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Judy Dworin, Chair 
I have been teaching at Trinity since 1971, which makes me sound ancient, but it's really not true. It has been at times a struggle, but always a joy, to have envisioned and finally realized the Department of Theater and Dance. The curriculum has gone through many incarnations, and we pride ourselves in being in process with our courses, i.e., open to change. Change is what this Department is about and it informs all of my work, which is based in the very transitory language of movement. I am a choreographer/director with a professional company, the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble, which celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2004. The company has toured internationally, nationally, and regionally, and the work addresses issues of our time from a cross-cultural, multi-arts perspective. I have always found that my teaching has informed my creative work and vice versa. In addition to my professional work, I have had the pleasure of creating and continuing to help coordinate the Trinity/La MaMa New York City Performing Arts Program as well as the Trinity-in-Kathmandu Program. The spiritual underpinning of art has always been a driving interest of mine as is the critical role that movement plays in personal development and growth. Process and improvisation have informed my teaching, my performance work, and my world view. 
Katharine Power 
What I like to grapple with are the big questions: Why do we create art? What does it mean to be an artist? What is the relationship between art and life? Why do we value some forms of art over others? My approach to teaching is a cross-disciplinary one. Although my primary training is in theater and dance, my courses expose students to all the arts. In addition to teaching in the Department of Theater and Dance, I direct the InterArts Program at Trinity. InterArts is an interdisciplinary arts program for first and second year students that combines courses in the practice of art (painting, dance, creative writing, etc.) with seminars that explore how we think about art and how we experience it. My courses are designed to give students an encounter with a multiplicity of ideas (aesthetic, social, political) linked to both the art of the past as well as the art of today. My greatest reward in teaching occurs when a student suddenly discovers that ideas can be exciting - and that exciting ideas can radically change how we create art. Or why we create art. I have been a member of the Theater and Dance Department at Trinity since 1979 and continue to find it to be a place for growth and experimentation - a place where intellectual and artistic creativity come together for students and faculty alike. Lesley Farlow 
The heart of my work as a dance/theater artist and teacher is the belief that dance and theater are primarily an investigation of the human spirit. In my own solo work, I create pieces that combine movement, text and music. They often center around a journey of some sort: the discovery of a comet by a nineteenth-century astronomer, Eve leaving the garden, or Little Red Riding Hood's emergence from the old, old story into her own. Fundamentally, however, I believe movement is our native language. I look to create and teach from that source. My background as a performer includes working as a dancer, actress and choreographer in venues all over New York, Off and Off Off Broadway, as well as around the country and in Europe. I have been lucky enough to work with a variety of choreographers and directors including Ping Chong and Meredith Monk, Douglas Dunn, Phyllis Lamhut, Ann Carlson, Moses Pendleton, Martha Bowers, Johanna Boyce and Ara Fitzgerald. I have also had the good fortune to teach in many settings, from artists' residencies in the public schools in New York City and rural Kentucky, to major theater festivals, the National Theater Institute and Yale Drama School, to Trinity, where I throughly enjoy the inventiveness and commitment of my students. Mitchell Polin 
I have a firm belief in process before product-that we can all learn, through performance, how to speak, listen, feel, and move more clearly in life. The foundation of my work is that it acts not just as entertainment, but rather as a process for a better model for living. In addition to teaching at Trinity, I am the Artistic Director of a New York-based performance group, The Ordinary Theater. My own research has taken me as far as the Polynesian nations of Western Samoa, Fiji, and the Cook Islands. It is from these sites, where I was able to research and participate in storytelling and ritual, that I began learning to combine Western performance practice and Polynesian ritual directly to life. Whether directing or teaching, at Trinity or in New York, I take an interdisciplinary approach towards my projects. My emphasis is not only on traditional performance, acting, and directing theories; I am also very interested in literature, sound art, fine art, and architectural theories in relation to performance practice. I have always felt at home in the Theater and Dance Department at Trinity because it encourages each individual's process to emerge as a unique voice.
Michael Burke 
I am a New York City-based performance artist. My work explores contemporary social and cultural issues such as gender, sexuality, prejudice, and cultural stereotyping. I strive to create performance that is useful, personal, and that establishes a strong performer/audience relationship with the goal of initiating dialogue about difficult subject matter. My solo work has been presented nationally as well as at numerous venues throughout NYC such as The Joyce Soho, Dixon Place, and HERE Arts Center. Additionally, I have been collaborating and performing with the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble since 1998. The courses that I teach at Trinity are process-based. I encourage my students to find performance material that they are passionate about and then improvise and push boundaries in their quest to locate the most effective performance approach. Through my professional performance work and teaching, I have discovered that a multidisciplinary foundation is key to making art that addresses today's world.
Other Faculty and StaffRachna Agrawal Blu Lorelei Chang Tracey Coste Kathy Borteck-Gersten Deborah Goffe Elisa Griego Barbara Karger
Visiting Lecturer in Theater and Dance Vivian Lamb James Latzel Lisa Matias Michael Preston Abdoulaye Sylla |
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