Faculty
Emma Swann (Lipschutz)
Emma Swann (Lipschutz)
Contact
BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Swann has more than 11 years of experience in teaching and assisting with stage combat. As a fight choreographer and advanced actor combatant, she has worked on shows all around New York. She finds her true passion is helping students discover the nuances of staged violence. She works to protect performers from acting violence without boundaries and works so that all performers can express violence safely and purposefully on stage or screen. Alongside instructor Trevor Swann, she focuses on creating believable and realistic violence on stage—all while ensuring that we protect each performer's physical, mental, and emotional boundaries. SLC, 2025–
Undergraduate Courses 2025-2026
Theatre
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Open, Component—Year
THEA 5716
Students will learn the basics of armed and unarmed stage fighting, emphasizing safety. Actors will be taught to create effective stage violence, from hair pulling and choking to sword fighting, with minimum risk. Basic techniques will be incorporated into short scenes to provide students with experience performing fights in both classic and modern contexts. Each semester will culminate in a skills-proficiency showcase, which allows students to perform their scenes for an audience.
Faculty
Previous Courses
Theatre
-
Open, Component—Year
THEA 5716
Students will learn the basics of armed and unarmed stage fighting, emphasizing safety. Actors will be taught to create effective stage violence, from hair pulling and choking to sword fighting, with minimum risk. Basic techniques will be incorporated into short scenes to provide students with experience performing fights in both classic and modern contexts. Each semester will culminate in a skills-proficiency showcase, which allows students to perform their scenes for an audience.
Faculty
-
Open, Component—Year
THEA 5716
As a continuation of Introduction to Stage Combat (THEA 5716), this topics course will deal with more complex weapon styles. The “double-fence,” or two-handed forms (rapier and dagger, sword and shield) will be taught. Students will be asked to go more deeply into choreography and aspects of the industry. Critical thinking will be encouraged, and students will be asked to create their own short video showing an understanding of basic principles, such as use of distance, point of view, and storytelling. The function of the stunt coordinator, essential in a growing film industry, will also be explored.
Faculty