Natalie Gray has been the Resident Voice Teacher, Director of several RFKT workshops, and Senior Director for many of the Jellybeans productions for the past two years. As the new Director of Education and Development at RFKT, Natalie is working on developing more classes for kids as well as parents and adults.
Natalie received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and a degree in Music Therapy from The University of Georgia. Most notable credits include the Tony-award winning Broadway produced Avenue Q at The Wynn Theater in Las Vegas as “Christmas Eve”, Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures (The Alliance Theatre & North Shore Music Theatre), A Funny Thing Happened …Forum as “Tintinabula”, Ruthless: The Musical as “Ms. Thorn/Ms. Block”, and Theater In The Square’s Much Ado About Nothing as “Hero.”
ACTING
Julie Schwartz has been an RFKT Director and Senior Director for both the Workshop and Jellybeans programs since January 2010. She is looking forward to expanding her role at RFKT by offering acting coaching and other new programs.
Julie received her B.A. in Musical Theatre Performance from Wagner College, graduating suma cum laude. She then went on to work as a director and actor for Missoula Children's Theatre, touring domestically and internationally to work with thousands of children around the globe to put on musical theatre performances within their own communities.
Julie performed at American Girl Place Theatre for over a year in Circle of Friends as Aunt Cornelia and other female adult characters from the American Girl series, as well as Bitty Kitty in Bitty Bear's Matinee. Other favorite roles include Rapunzel in Into the Woods (The Theatre Company at DeBaun Auditorium), Isabel in Scrooge the Musical, and Young Heidi in Follies (both at Snug Harbor Cultural Center).
Through New York Cares, Julie created and ran an after-school acting club in a small school in Washington Heights that would not otherwise have a theatre program. Along with other volunteers, Julie has given the group a solid foundation in theatre, with behind-the-scenes workshops, scene studies, field trips to see live performances, and several school play performances.
Julie is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
Payment is required in full for any lessons canceled or rescheduled less than 24 hours in advance.
Private Voice Lesson Rates
$40/30 mins
$60/45 mins
$80/60 mins
Private Acting Lesson Rates
$15/15 mins
$30/30 mins
$45/45 mins
$60/60 mins
Danielle Roth has been a resident voice teacher at RFKT since Oct 2010 and has both directed and assistant directed Jellybeans and Workshop Shows this past Winter and Spring. She is so excited to be a part of RFKT and looks forward to starting new group voice classes and taking on more directorial responsibilities this year.
When Danielle decided to pursue the arts, she was accepted into Manhattan School of Music’s Preparatory Division where she studied classical voice for 2 years. She also participated in NYU’s CAP-21 Preparatory Division as well where she studied Meisner and Strasberg acting techniques. She was signed with Shirley Grant Management for several years where she worked primarily in voice-over work most notably in radio commercials and singing on educational CD’s for children.
She has worked as the Personal Assistant for Broadway Composer, Neil Berg, on several industry readings as well as his touring production of "100 Years of Broadway" where she worked with such names as Liz Calloway, Danny Zolli, and Rita Harvey. She still continues
to take classes as well as voice lessons from several teachers to continue to expand her own teaching abilities.The performing arts have held a special place in
Danielle’s heart for her entire life and she hopes to bring this passion to her work as a voice teacher and director here at Random Farms. She believes in the power of music and art and has seen firsthand how it can truly change lives. She hopes to nurture each child’s unique talents and teach them to embrace their own individuality.
Natalie has recently returned to opera performing as “Gretel” in Opera Manhattan’s production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and as “Annina” in Verdi’s La Traviata. Other memorable roles include “Zerlina” in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and “Gretchen” in Romberg’s The Student Prince. She has also performed with the U.S Department of Defense Overseas Entertainment Tour traveling to Korea, Japan, Okinawa, and Johnston Atoll “entertaining the troops!”
