ACTeen - The Nation's First Film Acting Program For Teens

Instructors - Guest Artists

Rita Litton, ACTeen Director

Rita Litton began her acting training at UCLA and San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. In her many years as a professional actress, Ms. Litton has appeared in New York and regional theaters in roles ranging from Shakespeare and the classics to new plays. Throughout her performing career she supplemented her theatrical work with appearances in daytime dramas (for CBS-TV and ABC-TV), feature films, and industrials. She has recorded many national and regional commercials and voice-overs, including narration for the Emmy Award–winning children’s documentary “Big Blue Marble.” She has been a member of Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Actors Equity Association for over twenty years.

As an instructor, Ms. Litton has taught acting and audition technique for various professional theater companies, universities, the Screen Actor’s Guild Young Performers Conservatory, and acting schools around the country. Hundreds of her students have gone on to successful professional careers in acting, directing, producing, or casting.

A writer and contributor to various acting books, Ms. Litton is the author of “Acting and Auditioning for Television Commercials” (©1992, R. Litton) the definitive teaching text on the subject for teens. She has been interviewed for the book “How to Be A Working Actor” by Lynne Rogers and Mari Lyn Henry (former head of casting for ABC-TV), and “Acting for Young Actors” by Mary Lou Belli and Dinah Lenney. She is a contributor for ““The Young Performer’s Guide” by Simon & Padol, and “Acting Like a Pro” by Mary McTigue. Favorable press about Ms. Litton has appeared in “The New York Times,” “The New York Post,” “Variety”, “New York” magazine, “The Chicago Tribune”, Backstage”, “The Princeton Review,” “Dramatics Magazine” and others. Agent & industry professionals consistently recommend ACTeen for their clients and prospective clients.

During her many years of teaching, Ms. Litton has served as a casting consultant for such diverse studios as Fox, Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, CBS, NBC, & ABC on projects ranging from major motion pictures to TV series, sitcoms, pilots, & soap operas.

Staff

The ACTeen staff is exemplary — adults from professional acting/directing/casting backgrounds. Many also teach in colleges, universities, and other acting conservatories with the majority holding advanced degrees. Full-time Summer Academy students work with 6 to 8 different experienced instructors as well as special guest artists. The small class size enables a close personal relationship between students and faculty. Teachers work creatively to tailor scenes and exercises to best stimulate each student.

Instructors Include:

Marnie Andrews
Film Acting Technique instructor. Actress, director, playwright. Teacher, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, USC Graduate Film School. Actress in NY, LA (received Garland and Dramalogue awards), regional theater. Guest starred on “E.R.”, “Murder One”, numerous movies of the week, and recurring roles on “Wonder Years”, “General Hospital”, and “Santa Barbara”. BA University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Jerry Beal
Directing instructor. Director/Actor/Instructor in LA and NY. His productions of “Home” and “The Good Doctor” together won five Los Angeles Dramalogue awards. Theater and directing teacher, Brooklyn College, William Patterson University, UCLA, New York Young Audiences. BA Brandeis, MFA Brooklyn College, Oxford University.

Dana Benningfield
Movement Instructor. Dana has appeared Off-Broadway and regionally for theaters such as the John Houseman Theatre, 78th Street Theatre Lab, Manhattan Class Company, Irish-American Theatre Company, Alambama Shakespeare Festival, New Jersey Rep, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theatre Center Children’s Theater, & Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey. She was nominated “Best Featured Actress -- New Jersey Theatre Season” by the Star-Ledger. Indie film credits include Docs and Robbers, and True Angel Stories. Her short film, BUST (writer/producer/actor) featuring Dan Lauria (TV’s The Wonder Years) premiered at the Vermont International Film Festival and film festivals nationwide. Director, New Jersey Repertory Company. Dana has taught acting, and audition technique at Baylor University, Brandeis University, Union County College, and Shelter Studios in NYC. BS, The University of Texas at Austin; MBA Harvard Business School; MFA, Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

Kohli Calhoun
Speech & Voice Instructor. As an actor Kohli has performed in NYC and regionally. Credits include “The Blue Room,” “Pterodactyls,” “The Life of Galileo” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Dialect and Vocal Coaching include “Assassins,” “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” “Anton In Show Business,” “End of Civilization,” “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” “Mad Forest” and “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.” With ACTeen, she also serves as a Speech & Voice instructor at Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and NYU. BFA NYU/Tisch. Member of the Voice and Speech Trainers’ Association (VASTA).

