Meet the Faculty

Clare Mottola (instructor, performing arts co-chair) has taught, directed and produced across the U.S. She graduated with a B.S. degree in Drama and English from Syracuse University, and received her M.F.A. in directing from Indiana University. She has worked as a drama educator with students ages five and up, and her diverse teaching experience includes Indiana University and Seattle Children's Theatre. At Open Circle Theatre, Clare taught young adults who were in Seattle's juvenile detention facilities/programs. Clare co-founded mtp! in 1998, an interdisciplinary arts organization; its work includes a world premiere production of John Berger's Once in Europa. mtp! has also hosted Brooklyn's inner city young artists for their Get Down, summer arts education program. mtp! continues to produce its annual new works festivals including Cherry Picking, which has been seen in both New York and Chicago. At Seattle's Intiman Theatre, Clare worked in their education department, developing their study guide, a teaching tool for public school educators utilizing theatre in English classrooms. Clare's directing credits include: Cloud Nine, Orphans, Why We Have a Body, Dancing at Lughnasa, and The Road to Mecca. Clare has been a member of the Fieldston Performing Arts Department since 1998.

Ava Heller (instructor) is a New York-based artist and teacher investigating the layered and interchangeable dynamics between movement, music, audience, and performers. She holds an M.A. in Dance Education (New York State Certification, Teaching Dance Grades PreK-12) from New York University and a B.A. from Bennington College.  She facilitates the creative ambitions of her students through the exploration and experiential approach of creating their own movement vocabulary, actively engaging in the dance-making process, developing their compositional eye, and strengthening their awareness and coordination of the moving body.  She also develops her own work in collaboration with musicians Westbrook Johnson and Matthew Ferry, developing compositional improvisation for dance and percussion. She has studied with and performed in the works of David Appel, koosilja/ danceKUMIKO, Dana Reitz, Susan Sgorbati, Terry Creach, Susan Rethorst, Jennifer Nugent, Paul Matteson, and the Batsheva Dance Company. Ava's work has been presented at Movement Research Open Performance (NYC), Hubbard Hall (Cambridge, NY), the Figment Festival (NYC), The Tank (NYC), Danspace Project at the St. Mark’s Church, and in the 2005 d.u.m.b.o. dance festival (Brooklyn, NY).

William Norman (instructor, musical director) has served as M.D. and arranger for the Emmy Award winning "News In Revue," written songs for and toured with Kolos ("Memorable, tight pop. Good melodies carry it" – NY Post) and created original songs and scores for modern dance, short films and commercials. At Fieldston he wrote "Un-American Activities" a musical telling of the story behind the tumultuous opening night of "The Cradle Will Rock" – the only musical ever to be banned by the U.S. Government. NYU, TSOA.

Rob O’Neill (instructor, director of dance) is a long-time active member of the New York dance and theater community. He danced with several modern choreographers, including 10 seasons with the Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company. Rob has taught at Fieldston since 1993. He is an adjunct faculty member of New York University’s Experimental Theater Wing (ETW) teaching in the undergraduate program and in the summer theater program for high school students in Paris. Rob developed and teaches professional level, physically based acting training called, EMBODIMENT: A Physical Approach To Acting. He choreographs, directs plays, performs, and creates original movement-based theater work. Rob is proud to have worked with Joseph Chaikin as a movement consultant and choreographer on a number of his last projects.

Larson Rose (instructor, technical director) grew up in Howard County, Maryland where he entered the University of Maryland Baltimore County at seventeen. He created his first professional scene design at nineteen working with a local theater group. He graduated from college cum laude and after a stint at a theme park, was hired to work as a scenic carpenter at Center Stage, a regional theater in Baltimore. Two years later, he decided to move to New York to study scene design and scene painting, and was hired as the technical director at Fieldston. During his time at Fieldston, he co-founded Renaissance Rentals, a costume company at the New York Renaissance and the Virginia Renaissance Faires. He has designed off Broadway, worked at Pepsico Summerfare, and has traveled extensively around the world. He was awarded a Southwind Grant for excellence in teaching and used the grant money to create a theater design classroom in the Performing Arts Building. His work now includes playwriting and directing.