Humanity in Performance

  Rachel Finley's professional directing career began in 2006 with Alliance Theatre Lab's production of Lee Blessing's Down the Road. Since then, she has directed numerous productions both on stage and on camera including her most recent productions, Venus by Susan Lori Parks at The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enough by Ntozake Shange  at The Pompano Beach Cultural Arts Center and the pilot episode of The Jaxons, a family friendly sitcom produced by Pinnacle Productions.  Since the pandemic, Rachel has also directed Judge Mablean Said, by Darius Daughtry via Zoom for New City Players.  She is currently directing James Ijames' Kill Move Paradise at The Galvin.  Ms. Finley's direction has been described as bold, provocative, entertaining and thought-provoking. 

  Rachel Finley is dedicated to the advancement of consent forward practices in theatre.  To that end, she has trained with Theatrical Intimacy Educators, Intimacy Coordinators of Color and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC). Rachel currently serves on the board of directors of Intimacy Coordinators of Color.  Ms Finley has recently served as an intimacy director/coordinator for Southwest Shakespeare Company, Teatro Bravo, Arizona State University Theatre, The Sidney Poitier New American Film School, and many independent projects.  Rachel has also developed a specialization in intimate voice work which has afforded her the opportunity to collaborate on projects that involve voicing intimate sounds in live theatre, film, and various voice over applications including video games, animation and audiobooks. 

  Rachel Finley prioritizes actable, specific and intelligible accent work.  A certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework ™ and Knight Thompson Speechwork, Rachel uses her knowledge to offer highly personalized  voice and accent support and training to productions and individual performers both professionally and at the collegiate level.  Rachel has coached actors to perform in dozens of accents from all over the world including Kenya, Mexico, Ireland, The Czech Republic, Cuba, Tanzania, the United States of America, the Bahamas, Haiti and many more.  She has recently served as an accent coach for Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, James Maddison University, Arizona State University, Netflix, and Xbox.

  Rachel Finley's passion for the performing began its development at Charlotte, North Carolina's award-winning magnet high school Northwest School of the Arts where she studied acting, directing, creative writing and singing.  Rachel earned her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University and went on to earn her MFA at Florida Atlantic University. Ms. Finley appeared on stage as Lena in Mad Cow Theatre’s production of Boseman and Lena. During the pandemic, Rachel remained very active performing in several online “staged” readings, including Play Development Project’s Touch the Moon, by Arianna Rose (appearing as Becca), South Florida Shakespeare Troupe’s The Merchant of Venice (appearing as Nerissa and Salarino), and Mad Cow Theatre’s Science Play Festival by several playwrights (appearing as The Griot and Jen). Ms. Finley also developed a digital one woman show entitled American Bullet for Gable Stage.  Most recently, Rachel appeared in Miami Bus Stories with Juggerknot Theatre.

  Rachel Finley is compassionate, patient and deeply dedicated to her students’ success. Rachel uses her deep study of the Stanislavski based acting systems, including Meisner Technique, Uda Hagen's Steps, Strasberg's Method and Michael Chekov Technique to offer highly personalized actor training. A certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework ™  and Knight Thompson Speechwork, Ms. Finley also teaches voice and dialect work both privately and at the collegiate level to actors, public speakers and anyone interested in developing healthy and skillful speech and vocal use. Incorporating her work with Alexander Technique, Laban and Viewpoints, Rachel pushes her acting students to connect physically, vocally, psychologically and intellectually with their scripts to create unique and compelling characters.