Sam Cohen
Improvisation instructor. Sam has been living and working in New York City for the last 19 years. During that time, he has worked on and off-Broadway, regionally, and in national tours as an actor, improviser, director, choreographer, and composer/lyricist. Sam is one of the creators of “The Next Big Broadway Musical” and other successful improv formats, including “Spontaneous Broadway”. He has taught improvisation for The American Comedy Institute, Hunter College, Artsgenesis, and Wingnuts. He studied at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, and Penn State University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. His variety of experience — from scripted to scriptless — performing, directing, writing, and teaching has brought him a unique understanding of both long- and short-form story-oriented improvisational styles.

Gail Dennison
Improvisation instructor. Gail has performed in many Improvisational comedy groups in New York City, including "Off the Cuff", "For-Play Improvised Theatre", and "The Pollyannas". She founded the all-women improv/sketch comedy group "Womedy", and is a proud co-founder and member of the all-women comedy group "The Heartless Floozies". Gail also teaches improvisation and comedy at AMDA (The American Musical and Dramatic Academy).

Gino DiIorio
Film Acting Technique, Modern Drama, Script Writing instructor. Actor, Director, Playwright. Acted in numerous films, soap operas, and television commercials, as well as over 100 plays in NYC and regionally. His play “The Hard Way” won 1st place in the BBC’s 2005 International Playwriting Competition, and was broadcast internationally over BBC Radio in the Fall of 2005. Recipient of the Berrilla Kerr Award for Playwriting (2003). His plays have been finalists at the Eugene O’Neill Center, the Humana Festival, New Dramatics, and the 2002 Writer Digest’s national play competition. He has written a number of screenplays including “Fatboy” and “Morally Straight”, a 2002 Austin Film Festival Semifinalist. Associate Professor of Theatre at Clark University where he teaches Acting, Playwriting, and Shakespeare. He has also taught at The New School, NYU, and Rockland Community College. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, The Association for Theatre in Higher Education, as well as the Chicago Dramatists Playwrights’ Network. He is also a member of SAG, AFTRA, and AEA. Gino lives in NYC with his wife and two sons. MFA Brooklyn College.

Brette Goldstein
Monologue instructor, is a producer and the in-house casting director with Collective Machinery, a production company that is producing, developing and financing independent film and television projects. Brette has cast films that have won awards and been official selections at film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Hamptons, Woodstock, Woods Hole, Shorts, Philadelphia, Boston, Austin, Great Lakes, Sante Fe and the IFP Film Market to name a few. Brette has been the resident casting director of the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC since 1996. She has cast for such theatres as Off-Broadway’s Epic Theatre Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and the Muhlenberg Theatre. A former Casting Associate at Elissa Myers Casting, she worked on seasons for many theatres including Berkeley Rep, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, Cleveland Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Co., Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Studio Arena, Seattle Rep and the McCarter, as well as a PBS mini-series.

Vivian Hasbrouk
Film Scene Study Instructor. Actress, associate casting director for prestigious film casting directors Ellen Parks, Ellen Lewis, Juliet Taylor, and Gretchen Renell Court. Worked on Martin Scorsese’s “Kundun” and the films “Pleasantville,” “Stepmom,” and “Meet Joe Black,” among others. Sundance Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Cast for “Songcatcher.” BA University of South Florida College of Fine Arts.

