"Gurwin continues to prove he's got the chops to shape students into stars."
Arizona Daily Star
Teaching Statement
“My teaching has always been geared toward students training to be professionals in the industry. With over twenty-five years of experience acting on Broadway, National Tours, Regional Theatres, and on Television, my background makes me uniquely qualified as a teaching artist in a professional actor-training program. My expertise allows me to focus the work in the classroom in a very practical way – providing a safe environment for creative exploration, while modeling and mirroring professional expectations. Musical Theatre is an incredibly specialized focus, and as such, I believe my role also encompasses a wide range of unique responsibilities including, not only performance instruction in traditional and contemporary styles, but extensive mentoring and supervision of student work, research, analysis, industry relations, and personal growth. I share an adage with my closest colleague at UArizona – that we are there for our students for 'four years and forty after that.'
I have taught all levels of undergraduate studies. In the past twelve years at the University of Arizona, I have updated and reshaped the overall curriculum of our Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, including freshmen musical theatre introductory work, Musical Theatre History, as well as our Musical Theatre I, and upper-level Musical Theatre II and III performance courses. Additionally, I have also taken on several independent study courses with MFA students & PhD candidates in the crossover genres of Opera & Dance. This does not include my work on many honors’ capstone theses for UArizona’s Honors College. UArizona has an integrated Acting/Musical Theatre program within its School of Theatre, Film, & Television, so I have also taught Acting I and Acting II for freshmen BFA and BA students, as well as Acting VII for our BFA Acting/MT seniors focusing on audition preparation in theatre, on-camera work, as well as the business of the business. In addition, I also teach Musical Theatre History.
Calling upon my extensive personal and professional relationships with leading entertainment professionals in New York and Los Angeles, I am able to provide our student actors with a strong bridge to the industry. Focusing my creative research on maintaining my high-profile career has allowed me to preserve my professional status, thereby protecting this unique experience for the student; all the while ensuring that my strategies, inquiries, and perspectives remain current and relevant.
I believe there is an innate synthesis in the creative thinking and application of a student’s learning. But within the arts, specifically musical theatre, the required integration of mental focus, emotional availability, physical comfort, and natural skill is prodigious. A musical theatre actor must metabolize these principles on their feet, everyday, while in training. Only then will they be able to enter the ‘given circumstances of a play’ or the ‘world of a song’, and thereby construct appropriate understandings of character and style. Coupled with intense technical instruction, the cumulative and organic nature of this learning allows for exciting and powerful self-discovery in the classroom and on stage. And I love nothing more than being a part of that.”
I have taught all levels of undergraduate studies. In the past twelve years at the University of Arizona, I have updated and reshaped the overall curriculum of our Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, including freshmen musical theatre introductory work, Musical Theatre History, as well as our Musical Theatre I, and upper-level Musical Theatre II and III performance courses. Additionally, I have also taken on several independent study courses with MFA students & PhD candidates in the crossover genres of Opera & Dance. This does not include my work on many honors’ capstone theses for UArizona’s Honors College. UArizona has an integrated Acting/Musical Theatre program within its School of Theatre, Film, & Television, so I have also taught Acting I and Acting II for freshmen BFA and BA students, as well as Acting VII for our BFA Acting/MT seniors focusing on audition preparation in theatre, on-camera work, as well as the business of the business. In addition, I also teach Musical Theatre History.
Calling upon my extensive personal and professional relationships with leading entertainment professionals in New York and Los Angeles, I am able to provide our student actors with a strong bridge to the industry. Focusing my creative research on maintaining my high-profile career has allowed me to preserve my professional status, thereby protecting this unique experience for the student; all the while ensuring that my strategies, inquiries, and perspectives remain current and relevant.
I believe there is an innate synthesis in the creative thinking and application of a student’s learning. But within the arts, specifically musical theatre, the required integration of mental focus, emotional availability, physical comfort, and natural skill is prodigious. A musical theatre actor must metabolize these principles on their feet, everyday, while in training. Only then will they be able to enter the ‘given circumstances of a play’ or the ‘world of a song’, and thereby construct appropriate understandings of character and style. Coupled with intense technical instruction, the cumulative and organic nature of this learning allows for exciting and powerful self-discovery in the classroom and on stage. And I love nothing more than being a part of that.”