Mary C. Bitel

Advanced Acting: Realism and Beyond
The Bard Out Loud: Introduction to Shakespeare
Multi-Disciplinary Arts Practice with Community Groups: Theories and Practice of Group Work in the Arts

Dr. Bitel holds a B.F.A. in theatre from Wayne State University, an M.S.W. with a concentration in group work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, and a Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is also a licensed clinical social worker. Mary is the Co-Director of NYU’s Arts &Health @ NYU Initiative and was the inaugural Chair of the Open Arts and Collaborative Arts Programs at Tisch where she led the development and launch of the BFA in Collaborative Arts. Mary is a senior faculty member, acting teacher and Associate Director in Tisch’s International Theatre Workshop, Amsterdam. In Open Arts and Collaborative Arts, Mary leads the Advanced Acting curriculum where she teaches a course on advanced acting techniques from realistic scene study to devised, multi-disciplinary performance work and an acting class on Shakespeare’s texts. Mary also teaches the integration of multidisciplinary art forms with the theories, skills and dynamics of collaboration and group work. Since 2015, Mary has produced and facilitated community collaborations between Tisch undergraduate students and 4^th and 5^th grade students at PS3 in Manhattan’s West Village. Prior to taking her faculty position at Tisch, Mary worked professionally as an actor, was Director of GirlSpace, a community-based after-school, multidisciplinary arts program serving adolescents and teens in NYC, and for a number of years was a guest lecturer at the Silberman School of Social Work. Mary is a member of Actors Equity Association and the International Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups.