TEACHING STATEMENT:
“Whether you are new to acting or are more advanced in your work, you will find enough challenge at your level in my class. It has been my experience that actors who have been exposed to more than one discipline tend to bring more depth and richness to their work. This is why my new 2 ½ hour class is structured to move seamlessly from basic improvisation technique, to acting improvisation, and to scene work that combines both disciplines using summaries of films and plays. In addition, I will be introducing some basic mime techniques that will exercise your imagination and prepare you for those times when a play will require you to work with Imaginary objects and landscapes. Looking forward to having you in my class. And don’t forget to wear loose and comfortable clothing!”
BIO:
Rasa is an actor, director and mime, a member of AEA, SAG & AFTRA. As a founding member of the Morse Mime Theater in the West Village, she partnered on stage with Richard Morse and worked in various theater styles in a number of theater productions. As an actor and a mime, Rasa also appeared in concert with Lena Horne at Carnegie Hall, as the Narrator in Stravinsky’s HISTORY OF A SOLDIER at the Manhattan School of Music, mimed to music with the Cleveland Philharmonic, the Miami Beach Symphony Orchestra and the Saginaw Symphony. Rasa toured seven countries in Middle East with the Morse Theater as Cultural Ambassador for the State Department Other company tours included Israel, Greece and Cyprus.
ON ACTING: roles include, THE VISIT, THE CHERRY ORCHARD; GINGERBREAD LADY; MEASURE FOR MEASURE, TROJAN WOMEN, and TANGO. Currently she is creating and performing short plays in Maine and Vermont. One of her favorites recent projects happened at the Lithuanian Consulate in NYC, with a resurrection of a number of short Musical Melodramas, music composed by Schumann and Shubert.
FAVORITE DIRECTING PROJECTS: Mark St. Germain’s FREUD’S LAST SESSION with Fritz Weaver, Don DeLillo’s VALPARAISO, and CAGED VISIONS, a play she created from poetry written by inmates within the NYC prison system and developed at the HB Playwrights Foundation. Her directing work abroad includes FOOL FOR LOVE in Sarajevo, Bosnia and ETCHED IN AMBER in Vilnius and Kaunas, Lithuania.
Rasa previously taught acting and movement classes at AMDA, acting workshops at Colombia U. grad film school and at other universities across the country. Her studies include Uta Hagen, Warren Robertson, Larry Moss and Richard Morse. She has a BA in theatre from Smith College.
