About Ellie.
Teacher.
Ellie Heyman is NYC-based acting teacher and communication coach who specializes in stripping away artifice to release one’s FULL SELF.
Ellie has privately taught and coached acting since 2008 and her students can be seen on tvs, film screens and stages across America, including on Broadway.
Additionally, she taught Acting and Movement at Boston University, Brown University, Michael Howard Acting Studio, Michael Chekhov Association, Franklin & Marshall College, Whole Physical Theatre Laboratory, The National High School Institute (Cherubs), and The Boston University Summer Theatre Institute (BUSTI), among other notable institutions.
Ellie’s work began in Chicago with the site-specific company she co-founded, Big Theater. On a mission to create meaningful theater for popular audiences, Ellie experimented with combining acting training techniques including Meisner and Michael Chekhov to rehearse plays. She then took her approach a step further and integrated various vocal and physical methodologies including Fitzmaurice Voice Work, Viewpoints, Feldenkrais Method, Alexander Technique, Grotowski-inspired Physical Theatre, mime, and clowning. The result was electric. Actors who saw the shows requested training, and Ellie’s life as an acting teacher began.
Ellie has also coached TED Talks and taught workshops for corporations including: The New York Times, Google and Business Insider, among others.
Ellie lives in Brooklyn with her wife and her dog.
Director.
Ellie Heyman is an award-winning director of film and theater. She won the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production in 2021 and her work has been nominated for Drama Desk, Lortel, Bessie and PGA Awards.
Her piece, The Great Work Begins, featuring Glenn Close, Laura Linney, and Brian Tyree Henry, was named “Best of 2020” by the New York Times and New York Magazine.
She directed The Traveling Imaginary, a theatrical rock show, rated in the "top five shows of the year" by NPR and a Time Out "Critic's Pick" on two continents, with long term collaborator Julian Koster (Neutral Milk Hotel).
Ellie co-directed/developed the narrative podcast The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air), presented by Night Vale and WNYC. It's been downloaded over 5 million times, rated #1 in Apple Podcasts and, features John Cameron Mitchell, Tim Robbins, Mandy Patinkin, and Charlie Day. She directed the cult classic, music-fiction podcast Dreamboy (Night Vale Presents).
Ellie has extensively directed nationally and internationally. New York credits include: The Public Theater, Lincoln Center, MCC, and La Mama. She was the Director in Residence at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater for 4 years.
Ellie is a graduate of Northwestern Universities (BS) and Boston Universities (MFA), a Drama League Directing Fellow, and a Time Warner Directing Fellow at the WP Theatre.
For more, visit Ellie’s directing website.
A few production pics.
Brian Tyree Henry as Prior in Angels in America
Nick Blaemire in the World Premiere of Space Dogs at MCC. Watch on BroadwayHD
Patti Lupone, Nikki James, Daphne Rubin-Vega & Linda Emond as the Angel in Angels In America
A$AP Rocky's Performance Art Record Launch
Dave Malloy & Jason Craig's Beardo (Full Cast)
Alex Highsmith as Hedda in Hedda Gabler