Amy Herzberg is Head of Acting for the U of A's Drama Department. She has extensive professional credits as actor, director, and musical director, including La Jolla Playhouse (with Director Des MacAnuff), George Street Playhouse, and resident acting company member with San Diego Repertory Theatre.

Ms. Herzberg holds an MFA in Acting from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Theatre from Arizona State University. Additional training includes work with Uta Hagen, Edith Skinner, Earle Gister, Ron Van Lieu, and at The Actors Center in New York and American Conservatory Theatre.

As founding company member and Associate Artistic Director of TheatreSquared, a professional regional theatre in Northwest Arkansas, Amy has directed Bad Dates, The Last Five Years, and performed in the world premiere of My Father’s War.

Amy regularly teaches graduate and advanced undergraduate classes in acting. Courses include Acting Studio, Meisner, Modern Styles: Chekhov and Pinter, Audition Techniques, Comedy Improvisation, and Musical Theatre Performance. Recent directing credits for the university include Doubt, Proof, Dinner With Friends, and Into the Woods.

Amy serves as acting coach for the U of A Drama Department’s Irene Ryan Acting Competition nominees, sponsored by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In the past fourteen years, Amy has coached seven national finalists, including two national winners, and one national best partner.

In 2003, Amy was awarded the Kennedy Center’s National Acting Teacher Fellowship. In 2005, she received the Charles and Nadine Baum Faculty Teaching Award, the University’s highest teaching honor. Amy serves as Secretary of the National Congress of Actors and Acting Teachers. She is a member of the University of Arkansas Teaching Academy.

Education:

M.F.A in Acting - California Institute of the Arts
B.A. in Drama - Arizona State University
Additional Training - American Conservatory Theatre

Major areas of interest:

Acting
Audition Techniques
Musical Theatre
Performance

Classes taught regularly:

Acting II
Graduate Acting Principles
Modern Styles of Acting
Musical Theatre Performance
Audition Techniques
Comedy Improvisation
Meisner Technique
Advanced Acting

Most recent productions:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Director
My Father's War - Actor
Doubt - Director
Picasso at the Lapin Agile - Director
A Little Night Music - Director and Musical Director
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Director/Musical Director
Cabaret - Director
The Learned Ladies - Director
Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Professional theatre experience:

Professional work as Director, Musical Director and Actor
Acting - Regional Theatre: La Jolle Playhouse, George Street Playhouse, San Diego Repertory Theatre (resident acting company member), Firehouse Theatre Company, Western Stage Theatre Company,
Aspen Theatre Company, Actor's Lab Arizona, Steamboat Repertory Theatre - among others.

Recent conference presentations:

"Winning Techniques for Acting Competitions" - American College Theatre Festival
"Getting to the Heart of Musical Theatre Performance" - American Theatre in Higher Education Conference
"The Unified Actor: Integrating the Physical, Vocal, Emotional, and Intellectual Life of a Character" - Southwest Theatre Association

Other creative/research projects:

Working on a textbook for musical theatre: "Acting Your Way Through Musical Theatre"