ArtsBridge

FACULTY FEATURE: Meet Helen Farmer, faculty for ArtsBridge Summer Musical Theater 2!

Helen Farmer's (she/her) regional credits include: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Stratford Festival, Crossroads Theater, The Classical Theatre Lab, Shakespeare in the Rough, Theatre and Co, Dorset Theatre, and Co-Lab Arts. New York theatre includes work with Ensemble Studio Theatre, Project Y Theatre, Boundless Theatre Project. Recent projects include: the US premiere of Kotryna Gesait’s Cocoon and the audio pod cast series “The Lovely Dark”. Originally Canadian, Helen was trained as an improviser at Keith Johnstone’s Loose Moose Theater, worked at Toronto’s Second City and is a veteran of several Fringe Festival shows. A Meisner trained actor, Helen received an MFA in acting from Rutgers University’s MGSA. She pursed Meisner teacher training under the tutelage of Kevin Kittle (formerly of MGSA) and spent several years working alongside him while at Rutgers. Helen is a certified Alexander technique teacher and was part of ArtsBridge’s inaugural GapYear program, where she taught Movement for the Actor. Helen spent 9 years at Rutgers teaching in both the BFA and MFA programs, and is now the Head of Acting at the Molloy University/CAP 21 program in New York.

FACULTY FEATURE: Meet David Pepin, faculty for ArtsBridge Summer Musical Theater!

David Pepin (Boston Conservatory at Berklee) joined the Wicked orchestra on Broadway in January 2017 after a three-year appointment at Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio where he was associate professor of music theatre. Prior to teaching, he was an active member of the Broadway community as music director/conductor of Bring It On The Musical, as well as conductor, pianist or sub on such shows as Kinky Boots, Wicked, The Addams Family, Shrek The Musical and RENT. From 2001-2009, he toured with the National Tours of Wicked, Bring It On and RENT. He maintains an active role in education and academia, keeping close ties with major music theatre programs around the country, as well as many summer intensive music theatre camps. He is a vocal coach, audition and rehearsal pianist, and a music director for new shows in development.