Kate Kennedy
Founder & Artistic Director
www.imdb.com - Kate Kennedy (I)

A member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1991, Kate Kennedy, actor, director, and developer of her own imagination based technique now used by the Members of the PeachCraft Actors Studio. Kate, Founder and Artistic Director of PeachCraft Actors Studio began to develop her own modern technique for inspired acting through her 20 years of working with actors in the casting process while working as a Casting Director for the Studios.. She moved to Summit in 2005 to set up her own studio teaching an imagination based modern acting technique of acting training developed upon Russian classic theories and concepts put into practical use in the actors performance. Kate has been inspired by Constantin Stanislavsky, Michael Chekhov, Stella Adler and her 20 years of working with actors casting features films, theater productions and television. She advocates defining energies in order to absorb the tone of the writer which then informs the actor on choices for the character’s psychological and physical core. Kate’s modern approach, inspired by the Masters of yesterday, brings to PeachCraft a new wave of professional acting training.

She is a professional Casting Director and Master Acting Coach with over 20 years of experience on Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. After graduating with a degree from Marymount Manhattan College where she studied painting and sculpture, Kate began her acting career touring with San Francisco’s famed Lilliput Players Theatre Troupe and made her television debut in NBC’s “Midnight Caller.” Beginning with “JOY LUCK CLUB”, Kate amassed a strand of Casting Director credits for the Major Motion Picture Studios in Los Angeles. Kate cast several hundred Sag National Commercials for world renowned companies including McDonalds, Coca Cola, Fila, Gap, Burger King, Lexus, Post Cereals, Mercedes Benz and more.

Jody Mullen, a classically-trained coloratura soprano, discovered her profound love for teaching after joining the PeachCraft Vocal Conservatory faculty in 2008. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she received the Ethel Stone LeFrak Prize in Music, and completed additional studies at CAP21 (the musical theater conservatory of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts) and the New York Opera Studio. Her performance credits include the role of Papagena in a concert version of Die Zauberflöte at Lincoln Center, a professional recital at 180 Maiden Lane (formerly the Continental Center), and ensemble work in a number of Off-Broadway plays. Ms. Mullen currently serves as a paid soloist and section leader at Grace Church Brooklyn Heights and studies voice with Christina Henson and Virginia Lindle. In addition to performing and teaching, she is a freelance writer specializing in magazine journalism, grant proposals, and public relations.

Ms. Mullen’s talented young student artists at PeachCraft frequently audition for Broadway and appear as soloists in their school musical productions, choral concerts, and gala events.

Craig Newman
Faculty, Actor's Studio, 2009-Present
Michael Chekhov Technique

Craig Newman holds a bachelor's degree in theatre studies and film studies from Emory University, where he was an active performer and award winning director. In addition to directing a number of short films, he was the recipient of an Award of Distinction for his direction of Sarah Kane's Cleansed and awarded a Research Grant for his documentary film on freight-train hoppers.

Since arriving in New York City in 2008, Mr. Newman has been cast in a variety of Off-Broadway productions while continuing his training in Chekhov technique. In January 2009, he began teaching this technique to members of the Michael Chekhov Theater Company in workshop settings and one-on-one sessions. A student of Leonard Petite, Mr. Newman joins Kate Kennedy in her commitment to the philosophy and foundation of the Michael Chekhov technique taught at PeachCraft Actors Studio Master Class.

Sandy Rustin
Faculty, Actor's Studio, 2010
Improvisation

Sandy Rustin is a Chicago native and graduate of Northwestern University's renowned theater department. Over the last decade she has worked professionally in New York City as an actress & improviser and can now say with certainty that acting is 95% improvisation and 5% knowing what to say and where to stand. She works with PeachCraft students on the improv part! At age 11 she was introduced to the freedom of improvisation by Joyce Piven, (the mother of Jeremy Pivin of Entourage) at the famed Chicago Piven Theatre Workshop. The endless opportunities to create characters & environments through improvisation, remain the greatest joy of her professional life.

Sandy improvises regularly in NYC at Upright Citizen's Brigade. She has toured the country playing "Sandy" in the Nat'l Tour of Grease! and starred in the Drama Desk Winning Musical, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." She has appeared in numerous plays, musicals, commercials and on TV (Law & Order; SVU, All My Children, & Guiding Light). In addition to performing and teaching, Sandy is a comedy writer. Her new show, "Rated P; An Exploration of Parenthood in 24 Scenes" is in development.

Sandy joins Kate Kennedy in her committment to her philosophy and foundation in PeachCraft Actors Studio for the necessity of the creative individual to "own one's freedom" in order to create and transform believably.

