Adam Noble is a movement specialist with over 25 years experience in theatre, opera and film. Notable credits include the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Alley Theatre, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, Houston Grand Opera, the Public Theatre, and several feature films.

Mr. Noble is co-founder and artistic director of the Dynamic Presence Project, a company focused on the revitalization and proliferation of movement theatre and embodied physical storytelling.

For well over a decade, his methodology for approaching intimacy and aggression in performance has nurtured safe practices and influenced the work of students, educators, and professional artists. The Noble Method is currently taught at academic institutions around the country.

Mr. Noble is the Head of MFA Acting at the University of Houston, where he serves both the graduate and undergraduate programs as Associate Professor of Acting & Movement. He is resident Fight Director & Intimacy Coordinator for the Alley Theatre, and Studio Movement Instructor for the prestigious Houston Grand Opera.

He is an Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors & Coordinators, a Fight Director and Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and an associate member of Stage Directors & Choreographers

Amanda Rose (she, they) is an intimacy specialist, immersive artist, and educator, as well as co-founder and managing editor of the Journal of Consent-Based Performance.

Amanda Rose is a Guiding Faculty of Theatrical Intimacy Education who has also trained with IDC, Moving Body Arts, and IPA. Their research focuses largely on consent-based practices for immersive performance and larp. Amanda Rose has performed in immersive experiences throughout the US and in London. As an immersive consent consultant, they have worked with immersive and larp companies throughout the US and the UK.

With over a decade of K-12 teaching and directing experience, Amanda Rose also researches performance practices for engaging young actors and audiences. She currently serves as Head of Theatre Education at California State University Fullerton, developing a new credential program for theatre educators focused on ethical and consent-based pedagogy for youth-engaged theatre.

Cassie Nordgren is a theatre artist specializing in crafting and composing stories through movement. As a director and choreographer, her work has been featured Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, and at universities across the country. Although she most often works in musical theatre, she is most proud of the original pieces she has created, including The Last Bite, an original dance narrative commissioned by the United Palace of Cultural Arts; and Alexa, a site-specific dance theatre experience created for Inwood Art Works’ Culture Hub.

As an intimacy choreographer, Cassie strives to create a culture of consent in all aspects of her work. The consent-based tools and techniques she has learned from Theatrical Intimacy Education have become fundamental in her approach as an artist and educator in cultivating spaces for ethical and sustainable collaboration.

Cassie currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Drama at Austin Community College in Texas. Cassie comes to higher ed with over twenty years of experience as a dance and theatre teacher, and her research interests include the application of trauma-informed, consent-based approaches in the theatre industry and educational settings.

Cessalee Stovall (she/her) is an Intimacy Director, Cultural Consultant, and an Equity, Access and Inclusion Specialist, with a focus on the performing arts sector. Cessalee is an unapologetic champion for the physical, psychological and cultural safety of all humans in our industry. As an Intimacy Director, Cessalee has trained with Intimacy Directors of Color, Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, and Theatrical Intimacy Education and studied under Intimacy Coordinators Australia. Cessalee draws on her 20+ years of experience as a professional actor, director and choreographer, her certification as a Mental Health First Aider, as well as her training in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Purdue University and Cornell University. She holds a BA in theatre from Florida State University. With a consent-centered practice, Cessalee balances the needs of the individuals with the vision of the project to empower communication and collaboration for all stakeholders.

As an actor, Cessalee is a proud union member who has worked across the US in the National Tour of The Book of Mormon, Tuacahn Amphitheatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook, North Carolina Theatre, Marriott Theatre, American Cabaret Theatre. She is currently living in Australia where she was an original cast member of The Book of Mormon in Melbourne. Cessalee is the founder of Stage A Change, an organization that works to empower artists of color in Australia. Through her organization, Cessalee offers trainings for artists, theatres and their boards, and universities.

cfrancis blackchild, PhD., is a director, actor, playwright, theatrical intimacy choreographer, Applied Theatre practitioner, and theatre scholar. She is the founder and creative director of Theatre in Action (TiA), a Forum Theatre troupe. Her essays, “Signifying in the Wilderness: Alice Childress and the Black Arts Movement” is published in The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, and “Lloyd Richards as Teacher,” is included in Great North American Stage Directors, Volume 3: Elia Kazan, Jerome Robbins, Lloyd Richards. cfrancis a member of the American Drama and Theatre Society, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and SAG-AFTRA.

