Bio

JESSE MERZ (Artistic Director, Meisner Acting Instructor) was raised on an apple and pear orchard in Parkdale, Oregon, and he received his first pay checks as an actor for a Blue Cross/Blue Shield Commercial, and with a non-speaking role in Gus Van Sant's film, My Own Private Idaho in 1990. He has directed over 60 productions in NYC, in regional theatre, educational theatre and media projects, including directing Tony-Winner Daisy Eagan in the new musical Suburban Dreams in NYC. He has produced over 200 productions and has written about a dozen plays and screenplays. 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 Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). 

He was the Producing Artistic Director of Longview Stageworks from 2000 - 2003. From 2003 - 2006, he was the Drama Director and Teacher of Theatre at David Douglas High School in Portland Oregon. Between 2006 and 2008, he taught acting at UC Davis, where he also pursued his MFA in Acting. He joined the faculty of Wayne State University / Hilberry Repertory Theatre in the fall of 2008, where he is now the head of the BFA in Acting Program.  He has been the Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre and the Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre since 1996. He has also taught acting at Western Oregon University.

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. In June of 2008, he earned is MFA in Acting from University of California, Davis. 

He has studied with David Mamet, William H. Macy, Lauri Peters, Kristin Linklater, Scott Zigler, Felicity Huffman, Mary McCann, Robert Bella, Karen Kohlhaas, Todd Weeks, Russ Fast, Josh Pais, Jordan Lage, Rick Sordelet, Paul Urcioli, and has attended lectures by Tony Kushner, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Tony Randall, Giancarlo Esposito, William Finn, Frances Sternhagen, Samuel L. Jackson, and others. He is a former producer with Portland Pictures, Ltd., and has worked in various areas of film and theatre production. He was an assistant to producer Anthony Rhulen (Miramax's O) at the Sundance Film Festival, where he stayed in a house and assisted Andrew Keegan, Louis Lombardi, Elden Henson, Josh Hartnett,Demian Lichtenstein, among others.

Jesse was born with a unilateral cleft lip and was proud to be the keynote speaker at the Widesmiles Conference on the Carnival Cruise Line to Mexico. His hobbies include the Chicago Cubs, SCUBA diving, breathing, traveling, the beach, reading, technology, and spending time with his family and friends. He has been blissfully married to Laurel Merz (formerly Laurel Schuepbach) since September 2, 2000, and they currently make their home in Royal Oak, Michigan with their daughter sAlana Fay and Josephine Alice, their 2 cats and 2 dogs.