Adam Muskin
Guest Faculty, 2008-2009 (Acting Technique and Improvisation)

Adam Muskin was born and raised in New York City, where he graduated from LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and Visual Art in 2000. Adam then journeyed to Moscow, graduating from the Moscow Art Theater School in 2005 with his fellow members of Studio Six, and staying on for two extra years at Moscow Art as an interpreter/teaching assistant with the A.R.T institute for Advanced Theater Training and Eugene O’Neil National Theater Institute abroad segments. During his time there, Adam worked with the Russian students as an assistant director as well.

After leading seminars at Skidmore University, assistant teaching/interpreting with the Moscow Art Theater Summer School in Cambridge, MA, and leading workshops at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in October, Adam is looking forward to officially continuing his studies at The Moscow Art Theater School as a candidate for an M.F.A. in acting and theater art with a minor in directing.

Adam has enjoyed acting on both continents, and hopes to actively continue Studio Six's activities as a unique cultural bridge between Russian and American art.

Jonathan Phillips
Co-Director, 2007-2008
PeformanceMedia Conservatory
www.imdb.com Jonathan Phillips (II)

Jonathan Phillips holds an M.F.A. in Dramatic Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, where he graduated with Honors under a full scholarship. He is a Founding Member of the Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati (ETC), where he taught the Michael Chekhov technique of Acting. As a working actor he believes that the craft comes from an inner knowledge of the actor's instrument. All training and technique stem from the gentle deepening and enriching of the actor's body and psychology. The tools at the actor's disposal are the same as those of the symphony conductor. It is the actor's skill and technique that informs him when to pound the drum or when to simply pluck the strings or yet when to wait for the silence between the notes.

Kenneth Bryson
Co-Founder, Director 2006-2010
PeachCraft Vocal Conservatory

PeachCraft Vocal Conservatory Director Ken Bryson holds a Masters in Music from The Juilliard School in New York City and Bachelors in Music from The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Mr. Bryson brings to his teachings a wealth of training and performance experience in the fields of classical and musical theater repertoire. He has performed over 25 different operatic and musical theater roles and has appeared in over 100 recitals and concerts throughout the United States and around the world. Mr. Bryson has also for the past four years spear headed and organized a series of benefit concerts entitled, "Singing for a Cure" with proceeds benefiting various cancer foundations. Mr. Bryson still maintains a very active performance schedule in conjunction with his teaching in New Jersey and New York City. Mr. Bryson also serves as an adjunct voice faculty member of The Pingry School and is a full and active member of NATS (The National Association of Teachers of Singing).

John Kras, a classically trained baritone, is a 2009 addition to the Vocal Faculty of Peachcraft Vocal Conservatory. Mr. Kras is a 2000 graduate of the University of Arizona. There he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education with dual emphases in both vocal and instrumental music.

Mr. Kras' passion lies in musical theatre and he has been seen in regional and touring productions across the country. Favorite credits include Ragtime, Snoopy!, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Good News!, and Gypsy. Mr. Kras is proud to have studied with some of the world’s most esteemed vocalists including Grayson Hirst, Robert Swenson, Jocelyn Reiter and George Gibson.

Mr. Kras is frequently asked to serve as music director or consultant to area musical theatre companies and maintains an active performance schedule throughout New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Kras is director of the Youth Chorus of St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church where he is also a soloist and member of the Schola Cantorum.

Mr. Kras is thrilled to join the Peachcraft Vocal Conservatory Faculty and looks forward to many years helping students grow in their abilities and love of the arts.

Maurene Singer holds both a B.F.A. in acting and film and an M.F.A. in screenwriting from New York University. While there, she trained with Stella Adler, completing studies in script analysis, voice and speech, movement, and Shakespeare. She has performed in a variety of Off-Broadway plays in the “Theater of the Absurd” genre and has studied voice with Myron Bernhardt, instructor to Bette Midler.

Ms. Singer worked for Orion Pictures in Los Angeles before returning to the New York area to write screenplays and adapt novels. Her children’s picture book, A Place in the Sky, was published in 2004.
Maurene joined writing forces with Kate last Winter writing four one-acts for PeachCraft’s Story Theatre Series. The student artists mounted these four productions which were showcased at The Oaks Center, Summit to rave revues.

When she is not teaching at PeachCraft, Ms. Singer continues to write screenplays, short stories, and children’s books. She is proud to teach at what she considers the best acting school in the area and is happy to be part of the PeachCraft family.