I look back at my time in college, where I studied English Education and worked on the college’s ropes course, as a foundational time in helping me learn how experiential education felt like a home for my style of teaching. Learning how to work with individuals and groups with what they bring to the day and event, rather than forcing them on a specific path, has inspired not only my teaching philosophy but my own practices as I continue to grow as an educator.

And yet, it was my love of acting, that has been with me since my earliest childhood memories, that led me to pursue my dreams of developing my skills as a performer. In 2006 I started a three year MFA program in performance at the University of Louisville. There I further developed my love of storytelling and acting with work in movement, vocal studies, text analysis, and creating original work.

Since my graduation in 2009 my work has been an integration of experiential education and performance. And I have worked with both individuals and groups in a variety of settings both in front of live audiences and on-camera.

One of my passions is sharing the ways the skills of acting, that I love and practice, can support work in a variety of disciplines to create clearer and more connected communication. This work has been further supported by my life experiences of growing up in a multi-racial family and time spent living with exchange students who have helped me see the value and beauty of diversity and necessity of curiosity as we interact with people who experience the world in a variety of ways.

These experiences have meant I tend to gravitate towards work that is either serious explorations of the human condition or silly playful work that connects us to our sense of childlike wonder. I continue to seek out work as a performer that connects across disciplines, explores hard conversations, and finds ways of making the world a more beautiful and joyful existence for all.

I believe that the ways we practice and the processes we use to create and connect are as important as the end products we strive for. And my hope is that the art I create and the teaching I participate in makes the world a little less lonely and a little more connected.

Areas of Focus in my Work

Listening

As an actor, a practice that I come back to with each role is that of listening. I practice listening to my scene partners, the audience, and my own body as it responds in the moment to what is around me. Listening is also key to my work as an educator as I take in what is in front of me in an individual or group environment to make adjustments to best support the needs of the specific moment and learners.

Listening for me, continues to be the act of learning to be comfortable with silence, allowing the vulnerability of not jumping to a response but processing and actively engaging with what is happening in the moment. It has been a work and practice that allows for connection with others in deeper and more thoughtful ways.

Curiosity

In acting and communication there is often repetition. Learning to be curious and find new moments, new ways of trying things, new approaches to being in the moment helps keep content fresh and interesting and draws in the audience and ourselves to a sense of curiosity and play.

Learning to ask questions and bring a sense of play to our communication allows it to feel more connected and in the moment rather than feeling scripted and disconnected from the audience or ourselves.

Authentic Connection

I believe that acting is the art of truth telling. Doing the hard work of exploring and sharing the truth of the character in the world and specific moment they are in.

This work of being honest with ourselves, about how we are responding in the moment helps us be present authentically and genuinely with our audiences, whether they are live or via camera.

Stories

Stories are a foundational way that we connect with, retain, and share information. My work as an educator and performer, has included writing and performing original work and exploring how to take facts and numbers and ideas and translate them into stories. This has included creating and performing a solo show around the Underground Railroad to highlight a local historical society in Western, Pa, performing a story about my personal experiences with transracial adoption, writing and performing in a show that explores violence towards woman and its impact on society, and helping medical providers find ways to use story telling devises to communicate difficult topics.

Kindness

Acting and communication is a vulnerable practice. Creating safe environments where our humanness can be present and taking the good you already bring to the work and exploring how we can bring it to even stronger levels is my hope in each session or workshop I lead. This work is hard and can feel uncomfortable, and the safer the environment the more relaxed we can be as creators and communicators. I have found even in the hardness of this vulnerable work, some of the most life giving moments can be discovered, where the messy beauty of being human comes through and reminds us that we are less alone than we perhaps imagined.

I am continually inspired by the work of artists and people across a variety of disciplines, cultures, ages, and backgrounds, and love to explore and learn as part of my own process. Over the years the following people or methods of working have stayed with me and supported the style and process in which I work.

Jacques Lecoq Training

My study of movement and its impact on communication has been supported by the work of my professor Jim Tompkins at the University of Louisville who studied under Jacques Lecoq in France, a movement educator who started out in sports and transitioned to coaching and training actors. His work encourages the nurturing of an individuals creativity rather than prescribing a set of rules to follow. Studies included creating original work, audience connection, awareness of your physical body in space and in relationship to others, and creating a sense of openness and playfulness.

Additional Information “The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre” by Jacques Lecoq

Theater Games

Viola Spolin’s work as a theater artist, using games to help support learning through imagination and curiosity, as well as the work of the outdoor educators in experiential education, have provided me with hours of time spent playing games. These games and the use of them in education and performance is a safe experiential practice that benefits young and old to discover more about their bodies and imaginations and curiosity through connecting through the act of child like wonder and curiosity. By stepping outside of our day to day habits, through the participation in games and play, it provides the opportunity to explore tools and skills outside of our normal routines.

