Faculty Bios
Samantha Starr
Samantha Starr, Education Director for A Noise Within, holds an MA in Theatre Education and Outreach from The University of New Mexico with distinction, Phi Kappa Phi. She holds a BA from Mills College with honors in Dramatic Arts and Music, and studied at Barnard College. Ms. Starr is a graduate of American Conservatory Theatre's Training Congress and Carnegie-Mellon's Summer Training Program. She has mentored teaching artists at the University of New Mexico, where she ran outreach theatre classes for youth and led curriculum development for the Saturday Classes for Youth. Ms. Starr is proficient in Spanish, and has written bilingual plays and materials for touring educational theatre. She holds certifications in early childhood and special education and has an interest creating lifelong learners across boundaries of age and ability. At VSA Arts of New Mexico, Ms. Starr taught performing arts to adults with developmental disabilities including Down's syndrome, mental retardation, autism spectrum disorder, and cerebral palsy. She has conducted children's choirs for approximately 6 years, operated a private vocal studio, and directed musical productions with youth in Northern California and New Mexico.
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott
Ms. Rodriguez-Elliott has extensive experience teaching theatre arts to students from middle school to college and regularly conducts student workshops as part of A Noise Within's educational programming. Ms. Rodriguez-Elliott has served on theatre panels for organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the LA Stage Alliance. In addition, she regularly conducts lectures for CalArts, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and schools throughout the California State and University of California school systems to name a few.
Ms. Rodriguez-Elliott holds a BFA from the University of Florida and an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre.
Deborah Strang
Deborah Strang has been a Resident Artist with A Noise Within for the past 16 years where she has performed in over 48 productions including Paulina in The Winter's Tale, Maxine in The Night of the Iguana, The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Mrs. Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth, Regina in Little Foxes, Alexandra in O Pioneers, Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard, Rosemary in Picnic and as Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream in a co-production with the LA Philharmonic at the famed Hollywood Bowl. Also at ANW, Deborah has co-directed Moliere's The Learned Ladies on the main stage as well as productions of Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night for the Summer With Shakespeare teen program. She currently teaches Acting Shakespeare and coaches the interns in the ANW Conservatory, conducts frequent Master Acting Workshops and recently spent 2 weeks as a guest instructor at the acclaimed Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain. Film and TV credits include Cold Case, Close to Home, Numb3rs Ghostwhisperer, Threshold, Carnivale, The X-Files, Deep Space Nine, Kiss the Girls, Things To Do In Denver, and the soon to be released Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf. Ms. Strang can be heard as the voice of Aunt May in the new animated series The Spectacular Spider-Man for Kids' WB! on The CW. Ms. Strang holds an MFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Stephen Rockwell
Stephen Rockwell has been teaching acting to young artists for over 20 years. He has taught young actors ranging in age from 5 to 20. Stephen has taught acting with The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Valley Institute for The Arts, The City Of Glendale, The Harvard-Westlake School, The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and of course at A Noise Within where he has taught the Young People's Workshop and Summer With Shakespeare for many years. Mr. Rockwell received a BA in Drama from Vassar College and an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theatre in SF.