Robert Bailey
Writer/Performer
Robert Bailey was awarded a Samuel Arnold Fellowship upon graduation from Brown University to work with renowned theatrical innovator Jerzy Grotowski at the Polish Laboratory Theatre in Wroclaw. He subsequently became a founding member, actor, director and teacher at the Washington Theatre Laboratory. After relocating to New York, he was associated with Circle Repertory Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, American Place Theatre, the Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Actors Studio, often working on first productions of new plays and garnering praise from the New York Times and the Village Voice.
In Los Angeles, he earned critical acclaim for his direction of John Bishop’s Borderline (winner of six DramaLogue Awards), Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of The Turn of the Screw, Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet and Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero; and for his performances as an actor in Frank Wedekind’s Lulu, J.T. Rogers’ Madagascar, David Rabe’s A Question of Mercy, and Charles L. Mee’s Big Love.
Robert Bailey has been on the faculty of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts since 2010.
Billy Siegenfeld
Director
Billy Siegenfeld is the founder, artistic director, writer, choreographer, and musical arranger of the theatre company Jump Rhythm®; a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence in the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University; an author of essays, plays, and a forthcoming book titled How to Make Gravity Our New Best Friend by Standing Down (Not Up!) Straight.
His creative work and teaching focus on building speech, song, and rhythm-charged movement out of gravity-directed relaxation, guided by his invention, the scientifically-fact-based holistic concept Standing Down Straight® (SDS). His two-character play with song and dance, Fortitude or and Gentleness, premiered at the Mark O’Donnell Theater in New York City in 2023. It now tours in the United States and abroad, accompanied by workshops in SDS.
He received a B.A. in literature from Brown University and an M.A in writing about jazz music and dance from New York University’s Gallatin Division. He received an Emmy® Award for his choreography and performance in the documentary, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project: Getting There. He acted, danced, and sang in off-off-off-Broadway shows as well as in the Broadway production of Singin’ in the Rain. www.jumprhythm.org