RAINA VON WALDENBURG is a full-time faculty member at NYU. She has been teaching a physical approach to acting based on the work of Jerzy Grotowski at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing for the past ten years.
Teacher, playwright, director and actor, she received her MFA in performance writing from Goddard College and her BFA in acting from New York University. Trained under Ryszard Cieslak, Grotowski’s principal actor and protégée, and Steve Wangh, Raina has taught numerous Master Classes in Physical Acting at INTER-ACT (Graz, Austria), Big Sur Theatre Lab (Big Sur), the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (NYC), the National Viewpoint Conference (NYC), Working Classroom (Albuquerque) and the Metropolitan School for the Arts (Syracuse). She also teaches private classes in NYC. She has worked with ensembles developing material for performance at Working Classroom, Metropolitan School for the Arts, Delachenal Impro (Chambery, France) and New York University. Raina served as research assistant and editor for Steve Wangh’s book An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical approach to acting based on the work of Jerzy Grotowski, published by Vintage Press. Her play Das Kaspar Theatre (the unabridged story of Hansel and Gretel) was recently read at hotINK International Festival for Play Readings.
Raina’s directing credits include NYU’s production of her full-length play Das Kaspar Theatre, Safiya Henderson-Holmes’ Testimony at the New Federal Theatre, Sarah Schulman’s Promenade at PS122, and Killer in Love at Goddard College, as well as assistant directing NYU’s productions of Dream Farm, Troilus and Cressida and Merchant of Venice. Her acting credits include Mother [Andrea Yates] in 15 Seconds of Silence (American Place Theatre), Delphine in The Life of Spiders (The Culture Project), Charlotte in The Last Supper (La MaMa Etc.), Dantchika/Magda/Rohkol in Jude (Marilyn Monroe Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute), Girl’s Mother/Zucco’s Mother/Elegant Lady in Roberto Zucco (OHIO Theatre), Renee in Erostratus (Gene Frankel Theatre), Mother/Madame in Roberto Zucco (Currican Theatre), Linda in Just the Boys (Painted Bride), and Nurse in Medea (Movement Theatre International).
Her acting credits include her one-woman show Andrea is My Best Friend (Loewe Theatre, NYU), Miss Rauch in Request Programme (La MaMa ETC) Mother [Andrea Yates] in 15 Seconds of Silence (American Place Theatre), Delphine in The Life of Spiders (The Culture Project), Charlotte in The Last Supper (La MaMa ETC.), Dantchika/Magda/Rohkol in Jude (Marilyn Monroe Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute), Girl’s Mother/Zucco’s Mother/Elegant Lady in Roberto Zucco (OHIO Theatre), Renee in Erostratus (Gene Frankel Theatre), Mother/Madame in Roberto Zucco (Currican Theatre), Linda in Just the Boys (Painted Bride), and Nurse in Medea (Movement Theatre International).
| Credit Type | Production | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Testimony | 1991-92 Season |