Naomi Bailis

I am passionate about unleashing the creative potential of established theater artists, aspiring theater students, and organizations. I inspire through collaboration.

Naomi Bailis joined the Conservatory in 2022 as an associate professor of dancet, where she teaches physical theater/dance theater.

Bailis is an award-winning theater teacher, director, and actor. Bailis enjoyed a twenty-year career on the Theater Faculty at Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She was a versatile, innovative, and difference-making member of the Theater program, who taught Spolin Theater Games, the Michael Chekhov Technique, Mask Technique, Clown, Advanced Scene Study with Michael Shurtleff’s Twelve Guideposts, the Meisner technique, and Beginning and Intermediate Scene Study. In addition, she also taught Musical Theater/Acting the Song. She has directed close to thirty full-scale theatrical productions.

Bailis has also taught Acting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Boston University, University of Cincinnati (Clermont), and Xavier University (Acting and Directing). She has taught Mask master classes at Boston Conservatory, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Middlesex Community College, NETC, and SETC (2022 and 2023 invitee). She has directed productions at the collegiate and professional levels.

As an actor, Bailis has appeared on film and in commercials, as well as on Broadway and regional theaters across the U.S.

In addition to her versatility as an artist-teacher, she also has broad experience and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She was a five-year participant in SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity)/The National SEED Project trainings at Walnut Hill. In 2018, Walnut Hill funded her participation in SEED's New Leaders training. She became a co-facilitator of SEED trainings upon completion of this program. She integrated the principles of SEED into her teaching studio and directing projects. In so doing, she brought forward into the theater curriculum the voices of previously under-represented playwrights.
 

Professional Awards and Recognitions

• EE Ford Award for Excellence in Teaching (2009)
• New York Fringe Festival Invitee (1999, Sabina's Splendid Brain by Carol Sinclair, starred and produced)
• University Resident Theater Association (U/RTA) National Finalist (1997, 1988, 1987)

Notable Recent Works

• A Midsummer Night's Dream (A Lip-sync Musical; Walnut Hill School for the Arts, 2020)—Director
• Top Girls by Caryl Churchill (Walnut Hill School for the Arts, 2019)—Director
• Pronoun by Evan Placey (Walnut Hill School for the Arts, 2017)—Director