Alexis Black
Assistant Professor of Acting Movement | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Alexis Black is an educator, fight, movement and intimacy director, performer, and director.
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Biography
Alexis Black received her BFA in Performance from Ohio University and her MFA in Theatre Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movement from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is an educator, fight, movement and intimacy director, performer, and director.
As a movement specialist, Alexis is a certified Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC), is a certified teacher in the Michael Chekhov Physical Acting Technique, and has a level one certification in the Margolis Method. She has trained with PUSH Physical Theatre and Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, and is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and the Association of Theatre Movement Educators.
As a fight and movement director she has choreographed in Europe, South Korea, and regionally in the US, including as assistant fight director for Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for the Tony-award winning Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. She has served as resident fight and intimacy director for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, and Redtwist Theatre in Chicago. In NYC she has choreographed for the NY Fringe, Off-Off Broadway, and Off Broadway. She also served as assistant choreographer for Fool for Love on Broadway, starring Sam Rockwell and Nina Arianda.
As a professional actor and member of AEA, she has worked with regional theaters, on international tours and in numerous shows in NYC. Favorite credits include productions with The Dorset Theater Festival, The Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company and touring with TNT-Britain. On the small screen you can find her performing stunts on AMC and The Discovery Channel.
In other research, Alexis has explored the powerful combination of Meisner and Chekhov for years in the acting classroom, and wrote about it in the Routledge publication, Michael Chekhov and Sanford Meisner: Collisions and Convergence in Actor Training. She also co-authored a chapter on neurodiversity and the actor for an upcoming Routledge publication as a response to research on inclusive teaching methods. Additionally, Alexis and her MSU colleague Tina Newhauser have led an innovative collaboration with IDC, exploring the relationship between intimacy directors and teams that build live performances. A publication that details out practices and protocols for staging intimacy and the creative team is forthcoming, with a release date planned for 2022.
Industry Expertise (1)
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (4)
Fight Choreography
Intimacy Direction
Theatre Performance Pedagogy
Movement
Education (2)
Ohio University: BFA, Performance
Virginia Commonwealth University: MFA, Theatre Performance Pedagogy with an emphasis in Movemen
Links (2)
News (4)
Supporting staged intimacy
MSU Today online
2023-03-20
The first time Black learned about intimacy direction was when Alicia Rodis, a friend she worked with in New York City, introduced her to the relatively new discipline. Rodis became the first intimacy coordinator employed by a major television network when HBO hired her in 2017. “I thought, this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard of,” Black said. “Teaching actors about working with consent practices has been transformative to my work.”
Michigan State professors wrote the book on staging intimate scenes in theater
Detroit Free Press online
2023-03-17
“I’m not going to run at you with a sword, and I’m not going to run at you with this intense embrace without having a conversation first. But that’s exactly what we did for years,” says Alexis Black, an assistant professor of acting and movement at Michigan State University.
‘Roller derby’ makes great use of MSU’s tiny Arena Theatre
City Pulse online
2022-11-14
Revisiting the use of space, the MSU Department of Theater typically utilizes outstanding production values to overcome issues with the Arena Theater space, and this play is no exception. In addition to solid casting and directing, Alexis Black assembled a talented design staff. Lillian Meyers’ fantastic lighting design enhances Sloan Lemberg’s fun choreography. Not only do the cast get many opportunities to dance, they also mimic roller derby moves and battles with creative choreography.
Alexis Black: MSU Theater heads to Broadway
The State News online
2022-08-02
Alexis Black, an assistant professor of acting, theatrical movement, and stage combat in the MSU Theater program has moved her expertise to the largest stage. Joining the critically-acclaimed revival of the Shakespeare classic, "Macbeth," as the assistant violence director, Black is putting MSU on the map for performance.
