MICHA Honors Connie Rotunda with Michael Chekhov Scholar Award

MICHA, the not-for-profit association dedicated to attending to actor/director/author Michael Chekov's artistic vision and technique, today announced the creation of The Michael Chekhov Scholar Award and its inaugural recipient, Connie Rotunda. Rotunda received her accolade and presented her work at the organization's International Workshop and Festival last week in New London, CT.

Rotunda, a long-time teacher and practitioner in the field, trained with David Zemach-Bersin and is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Method PractitionerCM. Formerly the Lead Teacher of Movement at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, Rotunda is the Assistant Professor in the Theatre Arts Department at State University of New York, New Paltz. A professional actor and director, she has worked regionally and Off-Broadway, created, and performed sketch comedy.

"We're thrilled to acknowledge Connie Rotunda for her passionate and long-term commitment to the craft of acting and, specifically, to extending and imparting the vision of Michael Chekhov," says Joanna Merlin, President of MICHA. "It is through practitioners like Connie that we'll extend the impact of Chekhov's important work and foster new generations of talent."

"Just like the old joke would begin: 'Dr. Feldenkrais and Michael Chekhov walk into a bar..', my work is, in a way, an experiential imagining of the two men sitting down to hold a friendly dialogue," says Connie Rotunda. "I am always seeking to illuminate a synergy-- a seamless shifting of our internal choreography - dancing between Dr. Feldenkrais's scientifically human approach and Chekhov's spiritually artistic approach. In both exist the deep appreciation for breath, openness, wholeness and the potency of the individual."