Enrichment Programming

Photo: Ashley Garrett

Learning with Bedlam

We believe that actor training is human training. We teach young people to be present, listen, communicate well with others and express their emotions through the use of classical texts. Of course, not every student will go on to become a theatre professional, but actor training can be a fundamental element in the personal growth of a young person. We teach students to stand on two feet, to breathe, to look a person in the eye and to speak with intention.

Skills developed in theatrical training can be applied to any profession they choose in the future. This training offers students a safe space to reflect on their own personal journey, their own emotions and experiences, thereby allowing them to become better communicators and if they so desire, better actors.  

Bedlam’s approach is grounded in actor-driven, minimalistic production values that lean into text and the relationship between the actors and the audience. We build productions to fit the space we perform in and accentuate the strengths of performers in the room. We believe in total collaboration and that every voice in the room, no matter a person’s job title, is valid and must be heard.

For us, imagination is GOLD and we dig and dig until we find storytelling magic that will call upon the imagination of not only our performers, but of our audience. Our rehearsal process is a constant laboratory of trying new things, endless exploration and never being satisfied that it’s good enough. Our goal is to come to work each day and PLAY.

– ERIC TUCKER, Artistic Director

Bedlam Theatre Peter Pan Scene: 5 actors with a spot light on them with the central woman standing on a mound (or someones back) while looking suprised

TESTIMONIALS

BEDLAM'S SUMMER YOUTH INTENSIVE WAS A SMASHING SUCCESS!

“When Bedlam announced they were holding an acting camp via Zoom, we signed our daughter up immediately. Our daughter had been active in our town’s local theater group for years. In four days with Bedlam, she learned more about acting — including working with a director, auditioning, creating a scene, using her body, using the space around her, discovering point of view, and finding the specific motivation of every line — than she had in all the prior years combined! Yes…four days! If you’re familiar with the extraordinary levels of creativity and excellence Bedlam brings to every one of its productions, imagine that applied to teaching, and you’ll have a sense of what a transformative experience it is to work directly with this exceptional group of deeply dedicated artists. ” – STEPHEN S., PARENT

“We were so impressed with the level and breadth of the work… surely this was the most exciting and motivating drama experience our daughter has had so far – she really loved it – and a great inspiration for her entry next month into LaGuardia Arts’ freshman Drama class.” – SUMMER INTENSIVE PARENT

“One thing I’ve learned this week is the importance of diving deeper into the characters we’re learning about/playing, and taking note of the intentions behind their words.” – SUMMER INTENSIVE STUDENT

“I’d just like to thank all of Bedlam for being so nice and for letting us learn from people who are not only amazing at what they do, but also love doing it.” – SUMMER INTENSIVE STUDENT

Our Instructors

Babb Shirine headshot

Shirine Babb 

Shirine Babb has Broadway credits that include Macbeth with Ethan Hawke (Lincoln Center Theater), and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Tony Award for Best Play 2018 OBC). Her Off Broadway credits include Napoli, Brooklyn, Around the World in 80 Days (New Theater at 45th Street), Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (Women’s Project), A Role Once Played (29th Street Repertory Theater, AUDELCO Award nomination), and Single Black Female (Duke on 42nd Street). Other credits include School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre), Steven Dietz’s This Random World (Actor’s Theatre Humana Festival), the title role in Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, 2015 Theatre Critic Circle nomination), The Merchant of Venice with Sir Derek Jacobi (The Strathmore) and Measure & Didowith Sir Derek Jacobi (The Kennedy Center and Napa Shakespeare), Julius Caesar (Folger Theatre), Widows (Arcola Theatre, London), and Disgraced (Long Wharf Theatre 2015 Critic Circle Best Feature nomination). She was also seen in the 2010 and 2011 seasons at The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival. 

