My interest in actors’ mental health started about 15 years ago when I was a young professional actor and playwright. I was feeling emotionally drained when portraying traumatic circumstances for a role and I was concerned about how a career in theatre could be sustainable if my work depleted me like this. I had close friends who were feeling the same way in their work and stopped acting because of it. 

First, I looked for acting trainings that would give options for stepping out of emotions and characters. I got training to use and teach Alba Method which is a physical method of recognizing, inducing, and expressing basic emotions. 

I still had unanswered questions about why the emotions we portray onstage can start to bleed into our personal lives. So I pursued research about those questions through an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College and then an MA in Counseling Psychology and Dance/Movement Therapy at Columbia College Chicago. 

I discovered that many actors struggle with emotional overwhelm related to embodying character and emotion, regardless of the technique of acting they use. This is because the emotions we enact onstage create real, stress-related changes in our bodies.

So I created the Offstage Equilibrium program that teaches actors skills for how to bring your body out of those stress responses. 

– Educates actors on the physical and psychological impacts of portraying emotion for a role.

– Gives actors practical skills and exercises you can use to bring your body and mind to a calm, stable state after rehearsal and performance. 

– Helps actors understand and meet the emotional challenges they face so they can do what they love sustainably.

Part of my work involves teaching the Offstage Equilibrium program to professional and student actors. I’ve taught the program at DePaul University’s Theatre School, and I teach aspects of the program to professional actors I work with in individual therapy. I currently offer Offstage Equilibrium as a workshop for theatres and theatre training programs and have been a recurring guest lecturer at Northwestern University and the University of Idaho.

You can see parts of the program and the workbook of exercises I created on Instagram at @offstage.equilibrium. My intention is to use that platform to make the parts of the program that don’t require the presence of a therapist accessible to actors for free.

I also work as a mental health consultant for theatre companies and films, especially when the work involves enactments of traumatic situations or has other themes that are psychologically and emotionally taxing for actors. I collaborate with the director, the actors, and/or the production team to help identify what moments are likely to create lasting personal emotional distress for actors, and then I teach the actors skills for managing and coming out of those emotions when they are offstage.

I work with actors in goal-oriented ways to help them navigate roles that are emotionally taxing.

Maybe the role you’re playing requires you to portray intense emotions or traumatic circumstances and you’re feeling drained after rehearsal or performances.

Maybe you’re having a hard time de-roling and you’re “taking the character home.”

Maybe there are parts of the role you’re working on that are similar to your own life experiences and you’re feeling triggered or overwhelmed by those parallels.

Through coaching, I customize the research I’ve done about these common issues and I teach actors skills that can make their work on a challenging role more emotionally healthy and sustainable.

Unlike therapy, coaching can’t be billed through insurance, however I can coach anyone in any state or country, whereas I can only provide therapy for folks who live in Illinois.

Website designed     and created  🧠⚖️  by Quantum Leap Chicago .  Graphics created by Rachel Jatczak.