educator

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Meridith has served as a guest professor and adjudicator at festivals and institutions around the country, teaching students at levels ranging from middle-schoolers to graduate students to working professionals. As a Guest Professor for the MFA program in Contemporary Performance at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, Meridith taught the Business of Acting, directed actor showcases, and mentored several students. In 2017, she was a featured presenter at the StateraArts National Conference and became the founder and regional coordinator of the StateraArts, NYC mentorship chapter.

Meridith taught improvisation as an Associate Faculty for The Second City Training Center in Chicago, IL, co-creating and facilitating their youth program, which remains one of Second City’s largest grossing programs to this day. Most recently, she served on faculty at The Peoples Improv Theatre (The PIT) in NYC, teaching improvisation and comedy. Incorporating the techniques she learned from leading workshops internationally for corporate teams, festivals and universities, Meridith founded her own company Grundei Coaching, which works with leaders from the likes of Amazon AWS and CU LEEDS School of Business.

In 2013 Meridith was invited as a Guest Artist to work at the CounterPulse in San Francisco, where she collaborated with war veterans and performers on an original performance for ECHOTHEATRESUITCASE. It was this project that inspired her to start working on the story about her veteran father titled, The Father Project.

devised theater

Meridith is passionate about teaching students how to devise their own work using various improv forms including: viewpoints, improv theatre practices (Viola Spolin, Augusto Boal, Jonathan Fox) and Tectonic Theatre Project’s moment work. The use of these practices and common vocabulary give students the confidence to bring their individual stories to life.

mentorship & financial literacy

Meridith strongly believes in the power of mentorship and educating young performers on the business of acting so that they are better equipped to value their gifts and to advocate for themselves and the integrity of their art.  She strongly feels the current economic system in the creative arts is broken, and through teaching financial literacy and steering the belief system away from the “starving artist” mentality, we will create a more sustainable community of thriving and fulfilled creative professionals.    

Copyright © Meridith Grundei, All rights reserved, 2024