Alexa Scott-Flaherty Headshot

Alexa Scott-Flaherty

Senior Lecturer

School of Performing Arts
College of Liberal Arts
asfgla@rit.edu

Alexa Scott-Flaherty

Senior Lecturer

School of Performing Arts
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, Vassar College; MFA, University of Idaho

Bio

Alexa Scott-Flaherty is a senior lecturer at RIT in the School of Performing Arts, and also works as a theatre-maker professionally, both locally and nationally. Since joining RIT as a faculty member, she has directed “Concord Floral” (2024), the immersive, team-directed production of "Thy Name is Woman" (2023), “Men on Boats” (2022), and served as vocal coach for "Deaf Republic" (2023) with NTID Performing Arts. Other recent credits include directing "Still" by Lia Romeo (2025) and "Sisters-in-Law" (2024) at JCC Centerstage. Locally, for Blackfriars Theatre, she has directed “Cry it Out” (2023), “Calendar Girls” (2022), “The Undeniable Sound of Right Now” (2019) and “Twelfth Night” (2018). She also directed two plays written by local playwrights –“Fielder’s Choice” by Dave Andreatta (2018), and "Between Silences" by S.J. Henschel (2019). She collaborated with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra on “Women’s Suffrage: Past & Present” (2020), directing a new theatrical work which set the stories of strong Rochester women, past and present, to music. A proud member of Labyrinth Theatre Company in New York City, she has worked as an actor in New York City at many theaters, including The Public Theatre, SoHo Rep, and PS 122; with the Royal Shakespeare Company of London; and The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. One of Alexa's focus areas is on theatre for social change. 

Alexa serves on the Rochester Fringe Festival’s Board of Directors; and is an ensemble member of Impact Interactive LLC. Impact Interactive is an innovative, theatre-based training company that helps organizations create healthy, diverse and inclusive learning and working environments. Using interactive theatre-based techniques and trained performance educators, this work stimulates dialogue, challenges assumptions and engages groups in collaborative problem solving around issues that matter.

asfgla@rit.edu

Currently Teaching

PRFL-220
Theatre Ensemble
1 Credits
The Theatre Ensemble is an experiential-learning course in which students will have various opportunities to apply theoretic knowledge to practice through participation in a faculty mentored or faculty directed theatre production on campus. Course content will include CLA main stage productions, as well as other ensemble productions that perform or develop theatre performances covering a range of genres, periods and cultures. Students will be expected to write, create and/or analyze texts as well as participate as actors, designers, and technicians.
PRFL-221
Fundamentals of Acting
3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the history and theory of acting in Western Culture from the late 19th century up to the present day. Particular focus will be paid to the theories of Stanislavsky and Stanislavsky-based approaches along with complementary and contrasting methods developed by such theorist/practitioners as Jerzy Grotowski, Lee Strasberg, and Sanford Meisner. Students can expect a course that combines lecture/discussion with practical exercises designed to apply concepts and theory using acting techniques designed to strengthen vocal and physical expression and to stimulate the imagination. In addition, actors will be introduced to scene work and develop skills for text analysis as a basis for character development. Assessment will include quizzes, papers, and in-class participation in exercises and scene work. As an introductory course, the course objectives are to provide students with a broad survey of the aesthetics, theory, and practice of acting.
PRFL-227
Dramatic Theory and Text Analysis
3 Credits
The course is designed to provide students with a foundation in major dramatic and performance theories including works by Aristotle, Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski, and a variety of other contemporary theorists and practitioners. In addition to surveying the work of key dramatic and performance theorists and theories, the course will engage students in the application of these theories in the study and analysis of play texts from a variety of periods, genres and cultures. Students will analyze these texts from the perspective of both the logistic and aesthetic requirements of production (as actors, directors and designers).
PRFL-319
Themes in Theatre Studies
3 Credits
Themes in Theatre Studies is a variable topics course that offers students a deep dive into a specific subject of theatre theory and history. Topics and methods vary from term to term, though each offering features an introduction to a theme, concept, methodology, or other subfield of study within theatre history and play analysis. The course offers the opportunity to build knowledge and evaluate the artistic expression of specific events, issues, and opportunities unique to theatre, dramatic theory, and performance studies. Possible subjects range from the history of mask-work on stage, witches depicted through dramatic literature, and theories of theatrical space in site-specific performance. Students develop theoretical and experiential knowledge of the topic under investigation while fostering opportunities to respond to recent events and to interpret the societal and cultural frameworks in which the concepts emerge. Students, acting as investigators, delve deeply into their topics, conducting research and exploration to create deliverables appropriate to their experience. These may include presentations, projects, and performances, all of which reflect their investigative process and findings. The topic will be announced prior to the course offering.
PRFL-331
Fundamentals of Directing
3 Credits
This course examines the director’s creative process in translating a dramatic text into a theatre production. Key to this process is the need to develop deep capability in text analysis and interpretation, along with strong skills to meet the challenges brought on by the practical needs of production. Combining lecture and discussion with text analysis assignments and in-class exercises, students will learn how to approach the creation of a director’s production concept for a text, and then explore, through rehearsals and staging, the process of bringing a dramatic story to life on stage in an engaging and compelling manner. Particular emphasis will be placed on how to synthesize different elements with one another to create a coherent expression designed to elicit intellectual, emotional, and critical responses from audiences. Course will culminate with each student presenting a scene or short on-act play fully staged for peer and instructor feedback. Leadership, collaboration, presentation skills, creative problem-solving, and project management will be taught as crucial elements of the process.
PRFL-489
Special Topics
3 Credits
Allows examination of a special problem or topic area in the theatre, dance, music, visual arts, and other performing and fine arts. Topics and specific content and methods vary from term to term. Each term’s offering, however, features an introduction to a historical period, movement, phenomenon, practitioner(s), or other subfield of study within performing arts and/or visual culture. In so doing, students develop theoretical and experiential knowledge of an artistic period, movement, phenomenon, practitioner(s) or other subfield of study within performing arts and/or visual culture.

In the News

  • January 29, 2025

    A group of faculty, students and interpreters in two rows, front row kneeling, back row standing, all smiling, several holding framed awards.

    RIT and NTID Performing Arts students earn honors

    Students from RIT’s School of Performing Arts and NTID’s Department of Performing Arts brought home awards and honors from the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). One of eight regional competitions draws students from theater programs nationwide, faculty, students, and interpreters traveled to Pittsburgh, for a chance to advance to the national competition in April. This is the eighth year in which RIT students have completed in a range of categories from acting to dramaturgy.

  • August 24, 2023

    a crowd of college students sitting in folding chairs in a field house.

    More than 500 Performing Arts Scholars added to RIT’s cast of talented students

    Nearly one in six of the more than 3,300 first-year and transfer undergraduates this year received a Performing Arts Scholarship from RIT. That brings the total number of scholars to more than 1,800 in the five years since the program began. The program encourages high school students involved in performing arts to continue their passions at RIT.

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