Teaching Experience

 

UCLA Professional Program (winter quarter, 2023, 2024) – Adjunct professor, comedic acting course.

 

independent acting class (2020-present) – Three ongoing weekly classes focused on characterization, text analysis, scene study, and career-related topics.
 

Audition Psych. 101 – Originating in 2006, this popular actors’ workshop focusing on the psychological aspects of auditioning has been presented all over the country. Hosts have included The Actors Equity Association, The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The American Foundation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA), Center Stage (Baltimore), San Jose Rep, Flat Rock Playhouse (Flat Rock, NC), Reality Curve Theatre (Vancouver), Cabrillo Music Theatre (Ventura, CA), Rider University (Lawrence Township, NJ), Texas State University, Atlanta's Working Actor Group, and the Chicago Actors in Film Meet-Up. It’s also been presented independently in New York, Los Angeles,

Chicago, San Jose, San Francisco and Charlotte, NC. (www.auditionpsych101.com)

 

Broadway Theatre Workshops — Guest instructor, 2016. Offered classes in improv, character work, comedy, finding one's type, on-camera acting, and ensemble work.

New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts – Guest instructor, 2013

 

UCLA Extension – 12-week summer audition course, 2009

 

Theatre Companies/Educational Outreach

            Cleveland Play House, CSU 2020

            Olney Theatre Center apprentice education program, 2015

            Paper Mill Playhouse Conservatory, 2012

            Flat Rock Playhouse apprenticeship program, summer, 2011

 

Guest Speaker / Lecturer / Panelist

Southern Oregon University, 2018-present

            UCLA Professional program (Megan McNulty’s class), 2022

            Actors Equity Association, October, 2012

            SAG Foundation’s Life Raft series, September, 2012

            Kean University, November, 2010

            Goodspeed Opera House – Special Donor Event, September, 2010

            Panelist, Back Stage’s ActorFest, 2009, 2010

            American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Los Angeles, April, 2009, May, 2010

            UC Santa Barbara, Film and Media Department, 2008-10

            Cal-State Fullerton – 2006, 2009

            University of New Mexico 2005

 

 

Related Experience

 

Professional TV and Stage Actor – Over 20 years experience and many recognizable credits, including

HBO’s The Wire, The Blacklist, Damages, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Law and Order: SVU, Banshee, Sonny with a Chance, and national tours of The Producers and Les Misérables.

 

Advice Columnist – Writer of the weekly Working Actor column for Back Stage 2006-2011. (http://www.backstage.com/search/?search=Kostroff)

 

Author – Letters from Backstage (Allworth Press, 2005) (www.amazon.com)

                   Answers from "The Working Actor" (Routledge Press, 2018)

                   Audition Psych 101 (Gate Keeper, 2019)

                  The Stage Actor's Handbook (Roman & Littlefield, 2023)

Specialties

 

•audition technique 

•scene study

•the business of the “business” 

•ensemble work

•creating a character

•acting comedy