Teaching Bio
I began teaching/directing in 1998, working with children between the ages of 5 and 12. Every year we would do a Christmas show in Port Jefferson. These children came from all different backgrounds and they were all very unique. Initially, there was division with the normal teasing etc. but, in the end, it was just a group of kids that worked together and put on an incredible performance and just had fun. My proudest moments were every year there was a shy child or a "Bad" child. By the first performance, by just giving these kids a little attention and confidence, they outshined even the best of adult actors I've worked with. You could see the faces just light up and then of course, the parents crying made me cry and then that was it. This was what I wanted to do. One child in particular, that reminded me of my childhood, would walk in the room with his head down and couldn't even say hello. His mom called me a couple of years ago to tell me that he has now auditioned and is acting in his church plays.
After working with those children I started teaching private lesson for teens/adults. We would work specifically on auditions that were coming up and monologues. I loved teaching them and guiding them in there careers as "Serious Actors" but I felt like something was missing.
I began looking into children programs and joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island. My case manager approached me because she knew my acting background and asked if I would be interested in taking a group of kids and working with them on a film project. George Giokas and Tim Needles approached the program and wanted to give back to the kids. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a short film and the kids had full reign. They came up with the idea, title and dialogue. George is a great writer but, lets face it, we have all been out of school too long. As he got the ideas from the kids, he would put it into script format. The kids would then read it and say "Hey, we don't talk like that." We would say, "mbff gt hot" (My Best Friend is grounded today we're hanging out tomorrow). "Oh okay", George would change it. God bless his patience, a bunch of 9 year olds telling him how to write. My job was to teach them how to give these lines life. I thought I was helping these kids but, instead, they helped me. They taught me to be a kid again, to laugh and just be me.