Our Mission
STUDIO FOR ACTORS HOUSTON is a training center for performers. Our goal is to offer a variety of tool-building training events, classes, and workshops to benefit artists in the Houston area. The Studio features world-class instructors in a variety of specialty disciplines, covering a broad scope of techniques and performance skills.
_______________________
FOUNDER

MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER
I am a professional actor who has been offering coaching and classes to Houston artists for the last 20 years. After the pandemic, I needed a new place to work with students, so I acquired a small studio space for individual coaching and small group classes. STUDIO FOR ACTORS HOUSTON was born out of this acquisition. But once it was acquired I realized that it could fill a far greater need than what it was currently serving. So, I began building a new team of top instructors from across the professional arts spectrum in Houston, and expanded the studio offerings. My hope is that this studio will continue to grow and provide Houston artists more and more high level training opportunities, many of which can seldom be found outside of university programs.
~ DAVID RAINEY ~
David Rainey
Founder/Instructor
MEET THE INSTRUCTORS

Acting
David Rainey
David Rainey trained at The Juilliard School, receiving the Drama Divisions highest honor. He has performed 25 consecutive seasons as a member of the Alley Theatre Resident Company and worked nationally in regional theatres from coast to coast.

Voice / Acting
Vivian Majkowski
Vivian Majkowski is the Voice and Speech professor at the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance. She received her MFA from Harvard University and has taught voice extensively at Harvard, University of Colorado, Savannah College of Art and Design. Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, A.R,T., Orlando Shakes, TheatreWorks, and American Players Theatre.

Acting / Stage Combat / Physical Training / Intimacy
Adam Noble
Adam Noble is currently Head of MFA Acting at the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance. Adam is also the resident fight director and intimacy specialist for The Alley Theatre, the studio movement instructor for the Houston Grand Opera, as well as a freelance actor and director.

Dialects
Molly Wetzel
Molly Wetzel is a professional actor and audiobook narrator with a passion and ear for dialects. She is a certified teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and a frequent
Dialect Specialist for theatre's around the country, including the Alley Theatre, Stages Repertory Theatre and Theatre Under the Stars.

Acting
Adrienne Shearer
Adrienne Shearer is a teacher, director, choreographer, and performer who has devoted much of her professional life to building bridges and improving opportunities for youth and adults in the autism spectrum. Having taught at all levels, from elementary to university, she brings a collaborative approach to work as an artist and a teacher.

Musical Theatre
Alric Davis
Alric Davis is the Founding Artistic Director of The Sankofa Collective. He holds a B.F.A. from Howard University with a concentration in Musical Theatre and Playwriting. He is a performer, director, theatre critic, acting coach, adjunct instructor, and award-winning playwright.

Acting
Leslie Lenert
Leslie Lenert is an actor and teaching artist who has worked through Hope Stone, Theater Under the Stars, Brave Little Company, Main Street Theater, Interactive Theater, and A.D. Players. Since 2013 she has helped students of all ages embrace the practice of play and develop their ability to enter a story.

Acting
Eva Olivia Catanzariti
Eva Olivia Catanzariti is a professional actor, intimacy/fight director, and interdisciplinary performer who holds an MFA from the University of Houston’s Professional Actor Training Program. She's a certified Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors, and is currently a professor at Lone Star College - University Park Department of Drama. Eva is also a classically trained singer/dancer in opera and ballet.

Masks / Clowning
Luis Quintero
Luis Quintero trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, and has worked at many top regional theatres around the country, both as a performer and a writer/composer. His specialties include wordsmithing, physical gesture, clowning, and composition. He is also an avid educator who helps artists of all ages unlock there physical expression.

Opera / Musical Theatre
Amanda Martinez
Amanda Martinez is a professional actor, singer, and acting coach. She received her BM in Musical theatre from Oklahoma City University. Her training as a singer had a strong emphasis in classical music and opera. She has performed internationally, Off-Broadway, and in regional theatres across the country.

Acting / Opera
Pamela Vogel
Pamela Vogel is a professional actor who has worked in many regional theatres, including Shakespeare festival in Houston, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,and Utah. And she's recently been working with opera singers on dramatic techniques for the stage.

Scripts Analysis / Playwriting
Bradley Michalakis
Bradley Michalakis is a playwright, director, and Head of Dramaturgy at the Alley Theatre. His recent adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw" was produced The Catastrophic Theatre last season, and he directed "Winter Solstice" at the REC Room this past fall. He has led many writing groups and runs the Alley All New Festival each year.