Emily A. Rollie (PhD, she/her) is a director, intimacy choreographer, and associate professor of theatre at Central Washington University. Her research focuses on the intersections between theatre practice and theory, and her primary areas of creative and academic scholarship include directing practice, pedagogy, and theory; intimacy choreography and consent-based practices across the curriculum; contemporary feminist and queer performance; and contemporary Canadian theatre. As a director and intimacy choreographer, Emily has worked in venues around the country, with emphasis on new play development and intersectional feminist performance. She is associate faculty for Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE), a founding member of the PNW Theatrical Intimacy Collective, a member of the SDC (Stage Directors & Choreographers Society), and a registered yoga instructor who leads Yoga for Artists workshops.

Jeremy Sortore (he/him) has over two decades of experience offering collaborative instruction to actors and other performing artists who seek to connect to a sense of embodied artistry and communicate with others through breath, movement, and sound. As an educator/clinician with international experience and a coach for Tony Award-winning regional theaters, Jeremy is focused on actor-centered processes that emphasize collaboration, consent, curiosity, and community. Jeremy is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, an Associate Faculty member with Theatrical Intimacy Education, and an Associate Editor of the Voice and Speech Review.

Joey is a New York-based intimacy coordinator and writer. They studied playwriting at Brown University and have a background in sexual violence prevention and supporting survivors. Joey currently works as an intimacy coordinator for films in andharound New York City.

Joey serves as an Assistant Faculty member of Theatrical Intimacy Education and the Copy Editor of the Journal of Consent-Based Performance

Joelle is a director, actor, scholar, intimacy specialist and educator in both theatre and film. In addition to directing over 50 productions and teaching countless acting classes, she was the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of the professional nonprofit Circle Ensemble Theatre Company in Athens, Georgia from 2010-2019. Her current scholarly and practical research applies concepts from behavioral neuroscience to Stanislavsky’s methodologies and theories and examines how they intersect with consent and intimacy protocols.

Joelle is an Instructor of Theatre at Kansas State University, member of the SDC, Directing Focus Group Conference Planner for ATHE, and Media Editor for the Stanislavsky Studies Journal and its companion website Stanislavsky: Here, Today, Now.

Laura Rikard, MFA, MA (she, her, SAG-AFTRA/AEA/SDC) is an intimacy choreographer and coordinator, director, actor, and professor. She is Co-Founder and Head Faculty of Theatre Intimacy Education. Laura choreographs, consults, and teaches workshops on best practices for staging intimacy for professional and educational theatre and film across the country. She serves as the primary Intimacy Choreographer for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She has served as an Intimacy Coordinator with NBC Universal/Amazon and Killer Films. She is a contributor to the first book on theatre intimacy, Staging Sex: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques for Theatrical Intimacy by Chelsea Pace. As a director and actor, she has worked in film and television, NYC, regionally, on national tours, internationally and devised solo productions. She is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Mya Brown is an Assistant Professor and Co-Coordinator of the BFA Acting program at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. She teaches acting, directing, voice, movement, and Shakespeare. She is inspired to cultivate brave & consent-based acting spaces. Her training with Theatrical Intimacy Education, Intimacy Coordinators of Color, Intimacy Directors & Coordinators, and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing have provided a strong foundation in nurturing inclusive and diverse ensembles.

Pia Rickman, MA: Editorial Board
Pia is currently a Lecturer in Acting at University for Creative Arts in Farnham, United Kingdom, teaching in the Acting and Performance BA (Hons) program. Pia is the Screen strand Leader for the Performance BA, and she also teaches the Screen Acting and Performance MA, integrating consent and boundary practices as part of the acting courses.

Pia’s prior on-set experience as an assistant director and production manager, and her current position as a lecturer of acting, gives Pia a unique angle on intimacy coordination both within education and the industry.

Pia introduced intimacy coordination to Finland in 2019 and since has worked in the role across film and live performance both in Finland and the United Kingdom. Recent notable collaborations are with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet on the opera production of Salome (2022) as well as in feature films Girl Picture (2022) and Tove (2020).

Pia has contributed to the Intimacy guidelines published by Finnish Film Foundation in October 2020.

Pia is the author of Working With an Intimacy Coordinator, a document of guidelines published in collaboration with the Finnish Film Foundation, Actors’ Equity and Audiovisual Producers Finland. Pia is the co-founder of Nordic Intimacy Coordinators (NIC) and co-founder of The Intimacy Practitioners’ Guild IPG Europe. She is based in UK and works across the UK/EU.