For Artistic Directors, Ensemble Companies & Festivals
Let's Make Theatre Together
I'm a teaching artist and director who comes to your company—to train your ensemble, deepen your actors' craft, and build tools for making new work. Meisner, Viewpoints, and physical theatre, shaped around what your company and community need.
Whether you're a regional theatre wanting to offer local artists something rich and affordable, an ensemble devising new work, or a festival gathering artists from everywhere—I'll bring the work to your space. And I hope to return, again and again; the work that matters takes root slowly.
Three Ways to Work Together
I shape every engagement with you, so each one is a little different. Below are the forms this work tends to take—but honestly, I'm less interested in a single visit than in what we might build over time.
Host a Regional Workshop
Your theatre brings me in to lead a multi-day workshop for actors in your region—rigorous, generous training that your community might not have access to.
You provide the space and gather the artists; I bring the work.
A natural fit for theatres who want to invest in the artists around them and strengthen the local scene.
Ensemble Residency & New-Work Lab
I work with your company over several days—training your ensemble in Meisner and Viewpoints, deepening trust and presence, and building practical tools for devising and creating new work.
Ideal for companies in process, or any ensemble wanting to sharpen how they make things together.
Festivals & Cultural Exchange
At festivals and across borders, I love gathering with artists to share practice, teach, and trade the tools we've each developed. If you're part of a festival or building an international exchange, let's find a way to get artists into a room together. This is a part of the work closest to my heart.
What I Bring Into the Room
The specific work adapts to your goals, but it draws from:
- Meisner Technique—foundations through advanced work
- Viewpoints and composition for ensemble and devising
- Physical awareness, movement, and embodied performance
- Presence, deep listening, and spontaneous response
- Vocal freedom and physical storytelling
- Practical tools for collaborative creation and new work
Whatever the group's experience level, the aim is the same: Artists listening attentively, risking more, and making bolder work together.
Who I Am
I've spent over 25 years as a professional actor, director, and teacher. I was an original member of the Sowelu Theatre Ensemble for seven years, training weekly in Meisner Technique with Barry Hunt (via William Esper), studying Viewpoints with Kim Weild and SITI Company, and developing physical and movement practice.
I spent eight years as a Resident Artist with Artists Repertory Theatre, performed in over 60 professional productions in the region, earned two regional awards, and taught for eleven years at The Actors Conservatory, an accredited two-year professional training program.
More than any of that, what I bring is a deep respect for the ensemble process and a genuine belief in the transformative power of making theatre together. If you share that belief, I think we'll understand each other quickly.
Why I Do This
Theatre is a place we practice being fully present with each other. The training I share is about what opens up when a group of artists learn to listen deeply, respond honestly, and create together without fear.
I'm drawn to the spiritual roots of live theatre and by our relationship with consciousness—how presence, imagination, and embodied experience can shift something fundamental in us.
Carrying that work between companies, cities, and countries—and sharing what we each know is at the heart of why I travel.
Let's build something across the distance.
Voices from the Room
“You lead an awesome space. There is a strong sense of trust and safety, which leads to courage and honesty. It's a pretty special environment to be in.”
“I'm super thankful for this space you created... an opportunity to be vulnerable in a safe environment and to expand one's emotional range of expression.”
“Having the opportunity to be with other people in an honest, vulnerable way is such a rare gift.”
Dear Chris..
It's been many years.. but I want you to know that I have taken what you taught us and used it again and again. I have morphed it, played with it.. and relied on it to pull our ensemble together and create.
Thank you!
- Nancy Gibson - CRC Performance Group - Wisconsin
How a Visit Comes Together
Simple, and built around your company.
Step 1
Reach Out
Tell me about your company, your artists, and what you're hoping for—a regional workshop, an ensemble residency, a festival workshop, or something we invent together.
Step 2
We Shape It Together
On a call, we'll design the visit—format, length, and focus to fit your goals—and work out the practical side: dates, travel, lodging, and budget.
Step 3
I Come to You
I arrive ready to work, meet your artists where they are, and bring everything I've got into your room.
Step 4
We Keep Building
The best of this work happens over time. My hope is always that a first visit becomes a relationship—and a reason to come back.
Let's Begin a Conversation
If any of this stirs something—if you can picture me in your room, with your artists—I'd love to hear from you. Wherever your company is, let's find out what we can make together.
