Rachel Dawson

Rachel Dawson joined the Department of Theatre and Dance faculty in August 2022. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Florida Atlantic University and a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre from West Texas A&M University.

Dawson is an experienced educator and teaching artist, having instructed students of all ages in acting, movement, stage combat, musical theatre, and dance. Her prior academic appointments include teaching in the Stage and Screen Acting Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, as well as in the undergraduate theatre program at Florida Atlantic University, where she taught courses in voice and movement.
In addition to her academic work, Dawson has a professional background in both stage and screen performance. Trained in Fitzmaurice Voicework®, Linklater Voice Technique, Knight-Thompson Speechwork, Michael Chekhov technique, Viewpoints, Meisner, and Laban movement analysis, her ongoing artistic inquiry focuses on the integration of breath, body, and presence in performance.

At Winthrop University, Dawson has directed productions including Into the Woods, Pippin, Noises Off, Everybody, An Enemy of the People, and the Musical Theatre Workshop: There’s No Business Like Show Business. Her additional directing and choreography credits include Bright Star, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Rock of Ages, Romeo & Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew.

She holds a certification of completion from the Consent-Forward Artist Program through Intimacy Directors and Coordinators and is a certified actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors. Her work as an intimacy professional and fight choreographer emphasizes consent-based practices and collaborative storytelling through movement. She is particularly dedicated to fostering joyful and empowering rehearsal and performance spaces.

Dawson is an active member of the Society of American Fight Directors and the Musical Theatre Educators Alliance.