Additional Information: https://www.violaspolin.org

Shakespeare

My professor at the University of Louisville, Rinda Frye and Shakespeare & Company member Dennis Krausnick, taught classes in Shakespeare during my graduate experience. I have also worked for years as a Shakespeare coach and judge for the Pittsburgh Public Theater Shakespeare Competition held for students in grades 4th-12th and have performed with the Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks company for two of their performances. Learning how to take difficult text and translating and communicating it with clarity for audiences has helped me think through tools to support taking technical or challenging texts and translating them to those who might not be familiar with them.

Thalia R Goldstein

Thalia’s work on the intersection of psychology and acting has been an ongoing place of research and support for my own curiosity of how the brain and our bodies work when it comes to performing.

Additional Information: https://psychology.gmu.edu/people/tgoldste

Anna Deaver Smith

As a performer and educator her work has not only influenced some of my own projects and work but her focus on listening and hearing others stories has taught me a great deal of what it means to take time to deeply hear another human’s story.

Additional Information: https://www.annadeaveresmith.org

Yoshi Oida

Learning from performers from around the world has helped me deepen my curiosity about how we tell stories and his writings on the whole performer - bringing together the mind, body, and your personality to the work continues to inspire my own perspectives of what I bring to performing.

Additional Information: https://www.yoshioida.com/portrait

Education

2009 MFA Performance, University of Louisville

2002 BA English Education, Geneva College

Teaching/Education Experience

Part Time Positions

2022-present Artistic Associate, Jumping Jack Theater

2023 Teaching Artist, Dragon’s Den, 7 week Shakespeare coach

2018-present Teaching Artist, Jumping Jack Theater

2010-present Teaching Artist, Pittsburgh Public Theater

2010-present Standardized Patient, University of Pittsburgh Medical School

2009-2016 Adjunct Professor, Communications Department Geneva College

2016-2018 Acting Instructor, Henry Mancini Academy

2011-2013 Founder and Teacher, Hillside Studio for Performance

2001-2012 Ropes Course Facilitator, Pisgah Program

2006-2009 Teaching Assistant & Adjunct, University of Louisville

Full Time Positions

2002-2005 High School Humanities Teacher, Beaver County Christian School

Workshops

2013-19 Exploring Healing and Movement with Philosophy in conjunction with Dr. Meek, Geneva College. One class workshop each semester.

2018 Hamlet one day workshop, Hickory High School.

2017 & 2019 Acting Techniques as Communication Tools for Botany in Action, an hour workshop at Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh, PA

2014 Understanding Movement as Story one hour workshop, Beaver County Christian School.

2013 Romeo and Juliet one hour workshop, South Side School District.

2012 & 2013 Learning Lab Acting Exploration with incoming Freshman one hour workshop, Geneva College.

Camps

2020 The Center Midland four day acting for film class for grades 4th-8th.

2019 The Center Midland four day acting for film class for grades 4th-8th.

2015 Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls week long Shakespeare Camp grades 7-12.

2012 Sweet Water Art Center week long Shakespeare Camp ages 13-17.

2013 Hillside Studio, Shakespeare in the Woods, a week long Shakespeare Camp for middle & high school ages.

2012 Hillside Studio, Shakespeare in the Woods two week long Shakespeare Camps for middle and high school students.

2011 Hillside Studio Shakespeare in the Woods a week long Shakespeare Camp for middle school ages.

2007 & 2008 Aliquippa Impact assistant to summer camp drama director for high school students.

Directing

2017 James and the Giant Peach Jr., Community Day School of Pittsburgh, Middle School.

Festival Guide

2017, 2019, and 2023 EQT Children’s Theater Festival Pittsburgh

Production/Producing

Amiche Productions co-produced with Lara Lynn McGill, a woman led company combining opera and acting of original and adapted work.

2019 Song of Songs

2015 The Heart of Shahrazad

2014 Song of Songs

2013 Shakespeare’s Women

2014 & 2015 Artists Festival in Beaver, PA

2013-2015 Social Media for Amiche’s web site and social media

Self-Produced

2010-2011 Portrait of a Family

Writing

2019 Libretto In Our Own Voices, a chamber opera.

2019 & 2014 Adaptation Song of Songs, two different adaptations of the text in combination with songs curated by Lara Lynn McGill.

2016 Script/Adaptation Our Seven Ages: A Shakespeare ReMix

2016 Script/Adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream In Brief

2016 Script/Adaptation Twelfth Night In Brief

2015 Script/Libretto The Heart of Shaharzad, a chamber opera, combining opera music and acting.

2012 Script Letters from the Unground Railroad , solo show.

2010 Script Portrait of a Family, solo show.

Awards

2009 The Warren Oates Graduate Student Merit Award, University of Louisville Awarded for outstanding contributions to the theatre program and for the promise of making significant contributions to the artistic community.

Link to my Acting Resume and Acting Website sarahbcarleton.com