ZACHARY ELKIND 

Zachary Elkind is a director & teaching artist based in New York City. Selected directing: Joan of Arc by William Shakespeare (Under St. Marks)His Dark Materials (Acting Manitou), Macbeth (NYU/Steinhardt), Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Arcadia (Yale). Assistant Director: Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet and The Crucible (BEDLAM), Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (The New Group), Lincoln Center Education, Theater for the New City, Yale School of Drama, Symphony Space, Heartbeat Opera. Assistant Producer: Page 73, BRIC, Dixon Place, Notch Theatre, Dramatists Guild Foundation, Live from Lincoln Center. Zack has taught theater and English at Friends Seminary in New York, as well as seven summers teaching and directing at Acting Manitou, a summer theater program in Maine. Education: Yale. zacharyelkind.com 

Caroline Grogan headshot

CAROLINE GROGAN 

Caroline Grogan is a NY based actor and teaching artist. Her theater credits include: Bedlam’s The Crucible (Boston & NY), Mona Mansour’s Beginning Days of True Jubilation directed by Scott Illingworth, Chuck Mee’s Jesus (13th Street Rep), and Polaroid Stories (Tisch Stage Works). Caroline received a BFA in Drama at New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts and double major in broadcast journalism. Caroline is the Development Director and resident teaching artist for the arts nonprofit, Zara Aina. Zara Aina is a New York-based nonprofit organization focused on helping at-risk children harness the transformative power of theatrical storytelling and performance. Caroline is a teacher & performer at Puppetsburg, bringing educational & interactive puppet shows to babies and toddlers across New York City. She’s also taught with Urban Art Beat & the Lead the Charge Program. http://www.caroline-grogan.com

Katie Hartke Headshot

Katie Hartke

New York: Twelfth Night, Youth and Ambition, and the world premier of Breitwisch Farm (Esperance Theater Company, where she is also a co-founder); Othello (Epic Theatre Ensemble); Wonder of the World (Core Theatre); Life Is A Dream (Flux Theatre Ensemble). Regional: Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility (A.R.T.); 10 seasons with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, where favorite roles include Viola (Twelfth Night), Imogen (Cymbeline), Lucrece (The Liar), Rosaline (Love’s Labours Lost), and Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Sense & Sensibility (Virginia Stage); cul-de-sac (Half Moon); Love/Sick (Arc Stages); Love/Sick and Clybourne Park (Shadowland); A Christmas Carol (Portland Stage); Maggie in Cat on A Hot Tin Roof (Middlebury Actors Workshop). TV/Film: “Succession”, “The Blacklist,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Guiding Light,” “College Humor,” “The Circuit,” and various commercials and voice overs. Training: Catholic University, Circle In the Square Theatre School. Proud member of Actors’ Equity. Much love to her husband Ryan and daughter Zoë.

Ryan Quinn headshot

Ryan Quinn 

Ryan is an actor, director, teacher and frequent collaborator with Bedlam, most recently playing John Proctor in The Crucible, and Edmund in the upcoming Bedlam: The Series. Also with Bedlam: Dead Dog Park (John Jones) at 59E59, and in Sense and Sensibility at both A.R.T. (John Middleton) and Portland Center Stage (Colonel Brandon). NY Credits: Whorl Inside a Loop  (Second Stage), The Killer, King Lear, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra (TFANA), Vanity Fair (The Pearl).  Regional:  Yellowman (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Hamlet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Old Globe), The King Stag (Yale Repertory Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Dorset Theater Festival) and eight seasons with The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. TV/Film:  “Blindspot,” “Madam Secretary,” “Friends from College,” “The Blacklist: Redemption,” “Person of Interest,” “The Circuit,” and “OVUM.”

Ryan currently teaches 1st Year Acting at Carnegie Mellon University as an adjunct professor, and is an acting coach and Co-Head of the Monologue Division of MTCA (Musical Theater College Auditions). As a teacher, he has worked with a wonderfully diverse group of students ranging from West Point cadets to High School English teachers, from historically underserved youth to senior staff at some of the world’s most powerful corporations, ultimately believing that theater is for everyone and is the great empathetic teacher. Ryan also serves as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Esperance Theater Company, where he directed Twelfth Night, Youth and Ambition, and the world premiere of Breitwisch Farm by Jeremy Kamps. Additionally he has directed for The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, TinyRhino, NYU Tisch, LIU Post, and others. He received a BA from UW Madison and a MFA from The Yale School of Drama.

