Patrice Quinn, born and raised in New York City, began acting professionally at age 15 in an Off Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’, “This Property is Condemned”. At seventeen, she began a year long work shop of Ntozake Shange’s jazz operetta, “Betsy Brown”, in which she played the title role at The N.Y. Shakespeare Fest’s Public Theatre. She studied for one year at The Circle in the Square Theatre School then moved to Chicago where she studied with Byrne and Joyce Piven at The Piven Theatre Workshop.
After making a new home in LA, she taught classes with Byrne Piven and led a three-day workshop with the cast of Sarah Ruehl’s “Orlando” which Joyce Piven directed for “The Actor’s Gang,” where she studied commedia del arte and other styles. Having had several experiences working with Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints, Ms, Quinn jumped at the opportunity to participate in a two-week intensive Suzuki/Viewpoints workshop with her SITI Company, sponsored in LA by Anthony Byrne’s Company, Burning Wheel.
Recent stage work includes the NY and touring productions of “The Exonerated”, directed by Bob Balaban, and playing opposite Linda Hunt in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Doubt” at the Pasadena Playhouse, for which Ms. Quinn received rave reviews and an Ovation nomination.
Ms. Quinn ran The Artists Development Workshop for five years and founded “Arts Expand”, a non-profit program that brought together local working artists and at-risk youth working. Very pleased to be teaching at LACHSA, Ms Quinn is now also following a new artistic road as a singer and is making a name for herself on the local jazz scene.
Classes
3rd Year Acting
Anthony Byrnes is the Project Coordinator for the Center Theatre Group’s new Kirk Douglas Theatre, producer of Mark Taper Forum’s Taper, Too, Next Step and New Work Festival and Associate Producer of New Play Development. As a part of The Burning Wheel, he produced workshops and master classes with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, training over 350 artists in Suzuki, Viewpoints and Composition. Some of his acting credits include The Duchess of Malfi, La Bete, Waiting for Godot, The Tempest, Brave New World, The Changeling, Bino Bedlam, Burn This, The Seagull, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Cherry Orchard, The Bald Soprano and As You Like It. He has directed Common Ground, Gretty Good Time, Archaeology, and Dirt in the Taper New Festival Work Festival. Other directing credits include Dear Charlotte at the NY Fringe Festival, Big Blonde at Sacred Fools, The Spider Play at the Ensemble Theatre and Waiting for Godot and The Frog Prince at the Hillside Theatre. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at University of Pennsylvania, and his MFA at California Institute of the Arts.
Classes
3rd Year Suzuki
Christopher Fairbanks, Level 2 Voice and Speech teacher at LACHSA, received his BFA, with honors, from New York University and his MFA from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. Mr. Fairbanks is a voice technician extraordinaire, specializing in Voice-Speech-Accents and Dialects. He is on the staff of the Stella Adler Conservatory teaching accent reduction. He is also a staff member of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles and New York where he teaches Voice and Speech; Accents and Dialects; the International Phonetic Alphabet; Linklater-based tension and release techniques; and the Alexander principles of physical and vocal freedom. A professor at UCLA, Mr. Fairbanks instructed undergraduate theatre students in the fundamentals of breathing/vocalizing, listening/responding, playing objectives and self-exploration through ten-minute monologues. He also works on films, applying specific vocal training for small groups of actors.
Mr. Fairbanks's additional talents include improvisational comedy. He says the most challenging teaching job thus far was working in San Francisco at the Improv Comedy Traffic School where "I attempted to amuse and "motor-safety" inform an angry captive audience that expected to be delighted for eight hours despite their own negativity. There was occasional success!"
Classes
3rd Year Voice and Speech
Graham Jackson joined the Stol Theater Company after attending the Los Angeles High School for the Arts. He then joined Theatre West, where he musically directed “Good”, and performed in “Thieves Carnival” and Steve Allen’s: “A Christmas Carol”. He wrote and directed “Fault Lines” at the Hudson Avenue Theatre with the Upstart Theatre Company. He has appeared in the Zoo District’s Theatre Company’s “Nosferatv”, “Pathe X”, “Bloody Chamber”, and “Heart of a Dog” which traveled to Kiev. He also musically directed “Uppa Creek”, and “The Lively Lad”, performed inside the Ford Amphitheatre with the aforementioned theatre company. He appeared in “Les Superficiales”, an award winning short film premiered in several French film festivals. While musically directing at LACHSA Graham is an active member of the award winning Zoo Company of southern California, and teaches Literature/Criticism.
Classes
3rd Year Literature/Criticism