PAULA BERWANGER
ACTRESS
& FILMMAKER
ACTRESS
I am a Meisner trained actor and my passion is to express a character’s truth. I believe every character is actable and that they reveal facets of our humanity. I graduated from a two-year program at the William Esper Studio in New York and have experience in many kinds of projects, some of which you can see in my Media Gallery. I also hold a bachelor's degree in Film and have a professional background in filmmaking, which I draw from to understand the acting needs of producers and directors. Whether you’re an indie filmmaker or an advertising company, I’m happy to bring my craft to your project.
FILMMAKER
Since 2014, I have been working in film and television production. I started as an assistant to the executive producer in Brazil and worked on projects such as HBO’s “Magnífica 70” and FOX’s “1 Contra Todos”. I have worked as an assistant director in Brazil and in Japan. As an assistant director, my key skills are managing project development and shooting schedules, and coordinating cast and crew. My special trick is to combine acting script analysis and with the script breakdown, listing technique elements such as previous circumstances (the moment before), facts of the relationship, and some objectives in the breakdown to assist actors when playing scenes out of order.
DIRECTOR
I began directing theater in New York City at the Alchemical Theater Laboratory in Greenwich Village. I was inspired by the ocean theme and sunlight from Shaw's "Village Wooing" and soon purchased the license to produce the play. My second production was commissioned for Wise Owl Hostel's 2nd year anniversary in Tokyo: a play called "Connections." I am currently in post-production for my first professional short-film, “Drops of Salt” (pictured left). My current focus is on directing actors and I recently attended a Theater Directing Practice at Yale University.
TESTIMONIALS
ACTING COACH (SKYPE)
"I’m an actress and director based in Japan. In addition to working in Nagoya with various theatre companies for over 10 years, I am also a founding member of KANGEKI Theatre Company and directed their inaugural show “Nagasaki Dust” in 2015. For the past two years, I’ve been working with Theatre Iridescence (TI), and last year I acted and directed in their original musical “Transit.” Most recently, my work included playing Medea in TI’s production of “Medea” at the Aichi Arts Centre in Nagoya. In the beginning of the rehearsal process, I met Paula by taking one of her workshops and asked her to coach me. Through Skype, I shared issues I had when approaching such a tough role, and she gave me practical tips to implement at the next rehearsal. She also watched rehearsal video and gave me feedback, which was greatly helpful. I could immediately apply the advice she gave in my next rehearsal, and through her coaching, I was able to hone my performance and approach aspects of my role through a fresh lens. I would definitely recommend her as a coach!"
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Jessica Robison
VIDEO PRODUCTION
"I am a Professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and the CEO of Symbállein, a consulting firm. Paula produced videos for FGV's online classes and corporate videos for Symbállein. She took care of everything: hired crew members and professionals and communicated our needs well so that we did not have to stress about the process or how things were going to be done. When we wanted more information, she was open to explaining the technical needs of the project, the budget, and the schedule. As a busy person, I found it very convenient that I did not need to worry about the details, having full confidence that information would be there if I asked. Therefore, I highly recommend Paula to either produce educational or corporate content."
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Marco Tulio Zanini, PhD
ACCENT REDUCTION COACH
"I am a working actress in New York. Paula and I attended the same acting school. Speaking Neutral American English (NAS) is indispensable to an actor's work in the United States, because the range of characters you can play is narrowed when you have an accent. Because of my mixed Japanese and British English accents, a NAS teacher advised me to take private lessons with Paula to quickly and progressively master NAS and expand the range of characters I could play. Paula speaks five languages. For that reason, it is easy for her to hear to distinguish sound differences that often cannot be heard. Even when I continued to make the same mistakes, I was taught politely without giving up. Also, she taught me speaking techniques, not only pronunciation, such as emphasizing certain words in the dialog that can be highlighted by adding strength."
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MK Haresign
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