Doug trained as a teacher and actor under Kathryn Gately, a master acting teacher who trained with Sanford Meisner and is recognized as one of the top three teachers of the Meisner Technique – she was recently featured in the book “Acting Teachers of America: A Vital Tradition.” Doug also trained extensively with master movement specialist Loyd Williamson, himself a student of Sanford Meisner and also featured in “Acting Teachers of America.” At Northern Illinois University, Doug instructed and coached MFA, BFA, and BA candidates in the Meisner approach. Doug has taught with Kathryn Gately at the renown Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC and has been an instructor with various theater organizations on the East coast. He has directed off-off Broadway and at the university level. He is a member of SAG/AFTRA.
James Gandolfini 2x Emmy award winner on the Meisner Technique and Kathryn Gately
“I talked about taking acting classes, but it wasn’t really something anyone in my family ever did. And he kept pestering me to go to this class. And I went to this class — it was a Meisner technique class. I went in an I was scared to death. I was shaking.”I remember one thing she did for me that got me to a new level was — I had such anger back then. When you’re young a lot of people do. Everybody does. You’re pissed — and you’re not sure why — because you want to express something, but you don’t know what it is. She kept telling me to go ahead, but I never wanted to. I think she told a partner to do something to me and he did it, and I destroyed the place — and then at the end of it — I remember my hands were bleeding a little bit — and she goes, “See, everybody’s fine. Nobody’s hurt. This is what you have to do. This is what people pay for. If you don’t want to do it, get off — these are the things you need to express and be able to control.”