Sheila Head
Improvisation, Voiceover Instructor. Actress, Improviser, teacher, writer. Teaching credits include American Music and Dramatic Academy, Arts Genesis, Theater for a New Audience, the Williamstown Theater Festival, various corporate workshops and several years as an artist in residence in New York and New Jersey schools. Appearances in New York and LA include PS NBC, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theater, HBO Workspace and Catch A Rising Star. Sheila has voiced several characters for Comedy Central’s “Odd Todd”. Sheila has written for ABC/Disney, Garrison Keillor, and PBS’s “Cyberchase”. For Oxygen she created and wrote “The Ruth Truth”, based on her experiences as a Private Investigator. Playwrighting credits include “The Egg Game”, “Over My Head” and “Hollywood Nurses”.

Prudence Wright Holmes
Monologue instructor. Prudence has taught at Carnegie Mellon Drama Department, NYU Drama Department, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and at The Actor’s Studio at The New School She has appeared in featured roles in the films “Sister Act I and II”with Whoopi Goldberg, “Kingpin” with Woody Harrelson and “In Dreams”with Annette Bening. On Broadway she appeared in “Happy End” with Meryl Streep, “Lettice and Lovage” with Maggie Smith and “Inherit the Wind”with George C. Scott. She has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway shows including the original casts of “Godspell” and “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You.” She appeared in “The Light in the Piazza” on Broadway and on the National Tour.

Rachel Kaufman
Musical Theater instructor. Rachel, a Brooklyn native, is a multi-instrumentalist who has music directed and/or played for well over 200 musicals and cabaret shows all over the world. She has worked as a teacher and/or accompanist for classes at Juilliard, The New School, CAP 21, HB Studios, Actors Connection, Stagedoor Manor, TADA, , etc. Rachel has also worked as an accompanist for auditions for Broadway casting directors (Bernard Telsey, Jay Binder etc). Tour credits include “Rent” (Japan), “Phantom of the Opera” (Europe), “Ain't Misbehavin,” “Sophisticated Ladies,” and “Golf.” Off-B'way credits include “Schoolhouse Rock Live” (Lambs' Theatre), “The Ambition Bird” (w/Victoria Clark), and “CYCLE” (Cherry Lane Theatre). Rachel can also be seen playing for improv comedy groups, at piano bars, restaurants, and in the orchestra on cruise ships. She has played for such Broadway greats as Kristen Chenoweth, Ann Reinking, Donna Murphy, Lillias White, and Chuck Cooper. B.A University of Chicago.

Frank Licato
Theater Instructor. Theater acting instructor, guest director Clark University, MA. Lehman College, University of Denver, University of Colorado, and University of Toronto. As an actor Frank has appeared on television (“Third Watch”, “100 Centre Street”) in various feature films, Off-Broadway, and at many regional theaters including The Boston Shakespeare Company, American Repertory Theater, and the Delaware Theater Company. Trained at Emerson College with Joe Chaiken, Peter Brook, and Kristen Linklater. Member AEA, SAG, AFTRA, and The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Sybil Lines
Shakespeare instructor. Actress, BBC television, two years member Royal Shakespeare Company (including tour to Japan), Broadway in “Bedroom Farce,” “Waiting in the Wings” (with Lauren Bacall), and “Lettice and Lovage” (with Maggie Smith). Off-Broadway (Manhattan Theater Club, Roundabout Theater), many regional theaters. Taught at London’s Central School, Circle in the Square, and Catholic University.

Dan Manjovi
Singing Voice Instructor. Singer, actor, pianist. Performed at Denver Theater Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, Musical Theatre Works, and Arizona Theater Company. Many cabaret, nightclub and concert performances in New York City including Caroline’s, Café Carlyle, Rainbow Room, and NY’s Town Hall. Winner of Backstage Newspaper’s “Bistro Award” for “Outstanding Singer/Instrumentalist”, and was the ASCAP “Popular Award Recipient” for composition. Recording CD “Dan Manjovi” released in 2005. Faculty HB Studios, and Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. BS Music, New York University. Member New York Singing Teachers Association, American Federation of Musicians, and American Society of Composers, Authors, & Publishers (ASCAP). Graduate Composition/Orchestration: The Julliard School.

