Sara Valentine

(Currently on sabbatical January-June 2024) 

Sara Valentine is a native New Englander with a BA in Theatre Arts from Ithaca College and an MFA in Acting from the University of Delaware Professional Theatre Training Program. She joined the USM faculty in 2016, arriving from Tulane University (New Orleans).  Some theatre credits include the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Arden Theatre of Philadelphia, and the Shakespeare Festivals of Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, and Philadelphia, among others.

Since 2004, she has created and performed theatre productions for Really Inventive Stuff, a vaudeville-inspired theatre company that presents programs with symphony orchestras throughout North America. 

At USM, Sara teaches classes in Acting/Performance; TYA/Touring Theatre; Voice & Movement; Public Speaking; and Capstone/Senior Seminar. She also directs and serves as the text & voice/dialect coach for the department main stage productions.

Specialized training/certifications & memberships includes:

• Antigym (small movement, autonomic nervous system awareness and rehabilitation, since 2012)
• Roy Hart Theatre Voice (CAIRH, embodied/extended voice, since 2005)
• Actors’ Equity Association (AEA, since 2001)

USM main stage directing credits: The Language Archive by Julia Cho; Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare; Unlock’d a modern-ish musical by Carner & Gregor; The Women Who Mapped the Stars by Joyce Van Dyke. Additional directing credits: Almost Maine by John Cariani; Still Life with Iris by Stephen Dietz; Dream/Play from August Stindberg; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; A Year with Frog and Toad by Robert & Willie Reale; Alice in Wonderland adapted from Lewis Carroll; Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev.

USM dialect/voice/text coach credits: A Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare; Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; The Love of a Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker; Tartuffe by Moliere; A Man of No Importance by Flaherty & Ahrens; The Foreigner by Larry Shue.
Additional voice/dialect credits:  Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams; The Assemblywomen by Aristophanes; Shakespeare’s Hamlet; The Taming of the Shrew; Midsummer Night’s Dream; Comedy of Errors