Associate Professor of Theater at Whitman College where she taught acting, speech, voice, and solo performance, Jessica continues to lecture on the intersection of arts and well-being and to teach acting at Connecticut College. Her work in the classroom, coaching, and group facilitation is consent-based and trauma-informed. Her practical study of Open Space Technology, Intergroup Dialogue, Critical Response Process, Psychophysical Acting Techniques, and Body Mind Centering(TM) underpin her work.

John McManus

John McManus is a theatre artist, originally from Australia, where he began his career studying Creative Speech and the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique at the Harkness Studio in Sydney, Australia. Later, he studied eurythmy (an art of movement) and the voice and speech techniques of Patsy Rodenburg, Kristin Linklater, and Louis Colaianni. John was the artistic director and a founding member of Walking the Dog Theater and Shakespeare Alive!, where he taught, directed, and acted out of Chekhov’s ideas. After many years of teaching the Chekhov Technique and Creative Speech in universities and acting studios in Australia and the United States, John has opened his studio in Philmont, New York, where he teaches and rehearses. He has been a faculty member of MICHA (The Michael Chekhov Association) since 2011. *Sourced from https://www.mettabeefarm.com/about-john-mcmanus

Margaret Kemp

Margaret Laurena Kemp has appeared on regional and international stages including Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Yale Rep, South Coast Repertory, La Mama Theatre (Melbourne, Australia), Theatre of Changes (Athens, Greece), Red Pear Theatre (Antibes, France), and The Magnet Theatre (Cape Town, South Africa). She won worldwide praise for her starring role in the film Children of God. Her latest film, the supernatural thriller, The Dark Rite, was released in 2016. She has also acted in television programs, including The Orlando Jones Show, Commander in Chief and others. Her visual work has been shown in solo and group shows at Art Share Los Angeles and The National Gallery of Art in Nassau, Bahamas. She holds memberships in One Union (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors Equity Association (AEA).Kemp serves as Director of Creative Projects and on the advisory board of the Fitzmaurice Institute, which supports people in finding and using their unique voices—in healthy, clear, and creative ways—while also developing greater freedom and presence. She also is a faculty member and on the board of MICHA Michael Chekhov Association, which strives to be a support to and global resource for those engaged in practice and research as it relates to Chekhov’s psychophysical performance approach and its many forms of application.Among her accolades, Kemp received the 2019 MICHA Michael Chekhov Scholar Award and her UC Davis production of The Bluest Eye was honored with Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Awards for Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Costumes and Special Prize for Puppetry as well as being selected as a regional nominee (region VII) in 2019. She is a Professor and Chair of Theatre & Dance at UC Davis Arts.

Marjo-Riikka Mäkelä

Marjo-Riikka Makela (SAG, AFTRA, AEA) is a director, world renowned acting coach, a professional actor, Certified Trauma Support Specialist, Trauma Recovery and resilience Coach, and Intimacy Director & Coach, for Film/TV and Stage. She has specialized in a variety of different acting techniques, but the Michael Chekhov Technique is the one closest to her heart. She has further developed MR-Method©, embracing the Michael Chekhov Technique, Non-Violent Communication, somatic & trauma informed methods, Trauma and resilience work, Intimacy Direction and other consent based practices. She is currently working on her own book about the method, techniques and her teaching philosophy. Marjo-Riikka has been an inspired practitioner of the Michael Chekhov Technique for the past 25 years, and has studied with several direct students of Mr. Chekhov, as well as collaborated with many other wonderful fellow artists on the field. She is a long-standing member of the Michael Chekhov Association, and is a teacher in MICHA’s Teacher Training Program. *Sourced from https://chekhovstudio.com/marjo-riikka

Roanna Mitchell

Roanna Mitchell is a performance-maker, facilitator and movement person, and founding member of The Chekhov Collective UK, the only practice-research centre on Chekhov Technique internationally. Since 2013 TCC has run close to 100 research- and public-engagement events and training workshops, as well as the multi-institutional New Pathways project and resulting book. Roanna is a certified teacher of Michael Chekhov’s technique (MCIA Berlin), partners with MICHA and is a member of Michael Chekov UK. She has published work on the use of Chekhov technique in actor-movement and dance, in therapeutic/community contexts, and on Deirdre Hurst Du Prey. She is the founder and facilitator of the RAW (Relational Arts Workshops) programme for trainee doctors, which integrates Chekhov technique. Roanna is associate editor for Training Grounds at Theatre Dance and Performance Training journal. She is a Senior Lecturer in Drama, and Course Director for Drama, Theatre and Performing Arts at the University of Kent. *Sourced from https://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/people/2150/mitchell-roanna