Amy Marcs
Commercials, Film Technique, Voiceovers, Foundations of Acting Instructor. Amy is an accomplished actress, commercial voice-over performer, freelance casting director, and active instructor. Amy has cast for Susan Shopmaker Casting (casting over 100 commercials including Suave Shampoo, Energizer, Citibank, Tylenol, and national searches for Lee Jeans and Prudential) and Judy Keller Commercial Casting. She's served as casting assistant on feature and documentary films for Marci Lifoff Casting ("Hardball" w/Keanu Reeves), and Deborah Aquila Casting ("Primal Fear"), and Terry Liebling Casting (“Sunchaser”). Amy worked on casting for Sundance Festival films “Hurricane Streets” (Winner: Best Director, Cinematography and Audience Award), and “Acts of Worship”. She teaches at Rutgers University, and NYU (School of Continuing Ed). BA Theatre & Communications Rider University.

Ian Marshall
Movement, Stage Combat, and Physical Storytelling instructor. Actor, director, movement and stage combat specialist. Taught Yale University (graduate Acting and Opera department), New York University, Circle in the Square. Movement, choreography, and fight direction: HB Studios, Ensemble Studio Theater, Atlantic Theater, National Shakespeare Company, CBS-TV’s The Learning Channel, Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, and many independent films. BFA NYU University.

Robin Christian McNair
Speech & Voice Instructor. Actress, teacher. Taught Speech, Voice or Dialects at Herbert Berghof Studios, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rutgers University Professional Actor’s Training Program, Maggie Flanigan Acting Studio, NYC. BA University of Houston, MFA Rutgers University.

Michael Perilstein
Improvisation Instructor. Michael is an actor, teacher, and author. As an actor, Michael has worked in television and film, on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional theater. Michael’s teaching credits include Columbia University, Hofstra University, New York University, Skidmore College, and the University of Virginia. Currently, he teaches acting, improvisation, and monologue workshops at the American Musical and Drama Academy (AMDA). BA Hofstra University. MFA University of Virginia.

Steve Perlmutter
Film Acting Technique instructor. Actor, Director, Teacher. Steve has performed at regional theatres throughout the country including Philadelphia’s famed Walnut Street Theatre. He has appeared in numerous radio and television commercials for products such as Nestea, Jell-O, Volvo, Norwest Bank, Bell South, Tony Roma’s restaurants, and Staples. Steve currently teaches at Rutgers University, The School for Film and Television, and NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Barbara Pitts
Theater, Film Acting Technique instructor. Actress, original company of “The Laramie Project”: Off-Broadway, LaJolla Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, Denver Center and Sundance. Film and TV: “The Laramie Project” (shared Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing), “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: SVU”, Comedy Central’s “Pulp Comics”. Barbara is associate director of New Georges, an Obie-winning Off-Off-Broadway theater company. She has authored numerous short plays for children for Scholastic’s “Storyworks” magazine. BFA University of Oregon.

Amanda Quaid
Speech & Voice instructor. Amanda Quaid is an actress and speech & dialect coach based in Manhattan. Amanda has studied acting, movement, and text analysis with actors and master teachers from the U.S. and abroad including Patsy Rodenburg, David Sabella-Mills, and Susan Patrick. As an actor, Amanda has worked at the Vineyard Theatre, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, the Culture Project, among others, and she has appeared in several independent films. Presently on the faculty of HB Studios, she is the youngest faculty member in the history of the studio. Amanda has also coached dialects at Vasaar College, and is a member of the Voice & Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). BA Vasaar College.

