NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Bear Smith

Bear is a graduate of CUNY-Queens College where he earned his Master of Library Science and his Certificate in Archives and Preservation of Cultural Materials. Professionally, his focus has been on specialty metadata & cataloging for archives and academic libraries. He has worked with the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and the CUNY-Queens College Library previously. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their rescue dogs.

Dave Solomon

DAVE SOLOMON is an award-winning New York-based writer and director working in both theatre and film. Recent stage credits include directing the first national tour of TOOTSIE THE MUSICAL and PUMP UP THE VOLUME (MTFest London). He also directed a unique cinematic-theatrical hybrid production of Adam Gwon’s ORDINARY DAYS for Pittsburgh Playhouse, that he co-conceived with Emmy-winning designer Jason Ardizzone-West (“Jesus Christ Superstar Live”). He wrote and directed the award-winning short film PHOTO OP (starring Randy Harrison) and his upcoming film BRENDA & BILLY AND THE POTHOS PLANT (starring Santino Fontana and Sarah Stiles) will have its world premiere in Summer 2023. Solomon also assisted Bill Condon on the films MR. HOLMES and DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and served as Condon’s Associate Director on the revised production of SIDE SHOW on Broadway, at La Jolla Playhouse and the Kennedy Center. Solomon has also been an Associate Director to Joe Mantello and Scott Ellis, and has worked on fourteen Broadway productions including TOOTSIE, MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, 9 TO 5, PAL JOEY SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (2008), THE RITZ, CURTAINS, MARIO CANTONE’S LAUGH WHORE and ASSASSINS. He was an Associate Producer and Assistant Director on “A CHRISTMAS STORY LIVE” and his play, MARGARET AND CRAIG, premiered at NY Stage and Film and was also seen as part of The New Group New Works starring Mario Cantone and Marin Ireland. Additional stage credits include THE DODGERS (Hudson Theatre, LA), THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (Le Petit, NOLA), MARRYING MEG (NYMF) and SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR (with John Bolton and Eve Plumb). He has been a resident artist at SPACE on Ryder Farm and is a graduate of Vassar College.

Sue Jin Song

MFA in Acting, NYU/Tisch
A “Usual Suspect” at New York Theater Workshop, where she worked with Van Lier playwrights on developing new work. She has acted in theaters in New York City and regionally around the country, including world premieres written by Paula Vogel and Velina Hasu Houston. Film/TV credits include New Amsterdam, Generat+ion, Law & Order, Won’t Back Down, and Someone Like You. Sue Jin also wrote and acted in a one woman play Children of Medea, which was awarded “Best of DC Fringe” and was subsequently produced by Constellation Theatre. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, she teaches Acting as part of the Script To Screen course. In the Producing Department, she teaches Acting for Producers. In the Filmmaking Department, she teaches Acting for Filmmakers.

Samantha Soule

Samantha Soule is a filmmaker and actress. She directed Midday Black Midnight Blue, Birdwatching starring Amanda Seyfried, Taffeta, Shed, and Telling Time. As an actress, she can currently be seen in Outer Banks, Godless, Tales Of The City, Queen’s Gambit, and Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman on Netflix and City On A Hill for Showtime. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Diana Stanich

ABPhD, Capella University; MBA, University of La Verne; MA in Physical Education/Health, California State University, Long Beach; BS in Kinesiology, University of California, Los Angeles. Professor of Kinesiology/Dance, Santa Clarita Community College District.

Maria Stanisheva

Maria Stanisheva is a film director/producer and founder of ANIMADOCS (www.animadocs.com) . She focuses on social-issue documentaries, independent animation and experimenting with mixed genres. The animated-documentary FATHER which she produced in 2012 was screened at over 100 film festivals and awarded 28 times, including the Golden Dove for Animated Film at DOK Leipzig Festival. Her 2016 animated campaign “Together to End Male Guardianship” commissioned by Human Rights Watch Saudi Arabia, was seen by over 10 million people, brought factual legislative change to the country and got featured in the New York Times and Euronews. She is currently working on Finding Home – an animated documentary series and interactive art installation that tell the stories of climate refugees from around the world.

Maria has worked as an external expert for the Robert Bosch Foundation (Berlinale film festival), Documentary Campus Masterschool (CPH:DOX, Sheffield Doc Fest), NEW INC (NEW MUSEUM, NYC) and EURIMAGES. She gives regular master-classes in “Animation for Documentary Film“ at NYFA, Oxford Brookes and the Central European University (Vienna). In addition, she does Pitch trainings based on personal experience presenting projects at Berlinale, Stuttgart Film Fest, Clermont Ferrand, Hot Docs, Sunny Side of the Doc, IDFA etc.

Liz Stanton Acting for Film Instructor

Liz Stanton teaches Acting (Meisner), Voice & Movement, and Improvisation at the New York Film Academy. As an actor, singer, sound designer, composer, director, and teacher, she is a multifaceted theatre artist. She is the Theatrical Development Producer for Convergences Theatre Collective. She has performed in numerous professional productions in New York City, regionally and internationally (England and India). Her opera, based on The Bacchae, was featured as a work in development at the EstroGenius Festival. She has created award-winning devised theatre pieces, composes music for theatrical sound designs, and teaches physically embodied acting and voice. Liz received her MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University. One of her most recent projects is The Woman Who Was Me – a play for one woman. The show was nominated for five Innovative Theatre Awards, including for Outstanding Solo Performer.

