Bio

Rod has been active in professional theatre for 40 years as an actor, director and writer. He has been coaching and teaching since 1981.

He directs frequently for the Academy For Classical Acting at The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC and for the Ensemble Studio Theatre in Los Angeles. He also works as a freelance director in both NY and LA.

A first-call Voice, Speech and Dialect Coach for working actors and production companies in Hollywood since 1995, he also translates his skills to the corporate environment as an Executive Coach and Presentations Trainer.

Trained at the Bristol Old Vic, Rod went on to earn an MFA from York University, Toronto. He has performed in TV, film and theatre, and is a veteran of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. LA stage credits include Creon in Oedipus at A Noise Within, Capulet in Romeo & Juliet (Odyssey), Dr. Rank in Nora (Pico Playhouse) and Bowen Varro in the world premier production of Tom Jacobson's House Of The Rising Son (EST/LA).

After 20 years of teaching in elite acting programs, most recently at USC, he opened his own studio, coaching such clients as Patricia Arquette, David Duchovny, Marishka Hargitay, Neil Patrick Harris, Sandra Oh and Alicia Silverstone. Solo show coaching includes Pamela Gien's Syringa Tree, Bo Eason's Runt of the Litter and April Daisy White's Sugar - all directed by Larry Moss - Ann Randolph's Squeezebox, produced in NY by Ann Bancroft.

Solo shows directed by Rod include Nina Werman's Around the Way Girl (Joe's Pub), Elaine Ocasio's All I Ever Wanted and Alice Johnson's St. Alice of Chattahoochee. He has directed over 50 stage productions and hundreds of staged readings of new work. Each summer, as Producing Director & Repertory Director for the New York Theatre Intensives/EST Summer Conservatory Program in NYC he introduces college students to the art of new play collaboration.