Scott Fielding

Studio Director and Master Teacher

Scott is MCASB's founding director and master teacher. He leads the studio's core training programs, The Chekhov Training and The Meisner Foundation Training. His artistic and pedagogic work across multiple disciplines is strongly influenced, above all, by thirty-five years’ experience with Michael Chekhov’s visionary perspective and creative method.

A senior member of the international faculty of the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA), Scott studied with first-generation teachers Beatrice Straight, Mala Powers and others personally trained by Michael Chekhov. Most impactful upon his whole development was ten years’ intensive creative work with Ted Pugh and Fern Sloan – true Chekhov masters and pioneers who carried the light and led the way above all others.

He trained in Meisner technique with Suzanne and Bill Esper at New York’s William Esper Studio. After graduating from the two-year program, he was invited to complete a third year of advanced training with Mr. Esper, the foremost authority on Meisner technique.

During several years abroad, Scott directed and taught extensively throughout the capital cities of the former Yugoslavia. In Croatia he held a full-term appointment at the Academy of Dramatic Art, Zagreb, and a one-year guest professorship at the Academy of Arts, Osijek. In Boston, he's been on the faculties of New England Conservatory (Graduate Opera Studies Program), Emerson College and Tufts University, and given workshops across the United States including at NYU, Yale and Carnegie Mellon.

An internationally-awarded stage director, his production (with Serbian pianist Nada Kolundzija), John Cage Musicircus/A House Full of Music, was cited for Best Performance of the Year in Belgrade, Serbia. His production of (His) Three Sisters (Mostar Youth Theatre) won multiple awards including Best Play in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Other stage productions include Koltes’, In the Solitude of Cotton Fields (Belgrade) and Night Just Before the Forests (KUD, Ljubljana); Irene Fornes’, Mud (Zagreb Theatre for Youth, Croatia); St. Vincent Millay’s, Aria Da Capo (Slovenia); Sara Kane’s, 4.48 Psychosis (Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb); and in collaboration with Slovenian director Tomi Janežić, King Lear (Atelier 212, Belgrade) and The Blind (Macedonian National Theatre, Skopje). 

His U.S. productions include works by Ibsen, Garcia Lorca, Gertrude Stein, Mrozek, Robert Frost, and Günter Grass. For The Actors’ Ensemble, Scott directed works by Tina Howe, Henry Miller, W.B. Yeats, Ray Bradbury, and at the invitation of Buddhist monk and writer Thich Nhat Hahn, the U.S. premiere of Nhat Hahn’s, The Path of Return Continues the Journey.

Scott was the founding Co-Artistic Director of Alchymia Theatre in Chicago and a member of The Actors’ Ensemble in New York. As an actor, his stage credits include Off Broadway, Chicago and Los Angeles productions. His dissertation, “Regarding the Significance of Divided Consciousness,” is published in Michael Chekhov: Critical Issues, Reflections, Dreams, and he is a featured artist in the book, Acting for the Stage: Perform: Succeeding as a Creative Professional.

Laura Lee Bahr

Creative Process, Playful Endeavor and Extravagant Possibilities

Laura Lee is a filmmaker, author and performer with over two decades of experience creating independent cinema and black box theater.  She is the author of the novels Haunt Long-Form Religious Porn, and the short story collection, Angel Meat. Her short stories have been featured in over a dozen literary magazines and anthologies. In addition to her credits and festival awards as a screenwriter and actor, her filmography includes writing/directing the feature film Boned (Best Microbudget Feature, Toronto Independent Film Festival). She served as Vice-President of both Membership and Production at the Eclectic Company Theatre in Los Angeles, working as an actor, director, and producer for a decade’s worth of productions. She has worked as an instructor at private schools teaching a diversity of subjects, as well as offering panels, workshops and seminars as part of film and book festivals. Laura Lee believes that creativity is for all of us, and accessing our inner-path to authentic expression is key to compassion and humanity.

Kurt Brungardt

The Actor's Workout Laboratory, Solo Performance and New Play Development

Kurt is an active member of the WGA and the author of 14 books (several bestsellers, including The Complete Book of Abs and The Complete Book of Core Training, and the soon to be published, The Complete Pickleball Book) and screenplays. He writes for Vanity Fair, Men's Health, Aspen Peak, and SLAM. As a teaching artist, Kurt has taught playwriting and poetry for Teachers and Writers Collaborative. He has had residencies in public school, Salvation Army centers, prisons, and senior centers. Most recently, he created the program: Shakespeare for Parkinson’s, funded by the Parkinson’s Foundation. As a director focused on new work and one-person shows, his projects have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, and regional theaters. As a personal trainer for over twenty years, Kurt’s worked with a wide variety of clients from actors, kids, senior citizens, as well as elite athletes and Parkinson’s patients. He’s a certified personal trainer with the American College of Exercise (ACE). He studied theater and Philosophy at NYU. 

Jesika Regonini-Beaufils

Movement and Voice

Jesika is an English and French speaking actor, dancer, musician, and wholistic healer. She began her studies and career in performance and healing arts as a child. She currently splits her time between Boston, Massachusetts and Nice, France. She received her BA in dance and French at NYU and later went on to earn her BA in music, vocal performance, opera concentration, at APSU. She began her performing arts career at age 10 as a classical flutist, playing in national orchestras and ensembles, and became an award winning soloist at age 14. She has sung in choral and jazz ensembles and with opera companies and has recorded several projects as a singer-songwriter. She danced, choreographed and taught dance in NYC and abroad.  She has focused primarily on acting for the past 4 years, training intensely. She completed the two-year Meisner program at MCASB and is currently studying Chekhov technique with Scott Fielding.  Jesika also has an active practice as a wholistic bodyworker, merging physical and non-physical approaches for the healing of the whole person. She was trained in medical massage and various psycho-physical healing techniques.