Our Teachers
Alexa Jo Lipworth (Rosewood)
Alexa started her training at New York University Tisch School of The Arts as a Drama and English major. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg studio under Geoffrey Horne and at 19, was offered a leading role in The Handmaid’s Tale at The Playwrights Horizon Theatre, directed by Bob Moss.
At 21, Alexa entered the Drama Centre London and completed the 3 year acting course as part of Group 29. At Drama Centre, she was taught by Christopher Fettes and Yat Malmgren. Yat taught her for both movement and character analysis, Reuven Adviv for acting and Greg De Polnay for voice.
As her work has progressed as a teacher and as a director, the incredible work of Yat Malmgren came more and more into the forefront of her work as a teacher and a director. Alexa therefore, took the decision a year and a half ago to study weekly with James Kemp at Effort Productions. James is the only successor to the work of Yat Malmgren, having been taught by him in Group 31 at the Drama Centre and then later going back to teach along side the great man during his final years as a teacher and mentor. Yat handed all of his work and files to James at the time of his death. Alexa is still working with James regularly to this day.
After graduation, she worked steadily as an actress in film, television and theatre, collaborating with directors including John Glenn, Peter Greenaway, Leona Heimfeld, Tessa Schneiderman, Steven Berkoff and James Cellan-Jones.
After moving to Paris and raising a family, Alexa began teaching at the Giles Foreman Centre for Acting in Paris and BAW Film School. She brings together her varied and high quality training and her professional experience to teach acting technique and scene study in both English and French to students and working professionals. As artistic director of The Acting Ensemble, she is excited about what she calls the ambiguity of theatre and future directorial projects with both students and professionals. Alexa’s work as a theatre director is original in a sense that it is cinematic and yet also theatrical. She’s excited to see about how to merge both mediums to create an exciting and vigorous story telling medium that transcends and yet also celebrates language.
Clarence Tokley
Clarence is a Paris-based coach, film-maker, theatre creator and producer with more than 12 years experience. He attended Rutgers University, obtaining a degree in History and Film Studies.
His work incorporates a wide range of styles and techniques that mirror his varied course of study in acting such as the techniques of Strasberg, Meisner, Hagen, Stanislavski, Viewpoints and others. Clarence works professionally in film and theatre production in and around Paris.
He is the co-founder and co-director of the theatre company, The Big Funk, and head of the theatre department at Ecole Jeanine Manuel, a top high school in Paris. Clarence believes that an actor must find the right tools to place in their toolkit to achieve the truthfulness and presence needed to connect to their work, partners and audience.
He tailor fits his approach to each individual and their strengths and needs. His work reflects his collaborative spirit and focus on body, voice, face, camera and movement.
Clarence actively helps the actor achieve the balance to keep their instrument ready and open, therefore present with oneself and others. He uses all of his experience and resources to train and teach actors. He works with professionals and students alike and helps them set and obtain individual goals in a positive and creative environment.
Oleksandra Oliinyk
Oleksandra Oliinyk is an actress, acting, and movement coach originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, currently living and working in Berlin. She is the founder, director, and teacher at Actors Lab Ukraine.
Oleksandra worked as a professor at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University for many years. Additionally, she conducted her Fulbright research at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, focusing on film acting and movement. As a scholar at NYU Berlin, she developed a verbatim performance based on interviews with Ukrainian teenage refugees, her students.
Oleksandra has taught at several notable institutions, including the University of Toronto and the BAW Acting School in Paris. She is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers USA.
As an actress, Oleksandra has participated in numerous international creative projects, festivals, and residencies across Ukraine, the USA, Poland, and Russia (until 2014). She has performed in prominent theatres such as the Dakh Theatre and the Left Bank Theatre in Ukraine, as well as internationally recognized venues like The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., La MaMa Theatre in New York, and The Watermill Center in New York.
In Ukraine, Oleksandra helped nurture a new generation of young actors who now feature on TV, theatre stages, and international film festivals.