ITDP Teaching Faculty
ITDP: 2024 Greece Faculty & Staff
2025 Faculty to be confirmed in March 2025
Patrick Du Laney — Contemporary Scene Study | '24
Patrick performed in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Broadway), The Adding Machine (The Hypocrites, Chicago), Cabaret (The Paramount Theatre, Chicago), and in National Tours of Gypsy and A Christmas Carol. Additional regional credits include: Into the Woods, Our Town (Kansas City Rep), title roles in Macbeth and Floyd Collins, Pierre in the regional premiere of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, A View from the Bridge, Title of Show, Ears on a Beatle, and seven seasons with Riverside Shakespeare.
Patrick is a founding member of The Alaska Shakespeare festival. He received an MFA in Acting from The University of Missouri, Kansas City and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Marika Countouris (she/her) — Acting Through Song | '23-'24
Marika is a musician, educator, and performer in the DC area. She holds a BM in Musical Theatre from The Catholic University of America and serves as Vocal Instructor & Area Accompanist for Howard University's BFA Musical Theatre Program. Some of her credits include: WOOLLY MAMMOTH: A Strange Loop (Pre-Broadway Run); ARENA STAGE: Ride the Cyclone; FORD'S: Grace (World Premiere); SIGNATURE: Passing Strange and The Color Purple ; FLYING V: We’re Gonna Die (Helen Hayes Nomination for Outstanding Music Direction); GREAT LAKES CENTER FOR THE ARTS: Godspell; CONSTELLATION: The Last Five Years; MONUMENTAL: Songs for a New World, Head Over Heels, Be More Chill, Daddy Long Legs, and Brooklyn; NEXTSTOP: Beehive; LEVINE MUSIC THEATRE: Matilda; CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY: 9 to 5; MONTGOMERY COLLEGE: Urinetown and Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play. Instagram: @marikanne
Laura Wayth — Programming Advisor | '23-current
Laura received her MFA from the American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University and the Moscow Art Theatre School Institute in Russia. Wayth has taught and coached contemporary and classical acting, voice, and musical theatre at Tufts University, the College of the Holycross, the University of Miami, the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire, and Florida Atlantic University. She was a 2019-2020 Fulbright Senior Scholar to Poland, a 2011-2012 Senior Fulbright Scholar to Romania, and a 2002-2003 Fulbright Fellow to Russia. She has worked internationally as an acting teacher and coach in Italy, Morocco, China and the U.K. Wayth is the author of three books on Acting: A Field Guide to ActorTraining, The Shakespeare Audition (Applause books) and Breaking Down Your Script:A Step-by-step Process for the Actor (Nick Hern books). She is Professor of Acting and Coordinator of the Actor Training Program at San Francisco State University and a guest acting instructor at the American Conservatory Theatre. She lives in a not-so-sunny part of California with her husband and furry family.
Bryan Knowlton — Musical Theatre Dance | '22-'24
Bryan is a New York & London based director and choreographer. Bryan's extensive career has spanned from starring on Broadway in the most recent Revival of "A CHORUS LINE" to appearing in multiple National Tours, Film and TV. He is an award winning choreographer with credits that include: CABARET & CHICAGO (NH Theatre Award "Best Choreographer," ONSTAGE Theatre Award Nomination "Best Choreography"), MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Award "Outstanding Choreography") BEEHIVE! (Berkshire Theatre Award nomination "Best Choreographer") SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER/MAMMA MIA (SALT Award nomination "Best Choreographer"), CURTAINS (BroadwayWorld Award Nomination "Best Choreography") among many others. At present, he is attached as Director/Choreographer to “In My Own Little Corner” starring Chryssie Whitehead in NYC and serving as choreographer for the new musical, “The Only Way Out” written by David Thatcher Maglione in London, UK. He is currently an adjunct professor at Montclair State University as well as on faculty at Broadway Dance Center, STEPS on Broadway in New York City as well as THE HUB and House of Jazz in London. For more information visit bryanknowlton.org.
