Actor, Director and Educator, Managing Director of the Studio and Artistic Director of the Nuance Theatre Co. John DeSotelle has been considered by many professional artists in the film and theater community to be one of the clearest and most in-depth teachers of the Meisner technique and to possess a brilliant eye for the actor’s process.
He has been involved in all aspects of the performing arts for more than 25 years, working in film, television and regional theater, has developed a number of specialized acting workshops for adults, teens and children and has been coaching actors in New York and California since 2001. In 1994 he originated the Fitzwater Theater Company in Sacramento, California; which later moved to upstate New York. He has been guest faculty at New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, and Rutgers University, Newark, NJ and a former Senior Lecturer of BFA Meisner Studio at University of the Arts Philadelphia, PA,
John received his BFA in Acting and Directing from the University of Southern California (USC) and an MFA in Acting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University under the tutelage of William Esper, Maggie Flanigan, Loyd Williamson, and Lenard Petit, among other distinguished talents. From his introduction and total emersion in this specialized training an authentic and compelling acting foundation with Sanford Meisner’s work at its core was realized and cultivated. Along with further study of Chekhov, Hagen, Stanislavski, Williamson and Spolin, John’s experience, vision and work has brought him to the development of this Studio and Theatre and all the unique “nuances” found within; and in conjunction with his own teaching practices and observations of the actor experience he is developing a teaching manual and an expose on “Why Meisner? and the life expectancy of technique in the 21st Century”.