Gabriel Levey is a teacher, actor, coach and theatre maker committed to the power of empathic vulnerability and unabashed play. He works across genres and venues, helping actors and audiences step into their full selves, and laugh until their stomachs ache.
Photo: Todd Estrin
A maker of theatrical comedy, Gabe's original work includes: Dwellicle 109 (IRT); Brainsongs, or the play about the dinosaur farm (Yale Cabaret); And now we do LINDBERGH’S FLIGHT by Bertolt Brecht (Yale Cabaret); The Most Beautiful Thing in the World (Yale Cabaret/Boston University/Cloud City); How to Help the Self When the Self Needs Help with Carol A. Jantsen (The Peoples Improv Theater); and most recently A Super Serious and Not at All Funny Reading of Stories I Wrote After Brain Surgery. Recent acting credits include Three Sisters (Two River Theater), Intimate Apparel, The Cake (Silverthorne Theater) and Pulling at the Roots (Plays in Place).
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Gabe's passion for teaching and for developing fun and physical approaches to acting led him to co-found (along with Christopher Bayes and Annelise Lawson) The Pandemonium Studio, a studio for the study of Clown, Commedia, and Improvisation in New York City. In the fall of 2019, with a focus on just, inclusive, diverse, and anti-racist actor training, as well as the creation and production of new works of theatrical comedy, Gabe founded Completely Ridiculous Productions. During the pandemic, the company transformed into The Completely Ridiculous Conservatory, a six-week online acting program that, within its first year, welcomed over 100 students from all over the world.
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He has also taught in traditional university settings such as NYU, Smith College, Amherst College and the Yale University Summer Program; high school settings such as The Professional Performing Arts High School in Manhattan, and The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter High School in Massachusetts; as well as renowned regional theaters such as The Alliance, Berkshire Theater Group and Northern Stage, and more nimble institutions such as the Pine Box in Florence, MA, and The Funny School of Good Acting in Brooklyn, NY.
Gabe received a BFA in Acting from Boston University, and an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. He is currently based in Western Massachusetts.
Now enrolling:
Acting As Play: Grad School Edition with Gabriel Levey
Tuesdays, 6-8pm, October 29th - December 10th
on zoom
Tuesday 6-9pm, December 17th
in person in NYC, space TBD
$825
In this 8-week class, we will start with an open discussion about the graduate school audition process and why the pleasure of the performer is the most critical, and often overlooked piece of the process. We will then move into individual monologue work and one on one private coaching, using the language of clown and games to draw out as much fun, wonder and surprise as is possible in each piece.
All participants will be up on their feet with text in each group class. And, after 7 weeks of play, we will put it all together with an in-person mock audition on the final day of class.
By the end of the class, you will walk away with pieces that bring you so much joy, you will be able to step into any audition room with courageous generosity, excited to share the beautiful work you’ve crafted with any and everyone.
Enrollment in the class includes:
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Seven Tuesday night group classes on Zoom
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Four sixty-minute long, one-on-one coaching sessions on Zoom (totaling over $600 in value), scheduled individually to fit each everyone’s schedule
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One in-person mock audition on the final day of class
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*This class is not exclusive to folks auditioning for MFA programs. While there will be a focus on grad school auditions, it is meant to serve all actors looking to work on monologues*