Dennis Trainor Jr

Dennis Trainor Jr. joined the Conservatory in 2017 and is an associate professor of theater. He teaches first-year acting and Contemporary Scene Study, as well as the Playing Shakespeare course in the Conservatory's summer Musical Theater Acting Intensive (MTAI). He also serves as a member of the audition team for the B.F.A. in musical theater program.

Trainor is an actor, writer, director, and multimedia storyteller who has appeared regionally and internationally. His Boston theater credits include appearances with SpeakEasy Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, Actors' Shakespeare Project, Gloucester Stage Company, Company One Theatre, and North Shore Music Theater. In New York, Trainor was the founding co-artistic director of the Rude Mechanicals Theater Company, where he worked as a producer, actor, director, and writer. His New York acting credits include appearances with Rude Mechanicals, as well as the Kraine Theater and Lookingglass Theatre Company. Trainor also was an original member of the Bats, an Obie Award-winning acting company in residence at the Flea Theater. 

Trainor has spent nearly a decade creating long- and short-form videos about a variety of social justice causes and political movements. Highlights include his work as writer, director, and producer of the documentaries American Autumn and Legalize Democracy, and as the host and writer of the nationally syndicated news and politics show Acronym T.V. (as part of the Young Turks Network). His playwriting credits include Plug (Rude Mechanicals), I Coulda Been a Kennedy (Rude Mechanicals), and Manifest Destiny's Child (Edinburgh Fringe Festival).

Prior to the Conservatory, Trainor held positions as a guest artist in residence and director at Stonehill College and served on the faculty of Dowling College, the Shakespeare Theater (Washington, D.C.), Lawrence Academy, the Peddie School, and Suitland High School for the Visual and Performing Arts.

Trainor holds an M.F.A. in acting from the American Conservatory Theater and is a proud Actors' Equity Association member.

Notable Recent Works

• Manifest Destiny's Child (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2023)—Actor, writer 
• The Inheritance (Speakeasy Stage Company, 2022)—Actor 
• Let the Right One In (Actors' Shakespeare Project, 2022)—Actor
• The Merchant of Venice (Actors' Shakespeare Project, 2021)—Actor
• Straight White Men (New Repertory Theatre, 2018)—Actor
• Acronym T.V. (The Young Turks, 2012–2015)—Host/anchor, writer
• American Autumn (Artful Dodger Productions, 2012)—Producer, director, writer