Anna Migliarisi ACTRA, CAEA, PhD

RESTORATIVE ACTING

Looking to reconnect with your craft?

Are you a seasoned actor re-entering the business after time away?

Build a positive and restorative relationship to your acting practice

with experienced acting coach Anna Migliarisi.

If you want to put your best foot forward in every medium, I can help you strengthen your unique artistry no matter where you are right now in your professional journey.

I offer one-on-one audition coaching and small-group acting classes. Acceptance based on interview.

I’m an actor, that came first. I’m also a writer, teacher and coach. I practice what I preach and am proud to have been trained by some wonderful people, including the late great Actors’ Studio veteran, Janine Manatis.

I’ve taught at various post-secondary institutions and in private studio settings. I hold a BFA from the University of Windsor’s School of Dramatic Art and an MA and PhD from the University of Toronto. I’ve published books and many articles along the way. My publications include Renaissance and Baroque Directors, Directing and Authorship in Western Drama, Stanislavsky and Directing, About Directing, and the recent Canadian Plays of Italian Heritage.

My methodology draws on a range of acting techniques rooted in the foundational principles of Stanislavsky and his adherents refined into exercises and approaches that are practical, effective and meaningful. The fundamental components of my teaching practice include preparation, active text analysis, sensory exploration, as well as audition methods.

I bring years of professional training and expertise to one-on-one mentoring and group classes for emerging but especially seasoned actors. Wherever you are in your acting practice.
I would love to guide you through a disciplined approach to your work that will help you feel more confident as an artist. Nurture the artistic foundation that fuels you.

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Canadian Plays of Italian Heritage

Challenging the Definition of “Canadian” Theatre

This landmark collection of thirteen plays plus a previously unpublished translation, by playwrights including Lucia Frangione, Tony Nardi, Nick Mancuso, Dina Morrone and the late Michael Macina, aims to displace critical misconceptions about Italian Canadian theatre. Chosen from a hidden treasure of more than 300 works, the selection honours vital contributions to Canadian theatre identity. By redefining the creators as Canadian playwrights of Italian origin rather than simply Italian writers living in Canada, the editor, Anna Migliarisi, has presented an original and lively account of Italian Canadian performance history dating back to 1786. She has also reconsidered the definition of national theatre, addressed historical omissions, and confronted earlier dismissals of the work as merely marginal or ethnic. The endeavour to set the record straight is unequivocal. The recognition of these plays challenges the larger context of Canadian theatre practice and social history. The influential voices of Italian Canadian playwrights are loud and clear, and worthy of celebration.

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Endorsements

“As a Canadian and an immigrant, the question of identity, visibility and representation has been and continues to be, for me, a giant pea under the many mattresses of discomfort. In this collection of works for theatre, by Canadians of Italian Heritage, Professor Anna Migliarisi’s clarity is truly revealing and intelligent and intensely accurate. The works cited in this anthology are those of a generation of artists/writers whom I followed and whose work was inspiring in my own quest to communicate my writing as a Canadian/Italian author. The first generation of artists from my community to bring to the stages of Canada their Canadian stories which reflected their Italian Heritage in all of its light and darkness, humour and tragedy. The assumption that they were Italian plays, or ethnic theatre, is wrong as Migliarisi makes clear. They are a uniquely authentic theatre of a generation that wrote the reality of their times and have never been given the respect or recognition they deserve. This is an invaluable anthology not only for its artistic substance but for the history it provides for generations to come.”

“With clarity and passion Migliarisi launches us on an exciting voyage of discovery. She generously provides us with what we need to start our journey: history, context and an introduction to a brilliant community of playwrights. This book is a guide to a culturally rich area that is too little known and yet full of rewards. Migliarisi is to be thanked and congratulated for bringing us this vibrant collection of plays that reveal the poignant and complex Italian Canadian experience.”