William Esper (master teacher
and head of acting program) has been the head of his own studio
in New York for over 30 years as well as the director of the
Professional Actor Training Program at Rutgers, The State University
of New Jersey, Mason Gross School of the Arts since it’s inception
in 1977.
He is a graduate of Western Reserve University as well as
the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater, where he trained
as a teacher and actor with Sanford Meisner, with whom he worked
in close association as a teacher and director for 15 years.
Mr. Esper was on the staff of the Neighborhood Playhouse for
12 years and associate director of the Playhouse’s acting department
from 1973-1976. He has been a guest artist teacher at Canada’s
Banff Festival of the Arts, at the Workshop for Performing Arts
in Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as the National Theater
Center in Tannersville, New York, The National Theater School
of Canada, The St. Nicholas Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois,
and Schauspiel Müchen in Munich, Germany. In 1975-76 he was
director of the Circle Rep’s company workshop in New York. He
has directed and acted both regionally as well as off- Broadway
and is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York.
Mr. Esper is profiled in the book The New Generation of
Acting Teachers, published by Viking Press in 1987. Mr.
Esper’s biography is included in both Who’s Who in Entertainment
and Who’s Who in the East. He has lectured on acting
at People’s Light and Theater Co. and the Screen Actors Guild
Conservatory, New York City. He is a former Board member and
past Vice President of The University Resident Theater Association
and former board member of The National Association Schools
of Theater.
The professional actors Mr. Esper has worked with include
Jeff Goldblum, Paul Sorvino, Christine Lahti, Helen Slater,
Jennifer Beals, William Hurt, John Malkovich, Mary Steenburgen,
David Morse, Patricia Wetig, David Rasche, Peter Gallagher,
Tonya Pinkins, Danton Stone, Michelle Shay, Kim Basinger, Kim
Delaney, Greg Germann, Daphne Rubin Vega, Aaron Eckhardt, Tim
Olyphant, Dean Winters, Glenne Headly, Patricia Heaton, Calista
Flockhart, Gretchen Mol, Sam Rockwell, and Wendie Malick.
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