theatre + film FACULTY
Donovan E. Mitchell is an alumnus of GSA, having successfully graduated from the Musical Theatre and Theatre & Film departments in 2007. Mr. Mitchell went on to study acting at Carnegie Mellon University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama/Musical Theatre in 2011.
He was a member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, performing a repertoire of Shakespeare’s plays as well as leading different classes and workshops in improvisation, voice work and “Decoding Shakespeare’s Language”, to name a few. He has experience as a teacher in both the New York City and Los Angeles school systems.
Mr. Mitchell is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, the Screen Actors Guild and Actors’ Equity Association, and is represented by a talent and literary agency based in New York. He has had roles in many television shows including “City on a Hill”, “FBI”, “Wu-Tang: An American Saga”, “Law and Order: SUV,” and “NCIS: New Orleans,” among others. Mr. Mitchell has also performed on Broadway at the Barrymore Theatre in the play “Six Degrees of Separation” and in various renowned regional theatre playhouses, including the off-Broadway Signature Theatre, The Geffen Playhouse and Center Theater Group, both in Los Angeles.
Mr. Mitchell was a student at the Moscow Art Theatre School, The Groundlings, one of the leading improvisation training programs in the country, and Second City, one of the most prolific and influential comedy training grounds in the US.
Keith Smith, Director of Design/Tech Theatre keith.smith@gsarts.net
Matt Friedman
Matt Friedman is proud to be one of the founding instructors of the GSA Film program, where he adapted & directed the educational film drama "The Unknown Variable" and has taught continuously since 2012. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he is a filmmaker, writer, director, composer, actor, and occasional playwright, and also teaches screenwriting at the Muse Writer's Center. He has been a screenwriting panelist at the Virginia Festival of the Book, and a presenter at the CNU and Hampton Roads Writer's Conferences. He wrote and assistant-directed the local independent feature comedy "Moving," and earned a fellowship to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the Tribeca Sloan Film Summit. He assistant directed the 2012 commercial "Man's Best Friend," which became the #1 ad of that year's Superbowl, and co-wrote several followups, including a collaboration with The Lonely Island. He has also both worked for and participated in the Hampton Roads 48 Hour Film Project, co-producing a Best Film winner and earning Best Original Score. He also directs, acts, and dabbles in set design for local theater. He is a former volunteer EMT and is currently an advocate with the YWCA on their volunteer domestic & sexual violence response team.