Jeffrey Puukka
Acting teacher, theatre director, drinker of coffee, scribbler of Notes to Dearie.
How to help
Hello! I hope you’re staying happy and healthy.
My deepest wish is to do work which accomplishes something different—and I hope more—than simply adding to the noise. I know you know what I mean. The noise is everywhere. It is there for a reason, and I do not suggest we ignore it; it is important to stay informed. Still, I would argue that it’s necessary to our well-being to take breaks to nourish our individual and collective spirits. That is at once my goal, and why I do what I do… to use my skill-set to make work and offer services that aspire toward something more empowering, inspiring, and uplifting. I’m a theatre director, acting teacher, and life coach. My work is headquartered in the Pacific Northwest, and I live in Vancouver, Washington.
You can support my work with Patreon. Think of it as a tip jar. Perhaps you’ve seen one of my productions, or maybe you’ve listened to And, Not Or—my podcast. Maybe you’ve trained with me, or known someone who has. Maybe I’ve consulted for you, or someone you know. However you’ve found your way here, I appreciate you for reading these notes, and exploring options to support what I offer to my communities and the world. I invite you to participate and support the ongoing effort to keep these initiatives available and accessible.
As a theatre practitioner, I can tell you that we cannot make work without referrals, word-of-mouth, and the generosity of donors or patrons.
Here are a few notes on projects I currently have brewing. If you support my work, please know you have my deepest gratitude.
The And, Not Or Podcast
And, Not Or is a conversational podcast. Self initiating, maintaining, distributing, and promoting a podcast on one’s own is incredibly daunting and laborious. I do it because I hope the content is helpful for aspiring actors and other creatives, or those daring to embark on a creative life. I do it to be of help.
Episodes consist of casual chats as well as five ritual questions with down-to-earth actors, creatives, and arts-educators who are indeed currently making, learning, and living a life in their disciplines. Listen for conversations meandering around:
Acting and theatre
Insights about actor training
Life stories and the wisdom from my conversation partners’ lived experience
The adventure of living life as a whole human
You can help the podcast grow by listening, and subscribing or following the show through your listening platform of choice. You can help the podcast grow by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes, if you like what you hear. And if a particular episode, or part of an episode is particularly resonant or meaningful for you, you can help the podcast grow by talking about it with your social media. #AndNotOrPodcast
You can help the engineering and recording quality of the podcast grow by supporting the work financially with Patreon. And, as you might guess, better quality means more listeners, more listeners mean increasingly intriguing conversations, as a wider range of people decide to take part.
Teaching, Coaching, and Mentorship
The Monday Night Acting Lab
The current need for social distancing prohibits us from working in person, we’re continuing with video conferencing until we can share space again. I have facilitated The Monday Night Acting Lab since April, 2017. The Monday Night Acting Lab is a welcoming, and flexible space. Through group and solo work, exercises, challenges, and games, this weekly class offers a laboratory and safe environment for intensive study and investigation. In this increasingly popular and growing acting class, highly tuned professional actors and incredibly brave beginners who are just dipping their toes share a learning space where they can exercise their imagination, and acquire and flex their skills. The community and cross pollination achieved through The Monday Night Acting Lab is deeply moving, and the confidence participants come away with is inspiring.
One-to-One Coaching and Mentorship
I keep as much of my schedule as possible available for One-to-One coaching for actors, as well as more general Mentorship, through One-to-One consultation or mindset sessions. As long as I can remember, people have been telling me I ought to be a therapist. I don’t know if this indicates that lots of people are simply feel comfortable speaking openly with me, or if it is a vibe I unwittingly bring to the work I do, or the way I communicate with people. But I do know I have no desire to actually be a therapist because I have already, thankfully, discovered my calling. I am best suited and most effective when collaborating with actors and other creatives, or those daring to embark on a creative life.
You can help these initiatives carry on accessibly–and hopefully become even more accessible–by referring me to aspiring actors you know. If you’ve had a positive experience with me as a coach, mentor, or teacher, you can help by sharing your positive experience on social media. And you can help financially. Keeping myself accessible for booking down to just 48 hours beforehand can be a challenge. I do it so I can be of help, and empower others.
Self-Initiated Theatre Productions
I am a theatre director. I make things. Theatre is a collaborative art-form, it cannot be made without lots of people. Between time, space, and talent, theatre-making is a rather expensive proposition.
Part of my goal in teaching and offering myself as an acting coach is to be able to open a door to emerging actors I’ve taught, or artists I’ve had a hand in mentoring, into the work I do as a theatre director. This often means starting a production project from scratch. Your financial support will be deeply helpful when it comes to making new work, and sharing it accessibly with as diverse an audience as possible. The more support, the more accessibly and accessibly a production can be shared.
JEFFREY PUUKKA 