Lorenzo Roberts

Lorenzo is an actor, playwright and educator. He has worked regionally with Folger Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Village Theatre, The Williams’ Project, Seattle Children’s Theatre and internationally with Unicorn Theatre in London. As a playwright, he was a member of Gingold Theatrical Group’s Speakers’ Corner and SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Greenhouse Residency. He is an inaugural Core Company member at ACT Theatre in Seattle and company member with Indianapolis Shakespeare Company. He holds a BFA in Acting from the UNC School of the Arts(Home of the Fighting Pickles!). In addition to his creative work, he is a volunteer firefighter, tall ship sailor and all around renaissance man. He stands proud as the son of a Navy Veteran and descendent of the Gullah Geechee of South Carolina. lorenzoroberts.com

Shaun Taylor-Corbett headshot

Shaun Taylor-Corbett 

Shaun was in the original production of In the Heights on Broadway and closed the show in the role of Sonny. He played Frankie Valli in the 2nd National Tour of Jersey Boys, Juan in Altar Boyz Off-Broadway, and Usnavi and Sonny from In the Heights on the First National Tour as well as in the Broadway company. He recently had the honor of performing the role of Cheever in The Crucible with Bedlam Theatre Company at the Connelly Theater. His original Native American musical, Distant Thunder, will receive its first production in 2021 at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. He and his mother, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, along with Chris Wiseman based the show on Shaun’s deep connection with the Blackfeet community in Browning, MT. He is a proud company member of Native Voices at the Autry, which produced the show’s first workshop. Shaun was also a company member for three seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. His credits there include: As You Like It, Oliver; Between Two Knees (World Premiere, 1491s); Henry V, Nym/Cambridge/Bates; Love’s Labour’s Lost, Moth; Off the Rails/Measure for Measure, Momaday/Claudio; Beauty and the Beast (dir. Eric Tucker). LA Theater: Romeo and Juliet, Romeo (Theatricum Botanicum); Vieux Carre, Tye (Coeurage Theatre); Ubu Roi, Boggerlas; Arcadia, Septimus Hodge (A Noise Within). TV/Film: “Hi-5,” “Discovery Kids,” “Supremacy,” “Gamer’s Guide,” “All My Children.” As a writer, Shaun and Chris’s pop songs have appeared on tv in the US as well as around Europe. Shaun has also collaborated with Daniel Jones from Savage Garden on multiple songs.

Eric Tucker headshot

ERIC TUCKER

Wall Street Journal DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR 2014. Off Broadway: Bedlam’s The Crucible, Uncle Romeo Vanya Juliet; Pygmalion; Peter Pan; Vanity Fair; Sense and Sensibility (Off Broadway Alliance Award, Lortel nom., Best Director, Drama League nom., Best Revival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Drama League nom. Best Revival, WSJ Best Classical Production 2015; NY Times Critics’ Pick), Bedlam’s Saint Joan (NY Times/Time Magazine Top 10; Off Broadway Alliance Best Revival 2014)Bedlam’s Hamlet (NY Times Top 10; Time Out NY/Backstage Critics’ Pick); Tina Packer’s Women of Will.  For Bedlam: Hamlet/Saint Joan: McCarter Theatre; Central Sq. Theater (Elliott Norton: Outstanding Visiting Production/Outstanding Ensemble, Boston Globe Top Ten); Dead Dog Park, New York Animals (World Premiere by Steven Sater/Burt Bacharach), Twelfth Night and What You Will (NY Times Critics’ Picks), The Seagull (WSJ Best Classical Production 2014), Sense & Sensibility (NY Times Top 10, NY Times/WSJ/Time Out Critics’ Picks). Other: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Two River), Disney’s Beauty & The Beast (OSF); Pericles (APT); Sense and Sensibility (The Folger Theater, 8 Helen Hayes nominations including Best Director and Best Production), Copenhagen (Central Square Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (HVSF), Mate (The Actors’ Gang). Eric received his M.F.A. from the Trinity Rep Conservatory. He resides in New York City where he is Founder and Artistic Director of Bedlam.

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