Donna Rossini

BIO
Donna Rossini, an original member of Axial, is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her early performing experience was in the field of concert dance and musical comedy. Six years ago, she began studying acting with Howard Meyer, and has appeared in several workshop productions under Howard’s direction at The Schoolhouse Theatre. She has appeared in the Axial Theatre productions of King of the Wild Frontier, The Fall of Athens, Today’s Specials and All That's Fair, and appeared as mom in Elizabeth Phelps’ staged reading of Paperwhite at NWCA.

ABOUT THE AXIAL PROCESS...
Since beginning acting training with Howard Meyer about five years ago, I have been continually taken by the sense of "permission" that I have always experienced during my classwork, in the rehearsal process and in the developmental work we do within the Axial company: permission to explore, without the expectation of a finished performance before its time; permission to tap into wells of creativity (some long forgotten), without shame or censorship, permission to follow rich veins of sense memory and impulse, without the burden of expected results.

Process is everything. Within Axial Theatre, there is eventually a finished product, of course...a new play, a character, or a role which has matured during its own unique journey. These arise in a very organic way out of group improvisation, centered around themes selected by the members in advance. Around these themes, a word, or a piece of music, an individual's dream memory or personal life experience, are processed and expressed physically and vocally, often in unexpected ways....ways that sometimes result in the seed of story. During this process, the revelation of self...as through a prism, in many different colors... is the delicious
personal payoff.

It is a gift and privilege to work in the midst of like-minded and talented people, who have such a high regard for truth in all its many forms. It provides a wonderfully safe environment, a kind of hothouse, in which to create. I am grateful for, and protective of, this unique artistic
opportunity.

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