Debora Rabbai
Improvisation instructor. Debora trained at Chicago City Limits and is a former member of Theatre Sports NY where she performed and trained with them for 9 years. Co-creator and performer in the MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets) Award–nominated and acclaimed improvised musical “The Next Big Broadway Musical”. Rated “One of the Top Ten Improvisers” by the New York Post. Accomplished voiceover actress, creating voices for “Shenfa” in the SEGA Dreamcast game “Shenmue”, as well having voiced over 30 anime films. Hosted the cable show “Live from Downtown”, and performed sketch comedy on “Late Night With Conan OBrien”. Instructor NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, The American Comedy Institute, and the NY Improv Festival. Taught corporate workshops for Revlon, Western Union, Oxygen Network, and Merck.

Gary R. Ramsey
Movement—Alexander Technique instructor. Gary is the head of the voice and speech department at the Neighborhood Playhouse in NY. Gary is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique from the American Center of Alexander Teachers (ACAT). He works with a variety of actors, public speakers, and other professionals who are seeking to improve their vocal and physical abilities. Gary holds a BFA from Stevens College, and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He has acted for many years in NY and regional theater, on television and in educational videos.

Michael Roberts
Musical Theater instructor. Musical Director/Pianist/Composer. As musical director: for Joan Rivers, Leslie Gore, The Drifters, “The Broadway Kids”, “Capital Steps” (John Houseman Theater NYC), Theatreworks/USA, AMAS Musical Theater, “Broadway’s Best from Bravo”, “Maury Povitch Show”, PBS’s “British Invasion Concert”. As Composer: “Remember WENN” (Rupert Holmes’ Emmy-winning sitcom on AMC-TV), “Love Walked In” (Tri-Star feature with Dennis Leary), documentaries, jingles, musicals. Composer-in-residence for The Broadway Theatre Institute.

Michael Rock, Improvisation instructor, is a teacher, director, performer and writer. His performing credits include “Mummenschanz” on Broadway; ten years with TheatreSports New York, Spontaneous Broadway, and other improvisation formats; as well as many regional, stock and touring productions where he had to actually memorize lines. As a director, Michael has created musicals for Penn’s Mask and Wig Club, vaudeville/clown shows for Hershey Park, comedy revues for the Second City Training Center, children’s theatre for Slim Goodbody and many others. He has taught improvisation for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, The Second City Training Center, New York University CAP 21 and Playwright’s Horizons Theatre School, Marymount Manhattan College, and Young Audiences of NY and NJ. BA Penn State.

Maggie Surovell
Speech & Voice instructor. Maggie has served as a dialect and voice coach for productions Off Broadway, and regionally. She has taught Fitzmaurice technique at University of Georgia, Sarah Lawrence College, and Wagner College. Maggie has taught for the Yale School of Drama Summer Program, and served as teaching assistant to Pamela Prather and Beth McGuire for KinesPhonetics Speech & Voice in the MFA program at Yale School of Drama. BA Temple University. MFA University of Georgia.

Lisa Tracy
Commercials, Film Acting Technique, Film Scene Study instructor. Actress and director — Off-Broadway, regional theater, industrials, revues, commercials. Lisa also worked as an assistant to a NYC talent agent for five years. BA (Phi Beta Kappa) University of Minnesota. Lisa is the mother of two boys and really loves teaching teens!

Guest Artists and Directors:

Mary Lou Belli
Emmy® Award winning producer, writer, and director, Mary Lou is the co-author of “The Sitcom Career Book” and “Acting for Young Actors.” She is currently directing her 6th consecutive season of “Girlfriends” on the new CW network. Last season she directed “Living With Fran” starring Fran Drescher, “Misconceptions” starring Jane Leeves, and “Eve” starring hip-hop artist Eve. She began her career directing “Charles In Charge,” “ Major Dad,” and “Sister, Sister.” Mary Lou received BET nominations for directing “Girlfriends” and “One On One” as well as a Prism Award for “Girlfriends.”