Film Directing / Film Acting
Michelle Mower
Michelle Mower is an award-winning Houston-based director who writes and produces feature films, television movies, docu-series and commercials. In addition to making films, she is also a film distributor, and an educator of film directing for filmmakers and on-camera technique for actors.
_edited.jpg)
Movement & Dance
Karmetra Shy
Karmetra Shy is a professional dancer, educator, and choreographer with a B.S. from Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre and Dance, specializing in Secondary Education. Over the past ten years, Karmetra has worked as both a performer and a certified teacher, developing and implementing arts-based curricula that incorporate dance, drama, and social-emotional learning.

Viewpoints / Suzuki
Jack Young
Jack Young trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in Viewpoints / Suzuki in New York City and in Saratoga Springs, where he was part of the cohort that helped build their production of Charles Mee's bobrauschenbergamerica. He shares this work as the Lead Acting Teacher for the University of Houston's MFA Professional Actor Training Program, in serving as Artistic Director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, and as a Certified Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors.

Acting
Sara Gaston
Sara Gaston is an award-winning actor, writer, and filmmaker. She's a life-long student of craft and has been a teaching artists since 2007. She has her own studio. but has taught at Alley Theatre, AD Players and the JCC in Houston. She studied at University of Texas in Austin, and frequently appears on Houston stages. As a filmmaker, film producer and screenwriter she loves sharing her growing knowledge of the business of filmmaking.

Acting
Jasmine Christyne
Jasmine Christyne received her theatre training from The University of Wisconsin Green-Bay with a degree in Musical Theatre and Dance, and continued training at The Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, Ireland. She is a multifaceted creator of new work and is a passionate teacher of both theatre and dance. She has worked on many Houston stages as an actor and regularly dances with The Pilot Dance Project.

Acting
Jay Gracia
Jay Gracia is an actor and educator in Houston. He received his B.F.A in Acting at the University of Houston School of Theatre where he trained in Acting, Suzuki, Viewpoints, Stage Combat, Intimacy work, and Voice. Jay is also an Actor Combatant through the Society of American Fight Directors. He is currently Head Director / Artistic Director at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy.

Acting
Hugo Carbajal
Hugo Carbajal is a seasoned actor, teacher and director who is committed to authentic and physical storytelling. He is currently in town performing Elyot in the Alley Theatre production of Private Lives, and has worked in theatres aroung the country. As a teacher he has taught acting, movement and devised theatre. While he's here, he's excited to share some of what he is passionate about, physical theatre.

Acting
Blake Weir
Blake Weir is a professional actor, director, and educator with over 40 professional stage credits across the Houston theater scene. He holds a BFA in Acting from Stephen F. Austin State University. As a teacher and coach, Blake specializes in character development, cold reading, and helping actors unlock truthful performances from audition to final curtain.

Entrepeneurialship
David Lee Huỳnh
Đavid Lee Huỳnh is a graduate of the MFA program at University of Houston, and a professor in the Randolph College MFA Theatre Arts program where he has developed entrepreneurial classes for artist. Based in New York, he has worked all over the world on stage, in film, on television, in voice-over, and he is also a writer, artistic leader and educator with real world experience in the artistic entrepreneurial field.

Film Acting
Byron Franco
Byron Franco is a filmmaker/actor with over 10 years experience in the Houston film industry. In addition to writing/directing his own short films, he has acted in over 30 short/feature length productions. He has taught various classes for students of all skill levels and believes in an active learning approach. He's excited to improve your self-tape audition and on-set skills through a mix of warmups, scene work, and immersive training.

Musical Theatre - Voice
Dr. Karen
Dr. Karen Rees has been a Voice Instructor and Lecturer at SHSU Musical Theatre Program, Voice Program Lead, and Children's Choral Program Director at Keyano College (Alberta), and is currently the Voice Instructor and Lecturer at Lone Star College - Montgomery. And she holds degrees from five universities in vocal music.

Film
Derrick Moore
Derrick Moore is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and actor based in Houston, Texas. A St. Louis native, he is the founder of Moorflics, a creative production company committed to telling bold, visually compelling stories rooted in African American history and culture. Under his leadership, Moorflics has produced a slate of award-winning short films, documentaries, and branded content, with projects recognized on the festival circuit and by industry institutions.
_edited.jpg)
Film
Ricky Catter
Ricky Catter is a professional Actor, Writer and Director. Being in the entertainment industry for over 29 years, he has starred in over 150 commercials, performed on stages all over the country, and starred on numerous films and tv shows, including NCIS, Prison Break, and others.

Health & Wellness
Jennifer Doctorovich
Jennifer Doctorovich is a psychotherapist (LPC-Associate), nutritional therapist, and coach who utilizes an integrative approach when working with her clients. She was a regularly featured nutritional therapy coach on TLC’s My 600 Pound Life. Having been an actor herself, she enjoys working with artists to provide better fitness and mental health.

