Alex Piper
AEA Actor / MFA/ Professor
Teaching Experience Includes:
Positions Held:
Lecturer at The Catholic University of America-Washington, D.C.
Instructor and Teaching Artist at The Shakespeare Theatre Company - Washington, D.C.
Lecturer at Troy University - Troy, AL
Individual Awards/ Recognitions:
Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in Early Career - The Catholic University of America
Techniques and Methodologies include:
The Expressive Actor, Meisner, Stanislavski, Uta Hagen, Checkov, Lessac, Lecoque, Linklater, and more
Unarmed Stage Combat - Dueling Arts International
Courses Taught Include:
THE330- Unarmed Stage Combat
THE3329- Acting Period Styles
DR415 - BFA Intermediate Scene Study - plays included Miss Julie and Orpheus Descending- The Catholic University of America
Law619- Professional Speaking in Legal Settings - Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Classical Scene Study / Intro to Shakespeare - The Shakespeare Theatre Company
THE110- Acting for Non-Majors
THE3335-Movement I - Troy University
THE3336- Acting III - Troy University
THE3300- Fundamentals of Acting - Troy University
Teaching Philosophy
I believe in a community of caring learners who take supported risks. My instruction seeks desired outcomes in the learning space that are meaningful experiences rather than a singular pre-determined transmission of information. My aim is building a communal exploration of the content that expands the leaners existing capacities and allows development from within.
Learners should primarily experience, interpret and then actuate tools based on information learned within each session. I believe lasting and actionable knowledge is attained through experience. This is why Experiential Mastery is at the core of all my curriculum building.
My pedagogy focuses on accentuating individual tools that the learner can fuse together in their own unique process of maturation. This fosters authentic and actionable engagement with the content of the course that will be sustain long after the semester has concluded.
Within the educational space I believe both learner and instructor should approach the experience with a spirit of Mutual Adaptation. Individuals process and digest information in a wide variety of ways, therefore constant assessment and calibration may be necessary to achieve the optimal desired outcome. Diversity in learning styles is what makes each of us unique learners and should be embraced, reinforced, and celebrated rather than viewed as an obstacle.
The educational space should also be filled with designed experiences that take co-lateral learning into consideration. The educational space exists to foster the growth of the individual in a holistic sense not just to achieve an immediate measurable to be catalogued and filed away. This expansion of capacity and personal development is a task that I treat with great importance. Engaging with a learner in this way allows the educational experience to have a sustained and compelling effect that far outweighs the individual instructional time of a particular course.
In conclusion, I teach because I firmly believe education is a transformative medium that fosters empowerment, self-exploration, and intellectual investigation. Being a part of that transformative arch for learners is what is most animating to me as an educator and fellow lifelong learner.
-Alex Piper