Andrea Southwick

I strive to provide a safe, supportive environment where students build an atmosphere of trust, respect, compassion, and collaboration. I endeavor to cultivate the personal strengths of students, engage them in a process of self-discovery and creative empowerment, and encourage  them to bring this confidence, artistry, and empathy into the larger world.

Andrea Southwick joined the Conservatory in 2012 and is an associate professor of theater. She currently teaches acting to second-year students and has been a director of mainstage and black box productions.

Southwick is a longtime actor, director, and teacher of theater arts. She has worked professionally with many area theaters, including the New Repertory Theatre, the Lyric Stage Company, Gloucester Stage Company, Underground Railway Theater, Nickerson Theatre, Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Rep Company, Triangle Theater Company, Theater in Process, and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Southwick has also been a guest director and/or theater arts faculty member at Boston University College of Fine Arts, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Clark University. She founded and ran Southwick Studio for Theatre Arts and Expression in Watertown and Acton, Massachusetts, which offered all levels of theater arts courses for professionals and amateurs, and mounted numerous productions. Prior to this, she was the education director at the New Repertory Theatre’s acting studio. Southwick was voted Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year (2015) in the Theater Division by Boston Conservatory’s Student Government Association.  

Southwick’s education includes an M.F.A. in theater arts (directing, acting, and theater education) from Boston University College of Fine Arts, a B.A. in expressive therapies and theater arts from Lesley University, and three years of professional performance training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City (where she also was chosen to join the exclusive 20-member production company). She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), SAG, and AFTRA. 

Southwick currently runs Southwick Studio on a part-time basis in Worcester, Massachusetts, with private coaching locations in Boston and Worcester.

Notable Recent Engagements

• Director—Circles, Boston Playwrights’ Theater Marathon, 2020
• Director—A Piece of My Heart, Boston Conservatory, 2018
• Director—Alice in War, Boston Conservatory, 2015
• Director—Romeo and Juliet, Northeastern University, 2014
• Director—Vieux Carré, Boston Conservatory, 2013
• Director—Necessary Targets, Boston Conservatory, 2012
• Director—Rabbit Hole, Clark University, 2011