Matthew Bonifacio
Actor/director/writer, ACTeen alumnus (Film, Film Technique). Starred in the film “Pisadoo”, a short film that was honored with the Princess Grace Award, and appeared in “Tony and Tina’s Wedding” Off Off Broadway. Matt directed and co-wrote (with Carmine Famiglietti) the Sundance Film Festival American Spectrum entry “Lbs.”, a moving portrait of a man’s struggle with one of the most misunderstood addictions — overeating. Matt’s short “From Woodside, Queens” was accepted to the Aspen Shortsfest this year, one of 58 films (from 20 countries and over 1500 submissions) to be chosen. Director and writer of numerous TV commercials.

Donna Lynne Champlin
Actress, Broadway “Sweeney Todd” revival with Patti LuPone, “Hollywood Arms” directed by Tony-award–winner Harold Prince, with Linda Lavin and Michelle Pawk, “The Dead”, “By Jeeves”. Off-Broadway “My Life with Albertine”, Playwrights Horizon. National tour “Jolson” as Ruby Keeler. BFA Carnegie Mellon University, Presidential Scholar in the Arts, National Tap Champion.

Mari Lyn Henry
Former East Coast Director of Casting at ABC-TV for over 13 years, Ms. Henry is now the New York–based principal partner of Henry Downey Talent Management. Co-Author of “How to Be a Working Actor”, now in its fifth successful edition. Mari Lyn continues to teach workshops on on-camera audition techniques throughout the country and conducts seminars on “The Biz of the Biz”. Guest faculty of New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre School, she has served on the boards of The League of Professional Theatre Women, the NY/Tri-State Chapter of the Association of Image Consultants International, and is a member of the advisory boards of Women in Theatre/L.A. and the Florida Project. She has been quoted in numerous newspapers and industry publications, including “Back Stage” and “Soap Opera Digest”. Mari Lyn holds a Master’s Degree in Theatre from Catholic University.

Robert Marks
Vocal coach, conductor, arranger, director, and composer. Robert has been the musical director of over 200 productions. His cabaret showcases have run continually in New York City for over 20 years. He was a pianist with the Broadway and national companies of the hit musical “Annie,” and spent two seasons as the Associate Conductor of the St. Louis Municipal Opera, working with such stars as Shirley Jones, Paul Williams, Carol Lawrence, and Vincent Price. For several years, he was the host and musical director of the acclaimed Youngstars performances of professional children in New York City. He has coached cast members of almost every current Broadway musical, and former students have included Deborah Gibson, Christy Carlson Romano, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Britney Spears.

Greg Pak
Award-winning filmmaker — is an award-winning writer and director whose feature film, "Robot Stories" played in 75 festivals, won 35 awards, and screened theatrically across the country. Greg's feature screenplay "Rio Chino" won the 2002 IFP Market Pipedream screenplay award and a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship. Pak wrote the screenplay for the feature film "MVP," which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. His short film "Fighting Grandpa" has won 20 prizes, including a Student Academy Award, and has played in over 50 film festivals. Greg studied political science at Yale University, history at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and film production at the NYU graduate film program.

Dennis Parlato
Actor Broadway (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, understudy John Lithgow; “Sound of Music” with Rebecca Luker and Laura Benanti), regional theater, soap operas — “Guiding Light” (Roger Thorpe), “Santa Barbara” (Lindsay Cunningham/John Jacobi), “Loving” (Clay Alden), “One Life to Live” (Michael).

Jack Poggi
Actor/author of “The Monologue Workshop”.

Joe Salvatore
Teacher, Educational Theater Program, New York University School of Education. Former Education and Humanities Manager at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Artistic Education Director for Learning Stages. Director, theater artist, playwright. Teacher Long Island University, guest lecturer University of Massachusetts, Brooklyn College, Washington University.

Barry Shapiro
Co-owner of Herman & Lipson Casting. Barry has been with Herman & Lipson for nearly twenty-five years casting over 7,500 commercials for such products as L’Oreal, American Express, Advil, Verizon and other top accounts. Besides casting for commercials shown around the world Mr. Shapiro also casts for film, television and theatre.