Matthew Bretschneider (he/him) is the Artistic Director of Studio Playground and an Adjunct Professor at Boston University. Matthew has performed with the Huntington Theatre Company, The Flea Theater, Theatre Row, The New Ohio, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Kitchen Theatre Company, and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. Television Credits include Law & Order: SVU and The Path. He received his MSW from Rhode Island College School of Social Work and has extensive experience teaching theater in clinical spaces, focusing on self-care, empowerment, and ensemble development. Matthew received a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and pursued additional training with The Pandemonium Studio, Movement Theater Studio, and The Clown School. He has trained extensively with Christopher Bayes and has studied physical acting with Norman Taylor, Mary Overlie, Orlando Pabotoy, David Bridel, Gabriel Levey and many more. Matthew has taught physical theater for undergraduate acting programs and regional theater across New England, including Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island, and Suffolk University.
AEA•SAG•AFTRA
Education: MSW, Rhode Island College School of Social Work; BFA, Tisch School for the Arts, New York University
“When you’re working on clown as a professional actor, it’s good for flexibility, for range, for emotional intelligence, physical intelligence, and when we offer it to children, one of the concepts we start with is the gift of laughter. Essentially, we’re trying to teach students to be generous with their work. We talk about the health benefits of laughter - the release of endorphins and serotonin, relief from stress. We’re trying to teach them that if they make someone laugh, they’re going to make that person feel better, which in turn may help them live a little longer, and therefore make the world a more compassionate place to live in. If a child is nervous about going onstage, one of the concepts we reiterate to them is that if they make someone laugh, they they’re doing something good for someone else. That’s why we risk it.”
-Matthew Bretschneider, Studio Playground (Providence Monthly, 2023)
