Betsy Daly

Instructor-BetsyDaly WAS co-director, Betsy Daly, has been running successful dance/acting/musical theater/fencing studios in the NY/NJ area for the past 20 years, for age 2-1/2 through adults. Her grandmother had a dance and theater studio during the Great Depression with notable students including Donald O'Connor. Ms. Daly is happy to continue this family tradition. She currently is the Director/Owner of Cresskill Performing Arts in Bergen County, NJ. Her students have been seen on Broadway, in National and International Tours, on the Disney channel, and in music videos. Ms. Daly also provides programs for students with special needs through the RhythmWorks Integrative Dance program, which is a hip-hop based program for students with learning differences, Autism, Down's Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and other issues. She is a big supporter of A Slice of Hope, founded by Obaid Kadwani. Along with her daughter, Susanna Pressley, Ms.Daly has produced the "Dancing for Hope Festival" for the past 3 years, bringing together dance studios from the trip-state area to raise funds for the wonderful activities sponsored by A Slice of Hope. Ms. Daly is passionate about teaching children the value of giving back to the community, thereby raising awareness that each of us can make a difference in the world.

 

Obaid Kadwani

Obaid Kadwani acts in American as well as Indian film and television. He has acted opposite Robert Deniro, Paul Sorvino and James Spader. He has acted on television shows including Homeland and Blacklist. Obaid is seen on television worldwide as World Wre’s Hindi commentator. He is seen nationwide as host of Indian-themed entertainment and news show, Namaste America. He is pleased to have acted in a wide variety of roles. Obaid has been featured on several news media for founding the nationwide charity against homelessness, A Slice of Hope. He is the producer and director of the award-winning solo play, They Call me Q, the first solo show on off-Broadway to star an Indian female. He will occasionally do personal coaching for tv and film stars. He strives to help everyone embody the motto of Working Actor Studio: Train Hard and Get Booked!

 

Founding Teacher: The late Joe Daly

Instructor-JosephDaly
Coaching Robert Deniro, on left, and Aidan Quinn, on right.
www.JoeDalyMemorialFund.com

Albert Bramante

Instructor-albert Albert Bramante is the owner of Emerging Talent Agency. He has a PhD in Clinical Psychology. He has been an award winning professor, teacher, mentor, and student advisor. He has booked actors represented by ETA at high-profile productions including Law & Order SVU, Orange Is The New Black, Homeland and almost every tv show on broadcast and cable networks, in theater productions and in movies. Albert takes great joy in helping actors hone their performance skills and succeed in the acting field.
* Taking class with Albert does not guarantee any representation by Emerging Talent Agency or any other agency *

Alan Safier

Instructor-albert ALAN SAFIER is an actor, singer, writer, director and producer, with more than five decades on stage, on television, in commercials, and in voice-overs. He was a voice-over casting director in Los Angeles for over 15 years. He’s now in his 10th season touring the U.S. in the solo actor show Say Goodnight Gracie as legendary comedian George Burns. He received his an MFA in Acting at Ohio University, where he studied under the esteemed Bob Hobbs. While living and working in New York in the ’70s and ’80s, he studied with legendary acting teacher Wynn Handman, and with Academy Award–winning actress Beatrice Straight. He's conducted workshops in acting, musical performance and voice-over for more than a decade at the William Inge Theatre Festival, and taught acting at Cleveland’s Heights Youtheatre and Jewish Community Center.  His theatre credits include Michael in the L.A. premiere of The Men from the Boys (Mart Crowley's sequel to his seminal play The Boys in the Band), Lou in The Speed of Darkness, Stephen in Dealer’s Choice, Charles Guiteau in the L.A. premiere of  Assassins, and John Adams in 1776. Alan is a passionate Cleveland Indians baseball fan, an avid reader, a lover of theatre and old Hollywood movies, and a politics junkie. You’re invited to browse Alan’s website at www.alansafier.com.

Johnny Culver

Instructor-Johnny Johnny Culver is the managing director of New York’s Equity Library Theater, which presents, at no cost to anyone, a semi-annual festival of new short plays by American writers, as well as monthly readings of both classic and modern works, in association with the New York Public Library. John has directed, acted and produced many plays. Favorite New York roles; Emmett in Keeping Up Appearances (US Premiere), Clinton Preminger in Nude with Violin, Heck Tate in To Kill A Mockingbird, Mr. Jackson in Talking Pictures. He has cast and directed students of Working Actors Studio and many other studios and community groups. Johnny also facilitates a bi weekly creative writing/performance class at the Queens Library. His plays have been performed in New York and Philadelphia. www.equitylibrarytheater.info

Thomas Z. Shepard

Instructor-Johnny 12-time Grammy winner, Thomas Z. Shepard, is a prolific record producer who is best known for his recordings of Broadway musicals, including the works of Stephen Sondheim. Shepard is also a composer, conductor, music arranger and pianist. He has won twelve Grammy Awards and produced the original cast recordings of many of the Sondheim musicals, including Sweeney Todd, Company and Sunday in the Park with George, among others. He also produced the original cast recordings of 1776, La Cage aux Folles and 42nd Street, among over a hundred others. He has produced hundreds of classical music and popular music recordings.

Classes

Musical Theater

John Monteith

Instructor-JohnMonteith BFA Acting, Boston University. First appeared Off-Broadway in THE PROPOSITION, an all improvised comedy and music revue at The Manhattan Theatre Club. Joined the Toronto company of THE SECOND CITY. Returned to the States to work on two person improv comedy act with Suzanne Rand. MONTEITH AND RAND played theaters all over; appeared on TV, including Johnny Carson's Tonight Show; had their own PBS series; performed for both Democratic and Republican administrations, and once improvised for the Supreme Court. John Monteith also writes, directs, acts, and taught at HB Studio for 25 years.

Classes

Improvisation