Lenni Stone (she/her) — Artistic Director / Shakespeare & Text | '19 - current
Lenni is the Theatre Department Chair at Iowa Conservatory (ICON). She holds a terminal certification in educational through professional rehearsal room practices from the Royal Shakespeare Company. Currently only one other individual in the USA has this credential. Lenni received a BA in Theatre & Speech from Wagner College and a MA with Distinction in Shakespeare & Education from The Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham (UK). She is a contributing writer for Teaching and Learning Shakespeare Through Theatre-Based Practice (Arden Shakespeare 2024). . Abroad, Lenni has taught Shakespeare and other theatre coursework in the Cayman Islands for CayStage. Lenni teaches specialty Shakespeare related and acting workshops and choreographs productions at high school and university level. She is a former New York City and Boston based actor, singer, dancer, and a member of Actor's Equity Association. Lenni served as an equity dance captain and performer on the Reagle Music Theatre Mainstage for six consecutive summers. Additionally. she has worked with the American Repertory Theatre, the Daryl Roth Theatre, Lyric Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Gloucester Stage Company, Seacoast Rep, Central Square Theatre, Underground Railway Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Hanover Theatre, OBERON, and Metro Stage Company.
Eleni Zachopoulou — Ancient Greek Theatre Scene Study | '24
Eleni Zachopoulou is an actor, director, and theatre educator. Currently, she is the drama facilitator and a director at the NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE, where she teaches seminars and theatrical workshops for educators, actors and teenagers. Additionally, she teaches, directs and trains actors at the NATIONAL OPERA OF GREECE, DRAMA SCHOOL OF NEO ELLINIKO THEATRO, and as a freelance teaching artist in Greece. Eleni holds a BA in Acting (DRAMA SCHOOL OG NATIONAL THEATRE OF GREECE), BA in Applied Psychology (MEDITERANEAN COLLEGE), and MA in Applied Theatre—Theatre in Education, Community & Prison (ROYAL CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA, LONDON).
Cindi Trent — International Adviser / Ancient Greek Chorodrama Movement | '19 - current
Cindi was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She began her professional training in dance and musical theater at the Boston Conservatory of Music and then went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, where she majored in Dance Performance and Theater Education (concentration in Musical Theater). She is a faculty member of the Frances Rich School of Fine and Performing Arts at Deree – The American College of Greece where she has created and teaches Dance and Musical Theater courses such as Body Awareness and Movement, Jazz Dance Technique, Tap Dance, Introduction to Musical Theater, Choreographies of the American Musical, Musical Theater Performance Skills. She currently resides in Athens and teaches for DanceOnStage.
Cindi served as Coordinator of the Deree Dance Program for over 10 years and directed the Deree Dance Company. Since 1995 she has been teaching dance, movement for actors, and musical theater at the Veaki School of Dramatic Arts where she also directs and choreographs the degree-granting examinations for dance and musical theater. Her extensive teaching experience also includes a ten-month course for the Alumni Organization of the University of Athens Theater Department, seminars in Musical Theatre at the Ionian University of Music in Corfu, and numerous seminars in Cyprus and Thessaloniki.
Cindi is the founder and director of “STAGEDOOR” An Open Platform for Musical Theatre Performance, located in Athens, Greece. She has staged, lighted, directed and choreographed numerous musicals, dance and music productions at the Herod Atticus, Athens Concert Hall, and the Pallas Theater. She is also a certified Pilates instructor and a Certified Autism Movement Therapy Provider: www.autismmovementtherapy.com
Paul Bronisław Kmiec — Program Co-Coordinator / Acting for Film | '19 - current
Paul is an award-winning filmmaker and educator working in the Northeast and San Francisco. He graduated cum laude from the SUNY Purchase Film Conservatory with a BFA in Filmmaking and earned his Master's in Film & Television from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. He is a returning Film Instructor at the SUNY Purchase Pre-Baccalaureate Film Institute for five years.
Paul's films have screened at festivals and events in Hollywood, Northern California, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Michigan, France, Italy, Romania, Greece and at the Jacob Burns Film Centre in New York. Recently his short film, Stay for Tea, was awarded Best Fiction Film at the 2021 Vermont International Film Festival (Made Here Festival) and was featured on Vermont PBS Television. Stay for Tea also won the Audience Favorite Award and the Gondry Award for Best Surrealist Film at the Austin Arthouse Film Festival (2020) and Best Cinematography at the Peekskill Film Festival in New York (2021). In 2019 Paul's film, Skye, won Best Direction for Short Film and for Best Actress at the Symi Int'l Film Festival in Greece. In 2013 & 2014 Paul was awarded The Joan Potter & Miriam Arsham Award for Directing Actors from SUNY Purchase College and is a two-time recipient of the Harriet Irsay Scholarship from the American Institute of Polish Culture. Paul also studied acting in his time at Purchase, performed in live theatre and film upon and prior to his graduation and is an actor's equity membership candidate.
