Media Contact: Susan Cipollaro, scipollaro@fairfield.edu, 203-254-4000 x2726

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (September 9, 2019) —Fairfield University’s Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies is launching a three-day immersive acting program, Patients and Performance: Healthcare Method Acting.This workshop will train community members in the role of standardized patients in our state of the art simulation center. Standardized patients are a key component to the Egan School curriculums at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Standardized patients learn to portray patients with a variety of healthcare needs and interact with students to assist them in developing their skills as healthcare providers. The workshop will be held Friday, September 20 to Sunday, September 22 and is open to the public.

In exchange for the free workshop, participants will commit to 10 unpaid hours after completion of the training. Upon completion of the 10 unpaid hours, simulation actors will have the opportunity to earn $15/per hour. Each day of the workshop, participants will layer acting methods in improvisation while participating in empathy building experiences that will allow actors to immerse themselves in the role of a patient. Participants will need to attend all three sessions. The simulation center is accredited in teaching and education through the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.  

The workshop will be taught by Michael Cicirelli ’11, APRN and Tom Schwans, MFA, an adjunct professor in the Visual & Performing Arts department at Fairfield University.

Michael Cicirelli is a certified Advanced Practice Nurse who has been a member of the CT ENT Sinus Center Team since 2015. He graduated from Fairfield University in 2011 with a Bachelors in nursing, and joined the Yale New Haven hospital nursing transplant team. He then became an assistant patient care manager at Norwalk Hospital. During this time, he obtained his Master’s degree in nursing, becoming board certified through the ANCC as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2015. Michael Cicirelli has experience in treating patients at all stages of life and enjoys working to establish a beneficial relationship with the families and patients he serves. 

Tom Schwans is a professional actor and director in New York City. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project in NYC and served as an Associate Artistic Director of The Old Creamery Theatre in Iowa and the interim Artistic Director of The Deertrees Theatre Festival in Maine. Tom is a guest director and adjunct professor at Fairfield University. He holds an MFA from Brown University and has taught at Brown University, Quinnipiac University, Southern Connecticut State, Fairfield University, and he has many private clients in NYC. 

To register and learn more about the certificate program, please visit fairfield.edu/sonacting.

Posted On: September 10, 2019

Volume: 52 Number: 23

Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200- acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.