About the Directors

Josh Futcher and Stephanie Williams have been teaching acting and working with children for over 20 years. Originally from Australia, they have trained with some of the industries most esteemed acting teachers. Having both had their formal drama education at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne Australia, they have continued their pursuit of acting mastery under coaches and institutions of the likes of Larry Moss, Ivanna Chubbuck, Lesly Kahn, 16th Street Actor’s Studio, UCB. They have trained extensively in the techniques of Uta Hagen, Strasberg, Stanislavsky, and Stella Adler.

Josh and Steph have had TV roles on Netflix, Apple TV, Freeform, and network TV. They have been in several film festival award winning films, and even won a few Best Actor awards at these festivals along the way. They have been in over 40 stage plays, musical productions, and 50 commercials combined, and continue to audition and work on a regular basis, keeping their finger on the pulse of the industry.

Being working actors, their knowledge of the expectations of actors in the digital era sets them apart from other school directors. Their teachings prepare kids for the reality of being an actor in the modern world.

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While acting has always been a priority, their passion for children and youth development has seen them work extensively with children with neurodiverse profiles. Through the teachings of Dr. Ross W. Greene Ph.D, they have worked with children that have previously been declared “problem children”, and been able to integrate them and find success in a formal class setting. Their Neurodiversity affirming approachincludes helping with developmental and emotional regulation challenges through using a developmental, relationship-based model (DIR/Floortime) Social Thinking methodology to promote learning, development and appropriate social interactions in real-time via play-based activities and integration in the classroom. They firmly believe the philosophy that no child is inherently bad. Kids do well when they can, and when they can't, it's because they are delayed in the development of crucial cognitive skills.

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Understanding and working through this with them in an empathetic and validating way is key to their ability to succeed. Incorporating these behavioral and play therapy practices into a drama class setting ensures that all children get the most out of their time and no one is left behind.