About the Collaborator

The Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts has been training students for professional careers in the theater for over 25 years. The Brind School takes full advantage of its location on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts by immersing students in the city’s thriving professional theater scene. The school offers conservatory training programs in musical theater, acting, theater design and technology, directing, playwriting and production, and features a distinguished faculty of working professionals whose credits include Broadway, Hollywood and the West End.

The University of the Arts proudly claims Tony Award winner La Chanze as one of its most distinguished alumni. Notable Brind School alumni include KaDee Strickland (Private Practice), Kate Flannery (The Office), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty), Kelli Barrett (The Last Goodbye, The Royal Family), Heather Donahue (The Blair Witch Project), Cornelius Jones, Jr. (The Lion King), Dell Howlett (Aida, Bombay Dreams), Sarah Bolt (Wicked, Walmartopia), Lucas Steele (The Kid, Threepenny Opera), Kacie Sheik and Joshua Lamon (Hair) and director Jackson Gay. Brind School alumni who have won Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for excellence in theater include actress and artistic director Jennifer Childs, actor and director Pete Pryor (recently designated a Lunt-Fontanne Fellow), director Megan Nicole O’Brien and singer-actor Ben Dibble.

The University of the Arts is the nation’s first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. The institution’s roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.