THE ARTISTS

JP Schuffman

I'm passionate and excitable about the things I love, and I love the theatre. I love writing and collaborating and directing and building stuff. I love research and questions and working things out. I love gaff tape, and costumes, and pretty pretty lights. I love good posture, funny accents, strong choices, loud voices, coffee of all kinds, and "Thank you five." I love fight calls and green rooms, catwalks, ghostlights, "Downstage left is still your left," and "Lets take it back to just before you die, again." I love table work, load in, final dress and the three second hush before the lights go up. I love the timbre of a well tuned voice, the economy of a perfect gesture, and the occasional bit with a dog. I love teaching the craft because giving someone something you love is one of the most rewarding things you can ever do, and because it forces me to stretch, literally. I love directing because its the art of telling a good story well without the audience ever knowing you were there. I love the community, the players, the techs, the prop wizards, the crew, the seamstresses and carpenters, the audience, the students, the parents, the friends. I love the theatre because on every show someone will discover that they are good at something they didn't even know they could do before. I love the theatre because so much of what is good about my life has come from my participation in it.

 

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Sara Gaddis

I've always had a passion for words and storytelling, and I've been involved in theatre since I was a little kid. I grew up in Knoxville, where I did as many community theatre shows as I could, and moved to New York straight out of high school to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Afterward I went to work in stage and film. In New York I wrote and developed dozens of short works, led acting workshops, performed all over town, hosted readings and storytelling events, edited scripts, and in general did anything and everything I could to challenge myself and grow as an artist. I moved to Nashville in 2011 where I co-founded Nashville Stagecraft, a theatre company dedicated to producing work by local artists and providing them a place to develop their the craft.

I believe that the body is the primary source of all acting, and my teaching focuses on the process of developing the body's abilities, so that characters can emerge clearly during the physical and vocal experimentation of rehearsal. I believe that rehearsal space is a sacred space, that the work we do there as artists is good for us as people. And I believe that producing theatre of quality means committing yourself to the process and being an avid collaborator. I believe that theatre has the ability to make us happier, more empathetic, healthier human beings, better members of our community, and all that aside, it just feels good to do.