New program offers community members the opportunity to receive certification as a healthcare simulation actor.
¼â½ÐÊÓƵ University’s Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies is launching a three-day immersive acting program, Patients and Performance: Healthcare Method Actor Certificate Program, for local performers interested in earning their certification as a healthcare simulation actor. The workshop, which was created to provide nursing students with the opportunity to engage with real life standardized patients as opposed to high tech simulators, is open to the public and will take place September 21-23.
During each session, actors participating in the program will layer methods in improv while participating in empathy building experiences that immerse them in the role of a patient. After completing 10 unpaid hours as a standardized patient in the University's new state-of-the-art simulation center, program participants will receive their certification as a trained healthcare simulation actor and will have the opportunity to earn $15 per hour for any additional hours worked . In order to receive their certification, participants are required to attend all three sessions: Friday, Sept. 21 from 6-9 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 22 from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 23 from 12 - 4 p.m.
The certificate program will be taught by Michael Cicirelli ’11, a certified advanced practice nurse and family nurse practitioner, and Tom Schwans, MFA, an adjunct professor in the Visual & Performing Arts department at ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ University.
Cicirelli is a certified advanced practice nurse who has been a member of the CT ENT Sinus Center Team since 2015. He graduated from ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ University in 2011 with a bachelors in nursing, and joined Yale New Haven Hospital's nursing transplant team. He then became an assistant patient care manager at Norwalk Hospital. During this time, he obtained his master’s degree in nursing, becoming board certified through the ANCC as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2015. Cicirelli has experience in treating patients at all stages of life and enjoys working to establish a beneficial relationship with the families and patients he serves.
Tom Schwans is a professional actor and director in New York City who has acted at major theatres across the country. He is the co-founder and executive director of the Guerrilla Shakespeare Project in New York City. Schwans has also served as an associate artistic director of the Old Creamery Theatre in Iowa and the interim artistic director of the Deertrees Theatre Festival in Maine. Since coming to ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ as a guest director in 2009, Schwans has directed many of Theatre ¼â½ÐÊÓƵ’s main stage shows in addition to his duties as adjunct professor. He co-taught the “Acting the Medical Patient” several times before, always to rave reviews. Schwans earned his master’s in acting from Brown University/Trinity Repertory and has also taught at Brown University, Quinnipiac University, and Southern Connecticut State University. He also works with private clients in New York City.
To learn more and register for the certificate program, please visit fairfield.edu/sonacting or contact Susan Reynolds at sreynolds@fairfield.edu.