Portfolio: www.paulbronislawkmiec.com
Stephanie Mavrides — Founding Director, IDP | Current
Stephanie is the founding Director and Executive Producer of International Theatre & Dance Project (formerly Int'l Dance Project) and the Alexander Children’s Theatre School (ACTS). She also serves as the Senior Financial Production Advisor for Theater Uncorked, and as the Director for the Waltham Recreation Department’s Summer Drama Camp and Summer Dance Camp, a collaboration with IDP & ACTS. A graduate of Suffolk University and Emerson College, Stephanie has performed with Edward Villella, National Ballet of Greece, Athens Ballet, Dimitri Ivanov Ballet, Boston Chamber Dance Ensemble, Bay State Ballet, Copley Square Ballet Company, as well as numerous, musicals, cabarets, television specials, concerts and fashion shows, in the US and Europe. She has coordinated and produced many educational dance and theatre seminars, workshops, dance concerts and musicals both domestically and abroad. Ms. Mavrides is a recipient of the Capezio Award for Excellence for Choreography.
Joe Short — Suzuki / Contemporary Monologue | '19 & '23
Joe is a professional actor, teacher, and production artist. He has performed in numerous theaters in Boston, New York, Rhode Island, Washington DC, and elsewhere. Joe was a founding artistic associate of two successful New England theatre companies: Bridge Rep of Boston and The Wilbury Theatre Group, in Providence, RI. He has also directed both professionally and at the university level. Joe has taught acting at numerous universities in the area, and has been an instructor of acting, voice, and movement at the University of Rhode Island since 2010. He worked in the production support capacity for the newly created Theatre, Dance, and Media concentration at Harvard University, and as production manager of the Gloucester Stage Company, a 176-seat professional theater in Gloucester, MA, since 2013. Joe earned his B.F.A. at the University of Rhode Island, and is an M.F.A. graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep Consortium. Acting roles at various theatres: Public Theatre/NY Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Gloucester Stage, Bridge Rep of Boston, The Gamm Theatre, Wilbury Theatre Group, Lyric Stage, Greater Boston Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, and Trinity Rep.
McCaela Donovan — Programming Advisor / Suzuki / Acting Through Song | '19 - Current
McCaela Donovan is an Elliot Norton and IRNE award-winning actress, arts executive and consultant, and has served as Associate Artistic Director and founding member of Bridge Repertory Theater of Boston. She has performed Off-Broadway and in various regional theaters, including Primary Stages, NYMTF, ArtsEmerson, Huntington Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage, Gloucester Stage Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, Company One, Stoneham Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Reagle Music Theatre, and Children’s Theatre of Sioux Falls, SD. Donovan has worked and taught at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, Dean College, Emmanuel College, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and for eight years served as Assistant Director of the BU School of Theatre, where she was head of Admissions and Recruitment for performance and taught in the areas of musical theatre and career opportunities. She is currently the Director of Training & Education at the White Heron Theatre Company in Nantucket, MA.
Devon Stone — Assistant Program Coordinator / Acting Through Song | '24
Devon Stone hails from Boston, Mass. and recently relocated to Iowa City. He played Hanschen in the Broadway National Tour of Spring Awakening. Regionally he's performed at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre, Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston, Fiddlehead Theatre Company, The Hanover Theatre, and Theater Uncorked including productions of Jesus Christ Superstar (Judas), Spring Awakening (Georg), Life Could Be a Dream (Skip), American Idiot (Johnny), Sweeney Todd (Quartet/Trio) and Me and my Girl (Gerald). As an educator, he formerly served as the acting teacher, assistant director, masterclass coordinator, interim director for Reagle Music Theatre's educational program. He has taught masterclasses at both colleges and pre-college training programs. He is currently the production director for Nolte Productions, where he also teaches improv and devising. As a director, Devon spent five years as the resident director for a professional-level high school theatre company in Concord, MA where he directed high school productions including Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, and Head over Heels. He received his BFA from Boston Conservatory and his MA in theatre education from the University of Northern Colorado.