Carol Stanzione Acting for Film Instructor

BFA in Acting, New York University Tisch School Of the Arts/Strasberg Institute. Acting credits include “Orange Is The New Black”, “Side Effects”, “Deliver Us From Evil”, Eminem’s “Stan” music video and the west coast premiere of “The Manchurian Candidate”, as well as many radio commercials and animated series. Has cast, directed and produced over 200 voiceovers for TV, film and radio.

Micah Stathis Acting for Film Instructor

Stathis was a Production Manager for Manhattan Neighborhood Network for over four years. He quickly expanded his skills as a freelance Cinematographer and Director. He has experience directing a wide variety of television and film shoots, commercials, music videos, narrative films, documentary films, and live events.

Riley Steiner Acting for Film Instructor

Riley joined NYFA in 2014 and teaches all levels of Technique and Scene Study, specializing in Acting Styles and Shakespeare.

Her stage work includes Ophelia in Sir Anthony Hopkins’ production of Hamlet on the HB Studio stage in New York. Riley worked as a voice actor alongside Tom Hanks in Toy Story, and can be heard screaming “I GOT HIS SWEATBAND!” in Disney’s Hercules. She is also remembered as the fatally doomed Page Bowen on General Hospital.

As a playwright, two of her plays have been included in the Plays in Progress Series at the award winning Utah Shakespearean festival. Her first play, Tumcumcari has enjoyed three productions in Los Angeles. She directed the play in 2014 at the Whitemore Theatre in North Hollywood.

She has directed a handfull of Shakespeare plays at NYFA and participates as a guest director in The Road Theatre Company’s Summer Playwrights festival.

She studied acting with Uta Hagen for over ten years and now teaches her methodology. In 2010, Riley went back to school to complete her education. In 2014, she graduated cum laude with a BA in Theatre and an MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies , both at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, VA.

Jenny Sterner Associate Chair of Film Arts Department (Screenwriting)

MFA in Screenwriting, New York Film Academy.
Jenny has developed a manga for Seven Seas Entertainment. She is the creator of the web series Searching for Eden. She served as Coordinator of the Screenwriting Department for five years before taking over as Associate Chair. She teaches Story Generation and Building & Researching Your World for the Department.

Tyler Stillwill

Tyler is a teacher and an interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles who performs (in an actory, singery and musiciany way), composes, writes, clowns, directs, paints, illustrates, sculpts and makes music. They’ve had plays and musicals produced in small theaters in Detroit, Austin, Chicago, Seattle and Off Off Off Broadway. A one time Children’s Theatre Artistic Director, International Marketing Executive, College Professor and Tattoo Artist. Featured in the web series “Staying Together” (https://vimeo.com/317707828), they’ve ridden their bicycle up and down mountains all over the world, but only ever mistaken for a criminal in Japan. But that’s a story for another time.

Glenn Storm

Glenn is a game designer and programmer with experience bringing many games to market, including Sonic The Hedgehog and Star Wars: The Clone Wars for the LeapFrog, Didj handheld console; which took Children’s Technology Review: Editor’s Choice Award in 2008. His game work draws upon ten years’ experience as an animator at Warner Brothers Feature Animation, Dreamworks Feature Animation, and other firms. During that time he worked on the films: The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

Evan Stulc

Evan has worked as camera assistant on features, commercials and music videos, for clients clients including Toyota, Riot Games, and Yahoo! His credits include Bad Milo, As I Lay Dying, and Helio.

Luisa Ibanez Suarez

Luisa Ibañez is a P.G.A Senior Content Film and TV Producer and member of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She has more than twenty-five years of experience in the US and LATAM media industry, including an overall of 1000 hours of content produced in different formats for diverse audiences and three International Emmy nominations for projects premiered on the US primetime. From this journey, she understands the expectations of diverse audiences in Latin America, Spain and Latinos in the US. Credits as Development Producer, Line Producer, and Supervising Producer on the successful Hispanic TV Series and telenovelas from NBC Telemundo, Univision, Televisa, and Movistar prove her high-quality deliveries in projects distributed in more than 100 countries and over 35 languages.

Melissa Sullivan Acting for Film Instructor

Melissa Sullivan received her B. F. A. in Theater at Cal Arts and is a Lifetime Member of the Actors Studio. Sullivan has worked extensively in film, television and theater as an actor and producer. Film credits include, Finding Red Cloud, Sweet Underground, S.F.W. and Poker Face. TV credits include, Shameless, Hawthorne, Dragnet and E.R.

Sullivan’s theater credits include, Stella in Streetcar Named Desire, winning her the LA Ticket Holders Best Supporting Actress Award, Veronica in The Interview, in which the LA Times called her a “mesmerizing performer”, The Girl in Mr. Paradise, Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Mary Jane in The Dead, Miss Julie in Miss Julie, Karin in The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant, Marta in Waiting for the Parade, Katrin in Mother Courage and Her Children, and many more.

Sullivan was production designer and producer of the feature, Roommate Wanted, which played at Salem Horror Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival and Shriekfest, with distribution by Indican Pictures. She produced and starred in the web series, The Millionaires on Amazon Prime. Sullivan is a singer-songwriter with a debut album, Late Last Night, Apple Music/Spotify. She performs regularly at the renown, The Hotel Café’.

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