John Stanley

Teaches at LA Academy of Performing Arts

John has been teaching acting and Shakespeare for over a decade to children and adults, beginners to professionals. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California, San Diego graduate theatre program, where, in addition to teaching acting and public speaking, he was an Artsbridge Scholar, introducing theatre to schools in the San Diego area. John was on faculty at the Actors Workshop Studios in San Diego where he taught intermediate and professional level classes to teens and adults.

John has adapted and directed numerous plays, short stories, and musicals for young adults and children including, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, The Tempest, Brundibar, Grease, My Fair Lady, The Boy and the Spell, and Pandora’s Box, to name a few. He is also the author of several original educational plays for children including, Zeus and Company, A Lesson in Jazz, The Most Likeliest of Unlikeliest Adventures of William Shakespeare, and The Prince and the Bee.

A versatile stage performer, John has worked in plays, musicals, television, and film. Credits include roles in Des McAnuff’s Tartuffe, and, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid at the La Jolla Playhouse, Cyrano De Bergerac, Another Part of the Forest, and Much Ado About Nothing at A Noise Within, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Saint Joan at the Will Geer Theatricum, Brigadoon, Good News, and The Best LittleWhorehouse in Texas at the Fullerton Civic Light Opera. TV/Film credits include guest starring roles on Without a Trace, JAG, Boomtown, Charmed, and The Young and the Restless, as well as featured roles in the films Havoc, starring Anne Hathaway, and Jarhead, directed by Sam Mendes. John wrote and produced the short film, The Pony Man, which played at film festivals around the country.