Annette Thornton is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Interpretation at Central Michigan University where she directs the music theatre program. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Theatre Arts Department at Lawrence University (Appleton, WI) where she taught a variety of courses as well as directed, choreographed, and served as physical dramaturge for both faculty and student directed productions. During her post-doc she directed and choreographed The Mystery of Edwin Drood and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, and this winter she directed Blood Wedding, which received three certificates of merit from KCACTF Region 3. Her scholarly interests include mime and mime performers. Her dissertation on Lotte Goslar, Grandma Always Danced: The Mime Theatre of Lotte Goslar, is the first full-length study of this important female clown/pantomime/dancer. Thornton is finishing two projects for the late Bari Rolfe that have been accepted for publication: an updated mime bibliography and a collection of Rolfe’s writings – look for these valuable reference books in late 2008/early 2009. Thornton earned a PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has studied mime with Marcel Marceau and Meyerhold’s Theatrical Biomechanics with Gennadi Bogdanov and is a certified yoga teacher. She has been an active member of ATME for twelve years, recently serving as vice-president.

Kurt is currently the Head of Acting at Missouri State University’s Professional Actor Training Program. He is working member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. He is also an active member of ATME, SAFD, and Fight Directors Canada (FDC). Kurt has worked extensively since completing his MFA in Acting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) with union performance credits that include New York, national tours, regional theatre, daytime drama, film, commercial print, and over 25 national television spots. His movement, stunt, and combat work/coordination have been seen in daytime drama, national commercials, and in the professional and educational theatre circuits throughout the nation. He is a specialist in ropes work and high falls. As an actor trainer, Kurt has developed and implemented “the neutral body system,” which collocates several methodologies and a Meisnerian approach to movement in helping actors develop a socio-physical foundation that is free of tension and negative self-awareness. A lifelong environmental activist, Kurt completed his Ph.D. in theatre from LSU, and has earned several grants and awards for his work in Green Theatre. He published Green Theatre: Promoting Ecological Preservation and Advancing the Sustainability of Humanity and Nature, and maintains a consistent dedication to environmental education, as noted by his volunteer work for The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Service, and the SAG sponsored BookPals Literacy Program. Kurt recently earned a Governors Service Award for work related to the development of his play Evangeline Drowning. Evangeline investigates wetlands disintegration in Southern Louisiana and the corresponding socio-emotional impact upon teenagers in the region. Kurt is married to Courtney Heinlein, a professional dancer/educator, and they have two children who are both wonderfully irreverent and free of restricting physical tension!

Dr. Matt Saltzberg is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Performance, Dramatic Literature, and Theatre History at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He recently completed an appointment in the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Department of Theatre as the Mizzou Advantage Postdoctoral Fellow in Managing Innovation: Navigating Disruptive and Transformational Technologies, where he taught advanced acting (Suzuki/Viewpoints/Composition), performance ethnography, non-western theatre, and the theory and practice of digital media in performance. His teaching focuses on the intersection of theatre and performance studies and the integration of theory and practice; his specializations include acting (Stanislavski, Suzuki/Viewpoints), directing, script analysis, dramatic literature, theatre history, performance theory, original performance composition, adaptation, oral interpretation, performance ethnography, digital media in performance, and avant-garde/experimental performance. His scholarship attends to the capacities and capabilities of the body and has been featured in Ecumenica: A Journal of Theatre and Performance, Theatre Research International, and The Journal of Religion and Theatre, and will appear in the forthcoming issues of Text and Performance Quarterly and Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies. Directing credits include Time Stands Still; The Glass Menagerie; Agnes of God; The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?; Sleuth; and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. He serves as treasurer of Ecumenica and as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Independent Actors Theatre, a professional company that serves as Columbia, Missouri’s premier venue for provocative theatre. In 2012, he earned a Graduate Certificate in Grant Writing from MU’s Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs. Also in 2012, he began Michael Chekhov Technique Teacher Training with the Michael Chekhov Association. He has been active in ATME for three years, and has presented on the Suzuki Method and Chekhov training. He has a BA in Theatre Performance from Susquehanna University, an MA in Theatre Arts from Long Island University, and a PhD in Theatre & Performance Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. www.mattsaltzberg.com

Adam Noble currently serves on the acting faculty of Indiana University, where he coordinates the three-year MFA movement progression, as well as physical theatre and stage combat offerings for the BFA and BA undergraduate populations. Adam’s work is grounded in the Suzuki Technique, pioneered by Tadashi Suzuki, but also draws heavily from the Alexander Technique, the Extreme Slow Tempo work of Shogo Ohta, Ballet and Modern Dance, the Martial Arts, Aerial Dance and Circus.

Adam is the co-founder and artistic director of the Dynamic Presence Project, a company focused on the revitalization and proliferation of movement theatre and physical storytelling. He is the apprentice of Steven Pearson and Robyn Hunt, who studied with Tadashi Suzuki and his company at Toga-Mura for over a decade, before bringing their own “Physical Approaches to Performance” to the United States

Adam has worked as professional actor and movement specialist for over 15 years, performing regionally across the United States, Central Asia and the UK. As a freelance movement consultant, Adam has helped to shape, build ensemble, and construct movement vocabularies for both operatic and theatrical companies.

Adam has served on faculty at the California State University of Fresno, Central Washington University and The Ilkhom Theatre School of Mark Weil in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has also taught master classes at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Washington and Illinois State University.

Adam is a member of the Actors Equity Association, a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, and a trained stuntman. He has taught stage combat nationally and internationally, and has choreographed the violence for over 80 stage and film productions.

Deborah Robertson is Professor and Acting Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University. She has previously been on the faculties of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, the Actors Movement Studio in New York, and the Actors Center, Chicago. She has taught workshops in New Zealand, London, at national conferences, residencies in university programs around the country, and at festivals and private studios nationwide.

Ms. Robertson received her MFA in Dance Performance from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, on a teaching fellowship, and her BA in Dance from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is a certified teacher of the Williamson Physical Training for the Actor, and was trained by Loyd Williamson at the Actors Movement Studio in New York City. She has studied Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York, the Webster Movement Institute in St. Louis, and the Royal National Theatre in London. She has received her first level of certification in the work of Michael Chekhov by the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA) and is currently pursuing her certification as a Master Teacher. As an actress she completed the two-year Meisner training with William Esper in New York City and studied with Stephen Strimpell at HB Studios in New York

Her work as a choreographer and movement coach has been seen internationally, in regional theatres, university productions, and on television. Most recently she choreographed a production of The Birds which was produced at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio, Moscow, Russia. As an actress and dancer, she has appeared on Broadway, National Tours, Off Broadway, industrials, regional theatres around the country, and on television.

In addition to serving as president of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME), she is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), Actors Equity (AEA), and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).