Originally from Kansas, Audra trained in classical ballet, classical voice, and jazz dance prior to pursuing a bachelor of fine arts in Musical Theatre from the University of Oklahoma. Her dance style blends the history of her training with her storytelling abilities developed as an actor at the collegiate and professional level. After moving to NYC her style evolved to include influences from the contemporary and commercial world as she began to train and work with a broader range of dancers.
As a choreographer, Audra has exceptional abilities to visualize how the movement of actors/artists, dancers, and technical elements come together to enhance a story. Her innate connection to human emotion and to primal qualities at the root of human nature make Audra extremely talented in translating complex emotional states to movement of the body. This allows her to design movement that is emergent, pedestrian and sometimes “in-human”reaching audiences in a visceral way. Ultimately she uses the body as a tool to show personal yet often common mental, emotional, and physical experiences.
As a director, Audra is drawn to stories that highlight the complexity of the human ego and how our ego influences feelings and relationships. She understands characters on a deeply personal level which allows for a clear point of view in her projects. Her passion to think about details, and to conceptualize how details can be implemented, enable her to creatively visualize a project from start to finish. This in turn fulfills a director’s primary goal of maintaining and communicating the overall message and theme of a story.
As an educator Audra has a decade of experience in teaching dance, acting, and voice that contribute to the compassionate creator she is today. She has a passion for people and understanding their personal relationship to movement and storytelling. She enjoys providing space for dancers and actors alike to express themselves through their bodies and their voices.
Audra cares as deeply for the quality of the product as she does the experience getting there. Working mutually is essential to any project, and she strives to allow space for collaborators to perform at their highest level.
Today, Audra serves as the Director of Dance and as Resident Choreographer for BroadwayMethod Academy (a musical theatre training non-profit organization located in Fairfield,Connecticut). She continues to collaborate with artists in NYC, and to take on various projects for stage and screen as a choreographer and director.
Sweeney Todd || Black Rock Theatre|| Director/Choreographer
SpongeBob SquarePants || Music Theater of Wichita/Music Theater for Young People || Director/Choreographer
Matilda || Black Rock Theater and Broadway Workshop || Director/Choreographer
The Little Mermaid || Dir. Bret Shuford || Westport Country Playhouse, Broadway Method Academy || Choreographer
Annie || Dir. Connor Deane || Westport Country Playhouse, Broadway Method Academy || Choreographer
Anything Goes|| Dir. Cady Huffman || Black Rock Theater and Broadway Workshop || Choreographer
Mary Poppins || Dir. Joe Deer || Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma || Associate Choreographer
Cabaret || Black Rock Theater/Cincinnati Conservatory of Music || Director/Choreographer
American Idiot || Broadway Method Academy || Director/Choreographer
Into The Woods || Broadway Method Academy || Director
Xanadu || Dir. Eric Santagata || Broadway Method Academy || Choreographer/Associate Director
The Addams Family || Dir. Connor Deane || Broadway Method Academy || Choreographer
Lenii “Human” || Choreographer/Dancer
Michael Perrie Jr. “Won’t Be Back Again” || Movement Coach/Choreographer
Nick Deutsch “Hooking Up” || Movement Coach/Choreographer/Dancer
Rachel King “Hollow” || Choreographer
Rachel King “Safer Wild” || Choreographer
Rachel King “Dollhouse” || Choreographer
Only the Dead || Maid & Prince Productions || Director
shelf life || Brooke Hayman & Sam Kammerman || Co-Director
No One Likes a Mad Woman || Maid & Prince Productions || Assistant Director
Joke’s On You || Maid & Prince Productions || Movement Coach
Found Tonight || Choreographer
Social Movement || Concept/Movement Coach
The Sondheim Awards || Broadway Method Academy/Shubert Theatre || Annual Director/Choregrapher
NY Jazz Choreography Project || Jazz Choreography Enterprises, Inc. || Choreographer
Arts for Altz || Think Tank || Choreographer