JESSE MERZ, Artistic Director (Artistic Director, Meisner Acting Instructor)
Jesse has directed over 40 productions in NYC and in regional theatre, including directing Tony-Winner Daisy Eagan in Suburban Dreams in NYC. He has produced over 160 theatre and film productions and has written half a dozen plays.
As an actor, Jesse has performed off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, in regional theatre, summer stock, feature films, student films, on the radio and in 120 cities in 34 states nationwide. He is a member of the Actors Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), the Dramatists Guild (DG), the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC) and the Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA). He was the Producing Artistic Director of Longview Stageworks from 2000 - 2003. He has been the Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre and the Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre since 1996.
Realizing that working with young people is his primary passion, he became the drama director and teacher at David Douglas High School in Portland, Oregon in 2003. He holds a BFA in Acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he spent two years at the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School (where he studied with Oscar nominees David Mamet and William H. Macy) and two years at the Meisner Extension. He received his Master of Arts in Teaching (Drama Endorsement) from George Fox University in April, 2005. Additionally, he has worked or studied with: Felicity Huffman ("Desperate Housewives"), Constantine Maroulis ("American Idol"), Charlie O'Connell ("The Bachelor", Dude Where's My Car), Alec Baldwin, Tony Randall, Lauri Peters (Tony Nominee The Sound of Music), River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Martha Plimpton, Gus Van Sant, Josh Hartnett, and many more.
Jesse is happily married to Laurel and is the proud papa of daughters Alana Fay (6), Josephine Alice (4), and Charlotte Janice (1)! jessemerz@gmail.com
