Ward Dales
Ward Dales holds a BFA in Acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Mr. Dales has trained and worked professionally as actor, singer, director and teacher in NYC and in Europe, but has called the Capital Region his creative home for nearly 30 years.
He was Co-Founder and Co-Producing Artistic Director of Actors’ Collaborative Inc. (ACI), a not-for-profit acting training and theatrical production company, which was based in the Capital Region for over a decade. The critically acclaimed company was the Resident Theatre of both of the Egg and the Arts Center of the Capital Region. The company’s mission was to infuse inter-personal communication techniques into the acting process. Refinement of the ACI teaching and rehearsal system galvanized his belief that teaching must be a part of every aspect of his creative life. His approach stems from a model that was once referred to as accelerated learning technique. The programs he developed for ACI ranged from middle-level to professional adult acting training.
Self- and socio-political- awareness is at the forefront of all of Mr. Dales’ endeavors and creating caring learning environments is a priority to him. He trained internationally with the National Coalition Building Institute, an organization devoted to diversity awareness and prejudice reduction, and was instrumental in fostering the local chapter’s foothold in the Albany City School District. At the core of his work with students is his belief that human behavior is motivated by our need for love, respect and understanding.
He has directed and performed with most area theatres and his singing experience spans over two decades and two continents. He created the Friday Night Cabaret series at Heritage Artists at the Cohoes Music Hall and was a member of the Association of Capital District Cabaret. His club acts have played many area venues.
Mr. Dales also has the pleasure of adjudicating theatre festivals on the state and regional levels for the American Association of Community Theatres. He was the Magnet Theme Resource Coordinator at Albany’s Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, where he developed the theatre curriculum and taught acting, playwriting and video production for eleven years. At Albany High School he taught the Career Explorations in Performing Arts and Communications, a college course offered in the high. (He was an adjunct professor at SUNYA and HVCC). He inaugurated the playwriting course at Albany High, and directs the after school Theatre Ensemble, which features a Promising Playwrights Festival, and a fully accredited after-school Performance Studies course. He is certified in Theatre Arts with New York State and is a member in good standing of the New York State United Teachers, Actors’ Equity Association, and the Screen Actors’ Guild.
Visiting artist at Arts Letters & Numbers Summer Workshop 2016, 2017 and Information Poverty Workshop 2017.
