Heleya de Barros

Heleya de Barros is an actor, voice-over artist, teaching artist, and arts education advocate whose work focuses on how to use theatre skills across disciplines. Heleya has served as faculty at The New School for Drama and has taught with such organizations as Lincoln Center Theater, McCarter Theater Center, New York Theatre Workshop, The Center for Arts Education, People’s Theatre Project, Young Audiences New York, Arts Corps, The Creative Advantage, The Geffen Playhouse, The Los Angeles Music Center, The Orange County Performing Arts Center, Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, Will & Company, CRE Outreach, and 24th Street Theatre. Most recently she has served as Director of Education for the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival and Arts Corps in Seattle. As an actor Heleya earned her Actor’s Equity card touring Theatre for Young Audiences shows to schools and communities. She has performed with The Geffen Playhouse, Cornerstone Theatre Company, Pacific Resident Theatre, The Falcon Theatre, and The Forum Project, among others and has worked on numerous independent films, commercials, and webseries. As an improviser Heleya has trained with Upright Citizen’s Brigade and The Groundlings and performed with Improv Olympic West, The Improv Space, Chicago Improv Festival, the Los Angeles Comedy Festival, and more. Currently Heleya acts as a performer and researcher with the Verbatim Performance Lab using theatre to examine and uncover unconscious bias. She teaches at Highline College in the Communications and Youth Development departments. Education: BA, Theatre, University of Southern California; MA, Educational Theatre, New York University; British American Drama Academy, classical theatre.