NEIL PATRICK STEWART

The Performing Arts Project is a non-profit collective of theatre and film professionals dedicated to nurturing originality, longevity, and citizenship in the next generation of outstanding musical theatre performers. The main effort of the project is its three-week summer intensive, a place where best-of-the-best high-school and college-aged musical theatre students hone their skills in a magical, innovatively-structured boot-camp-like environment.

Duties:
I work year-round to develop the program, fund-raise, and plan.
I oversee the admissions process, annually touring nine individual cities, scouring the U.S. for creative, talented, strong-hearted young artists. I lead the admissions committee, which interviews and selects around a hundred students a year.
I teach, direct, and mentor each summer as a member of the acting faculty.

The Heifetz Institute is a six-week summer program for gifted high school and college-aged chamber musicians that takes place at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, and is based on the revolutionary educational concept that young musicians can be taught to communicate the emotion of music, to be performers, and to go beyond mere technical agility.

Duties:
Authoring and implementing multiple aspects of the ground-breaking Heifetz Communication Training program.
Teaching drama and public speaking classes.
Helping students create effective and personal introductions to the music they play.
Coaching musical pieces with an eye for compelling artistic expression.
Supporting the mission that a musician is not just a technician, but a performing artist, just like any actor or dancer.

•A popular recent addition to the Heifetz staff, returning each summer to teach and help develop the communication training curriculum.•

I'm the director of the buzzworthy brand new musical VOLLEYGIRLS, which will run in July as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival. As one of the show's creators, I've helmed multiple readings and presentations of the work in New York City and personally led the ongoing writing and development process as the incredible show takes form.

Last spring I directed a critically-acclaimed production of The Elephant Man at the Pico Playhouse for Los Angeles’ non-profit Mechanicals Theatre Group, for which I was nominated for an Ovation Award for best director. The production received three other nominations, for set design, lighting design, and best intimate theatre production. I recently directed the world premiere of Christian Durso’s Shiner for the IAMA Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which ran at the Working Theatre in West Hollywood.

"Niche Media produces must-read, luxurious magazines that mirror the sensibilities and spirits of the unique, vibrant communities to which they cater. Targeting a high-end, savvy readership, Niche Media captures a dream, coast-to-coast demographic that looks to the company's publications for the finest in fashion, travel, food, spirits, society, party coverage and much more."

Editor of Gotham’s ‘Most Wanted: Food and Beverage’ section for two years, writing and editing short pieces on chefs, restaurants, bars, booze, and food. Traveled to report on culinary locales.

Served part-time as a proof-reader and research editor for several Niche titles, developing a reputation for ferreting out tiny errors and plagiarism!

Continue to write for a few Niche titles on a freelance basis. Interviewed John Cusack and Hilary Duff for a cover story in Los Angeles Confidential magazine.

BTP was a popular and industry-recognized three-week intensive musical theatre boot camp for outstanding high school and college-aged triple threats.

Back House Productions is a New York City-based non-profit play-development theatre company.

Started the company with colleagues from scratch, successfully fund-raised, and built it from the ground up.

Established residence at New York’s legendary Drama Book Shop, and put its Arthur Seelen Theatre on the map.

Launched, co-directed, and work-shopped for its first few years of development 'In the Heights,' now a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical directed by Back House co-founder Thomas Kail.

Developed, pioneered, directed, and/or presented multiple projects with playwrights such as Jules Feiffer, Anne Nelson, Robert Vaughan, John Buffalo Mailer, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Over 50 plays and playwrights have incubated and developed new works with Back House.

MFA in Acting
Activities: At A.R.T., studied and worked intensively with some of Russia’s finest teachers, actors, and directors, as well as Harvard’s world-class theatre faculty. Was consistently recognized as an exceptional student, receiving glowing evaluations, and one of the few students in A.R.T. history to be hired post-graduation to perform at its professional theatre.

B.A. in Theatre

Personal Website