Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

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Read Nick's CV here.

MFA in Musical Theater from University of California-Irvine
BA in Speech/Theatre Education, and Spanish from Elmhurst College
Certificate in Arts Administration from New York University

Nick has given two TED talks on theatre as part of Drexel’s TEDx conferences:

“Why Not Engage in the Dynamic World of Theatre?”

“The Power of the Many”

He served on the “Seed” Subcommittee, of National Weed & Seed program, for the City of Trenton, New Jersey.

He has presented several times on empowering youth through self-esteem building experiences using the arts for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as part of their yearly Summit of Empowerment demonstrating the “Playmaking” and “One-On-One” models for underserved youth, and has given lecture/demonstrations at the Unity Conference, for the East Brunswick African-American Cultural Commission in New Jersey.

Nick’s current primary area of research is in Applied Theatre.

He is currently working with Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, and the School of Public Health on using theatre skills and theatre training to improve communication and building empathy in Healthcare Practitioners, Police Officers, and Young Adults.

Another aspect of Applied Theatre is community-based learning. Nick is the Founder/Executive Director and Resident “Playmaking” Instructor for the Mantua Theater Project (MTP), www.mantuatheaterproject.com. MTP is an official replication of New York’s 52nd Street Project creating positive self-esteem building experiences using theater to serve the youth of the Mantua and Powelton neighborhoods.

The Courage Plays were a result of a collaboration with the Science and Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMs) and yielded twelve new plays written by young students and performed by professional Philly actors free to the public. This project was partially funded by a grant from Public Citizens for Children and Youth.

Nick occasionally finds time to perform as an actor appearing as Pop in Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue at Walnut Street Theatre (also done as a staged reading at the Arden Theater), and Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Loyal in Tartuffe for Mauckingbird Theatre.

He is the Founder of The Late Night Series (LNS) created in 2002 and still running today as a free weekly open mic that champions and nurtures developing artists and features professionals and students performing in a free-wheeling eclectic coffee house environment.