Media Contact: Susan Cipollaro, scipollaro@fairfield.edu , 203-254-4000, ext. 2726

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (August 22, 2017)— Fairfield University’s Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies is launching a six-week immersive acting program, Patients and Performance: Health Care Method Acting Certificate from September 19 to October 24, 2017 . This certificate program is free and open to the public and willmeet on Tuesdays from 2 to 5 p.m.

As part of the program, participants will be certified in exchange for 10 unpaid hours served in the role of a standardized patient in our new state-of-the-art simulation center. Upon completion of the 10 unpaid hours, simulation actors will have the opportunity to earn $15/per hour. Each week, participants will layer acting methods in improv while participating in empathy building experiences that will allow actors to immerse themselves in the role of a patient.

The certificate program will be taught by Anka Roberto, DNP, PMHNP-BC, APRN, who is a visiting professor at the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, and Tom Schwans, MFA, an adjunct professor in the Visual & Performing Arts department at Fairfield University.

Dr. Roberto is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with a research interest in the area of trauma in children and the impact that brain based treatment has on resiliency and executive functioning. A leader of innovation and implementation of simulation throughout the nursing curricula at Fairfield’s Egan School of Nursing, Dr. Roberto is a National League for Nursing Simulation Leadership Fellow and recently completed the International Nursing and Clinical Simulation in Learning Fellowship. She co-taught the first “Acting the Medical Patient” course in the fall of 2016, which has led to her passion for inviting humanism and empathy while training future health care providers. This new workshop is part of a vision to give students the opportunity to engage with real life standardized patients in addition to high tech/high fidelity simulators.

Tom Schwans is a professional actor and director in New York City who has acted at major theatres across the country. He is the co-founder and executive director of the Guerrilla Shakespeare Project in New York City. Schwans has also served as an associate artistic director of the Old Creamery Theatre in Iowa and the interim artistic director of the Deertrees Theatre Festival in Maine. Since coming to Fairfield as a guest director in 2009, Schwans directs many of Theatre Fairfield’s main stage shows in addition to his duties as adjunct professor. He co-taught the “Acting the Medical Patient” course with Dr. Roberto last fall. Schwans earned his master’s in acting from Brown University/Trinity Repertory and has also taught at Brown University, Quinnipiac University and Southern Connecticut State University, and works with private clients in New York City.

To register and learn more about the certificate program, please visit fairfield.edu/sonacting or contact Dr. Anka Roberto at aroberto@fairfield.edu .

Posted On: 08-24-2017 11:08 AM

Volume: 50 Number: 23

Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200- acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.