Trained and coached by some of the most notable musicians and directors in both opera and musical theater such as Jason Moore (Shrek, Ave. Q), Sherry Overholt, Steven Crawford (Metropolitan Opera), Stephen Oremus (Ave Q, Wicked), Kent Gash (Pacific Overtures), Rob Meffe, Norma Newton, and Joan Kreuger, Natalie utilizes all of her education and experience and applies them to her teaching. With nearly 10 years of providing private voice instruction, Natalie continues to emphasize a healthy technique for all ages as well as coaching students for performances and auditions. She has also music directed for several school productions of Into The Woods, Guys and Dolls, and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
As a competitive ballroom dancer, Natalie is well versed in International Style, especially the Latin dances such as Cha-Cha, Rhumba, Jive, and Samba. As a choreographer for Regional theaters and high schools, Natalie works in integrating the styles of jazz, ballet, tap, and ballroom in her productions such as Oklahoma, The Music Man, Pippin, Seussical, and Hello Dolly!.
When not performing or teaching, she treasures her time with her husband, Kevin, and daughter, Bridget. Natalie is a proud member of Actors Equity Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. For more information, please log onto www.nataliegray.net.
To contact Natalie, email natalie@randomfarms.com.
He has been a proud member of Actors’ Equity, SAG and AFTRA for over 20 years. His career took a spectacular turn when he was cast in the first national touring company of Miss Saigon. Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and led by acclaimed director Nicholas Hytner, the company toured 12 cities over four years, and included a performance for President Clinton and family at the Kennedy Center.
Paul also lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, where-- along with working as an actor, and perhaps oddly as a auto show product specialist for several seasons-- Paul was Director of Classes and lead voice instructor for Vivace Conservatory. The small non-profit performing arts school located in Los Angeles’ Chinatown was formed by Asian professional actors to nurture young Asian-American talent. Paul and the Vivace team also created and produced the television pilot K’Pow!, a musical variety children’s program for World Asia Network.
Just a few of Paul’s regional theater highlights include playing both the father and son roles in separate productions of Flower Drum Song, Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger in Cats, Bun Foo in Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as productions of A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superstar, West Side Story, Follies, Crazy For You, Damn Yankees and the comedy Shear Madness. He also performed in an original musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as the world premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s opera Seance On A Wet Afternoon at Opera Santa Barbara, and the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Nixon In China. He assistant directed, co-conceived and choreographed a production of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti for UCSB’s Opera Program.
Having never lived in New York since his early childhood in the Bronx, Paul recently moved back to NYC in 2010 and happily joined the RFKT faculty before his boxes were even unpacked! With over 10 years of voice teaching experience, it has continually been Paul’s philosophy to ensure that his students not only learn to sing and breathe in a healthy way, but also to show them the performance and movement skills they need to sing in front of an audience.
Paul Martinez is thrilled to be a part of the RFKT family as a Resident Voice Instructor since September 2010.
Born in the Bronx and raised in rural Michigan, Paul has played the piano since he was 3, and has won music scholarship competitions and state medals. Just for fun, he began performing in community theater at 13, but “caught the acting bug” when he landed his first leading role by the age of 16 in a school play. Paul started college as a pre-med major, but ultimately graduated with a BFA from the prestigious Musical Theatre Program at the University of Michigan, where he had the opportunity to work with such notables as Gene Kelly, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and composer Joe Raposo.
After college, Paul lived in Chicago for several years as a working actor in regional theater, industrial film and commercials.
MINI-COACHINGS: GREAT FOR AUDITION PREP
Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20
RFKT is excited to offer private acting coaching at our Elmsford studio with Julie Schwartz. We are offering 15-minute mini-sessions for $15, perfect for getting ready for auditions such as Industry Showcase Night. Students will have a chance to run through their audition material to get nerves out and receive feedback on their work. Time slots are available in the late afternoon and early evening of Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20. Please e-mail julie@randomfarms.com with your preferred date and time or to receive more information.
