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Erica directed the short films Thursday and Here Today, which was honored with over 50 awards, including ‘Best First Time Director’ at Indie Short Fest Los Angeles and ‘Best Director Short Film’ at Cobb International Film Festival. She has served as a producer on projects including Coming Through the Rye, Elemental, House Hunting, Josephine, Texas Rein, Time Machine Guitar, and Wish You Well. Erica’s early career, with thanks to her mentors, includes films Backdraft, Charlotte’s Web, Gods & Monsters, The Horse Whisperer, In Her Shoes, A League of Their Own, Love Jones, Mad City, Rudy, and Runaway Bride.

Erica has worked with ABC, AMC, Amazon, Apple TV+, Blumhouse, CBS, Disney, Dreamworks, Flynn Picture Co., Focus, Fox, Hallmark, HBO, History, Hulu, Imagine, NatGeo, Netflix, Paramount, Scott Free, Showtime, Sony, SYFY, 20th Television, Universal, USA, and Warner Brothers as well as many independent filmmakers and creatives.

She recently won CSA’s Artios Award for Dopesick and has been nominated five additional times, inducted into First Lady of Virginia’s Opportunity Hall of Fame for contributing to the economic growth in the state, and is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Casting Society of America, Producers Guild of America, and British Independent Film Awards.

As an advocate for artists, she has spoken, moderated panels, and mentored filmmakers at Austin Film Festival Screenwriters Conference, Independent Television Festival, Richmond International Film Festival, and Virginia Film Festival, among others.

In 2010, Erica founded arvold.education to cultivate artistic growth in actors and filmmakers, which quickly expanded into Arvold Warner Studio. Her collaboration with teaching artist/actor/director Richard Warner focuses not only on actor training but also how artistry can improve life. Erica is often invited into the business world where she translates the methodology of actor training into tools for effective communication, engagement, and leadership.

Erica is grateful to the many filmmakers, actors, and humans who have entrusted her to collaborate over the years. Her company arvold. is based in Charlottesville, VA and Atlanta, GA.

He was awarded the UVa’s Outstanding Teacher Award, the Mayo Distinguished Teaching Professorship and was selected as an inaugural member of the University Academy of Teaching. As an active member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA, Richard studied In New York City with Michael Howard and performed at Manhattan Theatre Club, Chelsea Theatre Center, W.P.A. Theatre and Douglas Fairbanks Theatre. He has acted regionally in over one hundred roles in many prestigious regional theaters.

Film credits include: Homer Benson in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln; Dr. Ezra Abbott in Ridley Scott’s Killing Lincoln; Chester Bowles in National Geographic channel’s Killing Kennedy; Vic LeClue in Patriot Son. Richard played the lead opposite Grey’s Anatomy’s Sarah Drew in the short film, Waking Marshall Walker and created the role of L.P. Everett for Homicide, Life on the Street. As a director, he has staged Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Hedda Gabler, Hay Fever, A Raisin in the Sun, Cloud Nine, Fuddy Meers, The Foreigner, A Man for All Seasons, Misalliance, Suddenly Last Summer, Six Characters in Search of an Author, Laramie Project, Lend Me a Tenor, Lost in Yonkers, Driving Miss Daisy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and True West.

She serves as the Chair of Acting and the Movement Specialist for Kentucky’s Governor's School for the Arts, she has served as a visiting artist at several universities and acting studios, and has been a Moderator, Summit Guest Speaker and Panelist discussing arts leadership, advocacy, and activism in the arts. Her entrepreneurial work includes Co-Founding Voices Amplified Inc., the Atlanta based self-taping and actor coaching service, Actors Room Atlanta, and the ensemble-based theatre company, Project SEE Theatre.

She has acted as Education Director & Associate Producer of Woodford Theatre and several other conservatory style training programs for young artists. Ellie is trained in the Meisner Approach to acting and has trained extensively with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Composition. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program, receiving aFellowship for her “exceptional talent and dedication to the arts.”

He has been an acting instructor at the University of Virginia, Ohio University, University of Kentucky, and Transylvania University and has taught acting at various studios in Atlanta. Evan is trained in the Meisner Approach to acting by renowned acting teacher Maggie Flanigan in her two-year conservatory in NYC. He also trained in Viewpoints and Suzuki with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in their Saratoga Intensive. Evan holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting, awarded by the University of Virginia.

A graduate of the Julliard School, he collaborated with Juilliard alumnus Michael Urie on the comedic web-series What's Your Emergency and originated the role of Homer in the Pulitzer and Kennedy prize-winning productions of Father Comes Home from the Wars. Sekou sees his artistry as an extension of his responsibility to his community and has a passion for using his storytelling craft to empower others to tell their stories. He is co-host alongside Maxime Paul of the Podcast Let Me Introduce Myself, where they co-create space for Black men to explore their humanity, their blackness, and everything in between.

He's worked with such esteemed filmmakers like Doug Liman, Ang Lee, and Paul Schrader. Matt is a national finalist of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship and recipient of the American College Theatre Festival's Marvin Sims Diversity Award in Acting. He is the creator of Tesseract Labs & ATL-chemy which is an emerging devised theatre collective. Recently, he is a recipient of the CREATE producing partnership from South Fulton Arts to create new original pieces of theatre.  

Josh attended the University of Miami where he was part of the acting conservatory.  He spent 15 years in NYC working with top casting directors in the audition room. His students grace the stages of Broadway, have recurring and series regular roles on major TV shows and appear opposite heavy hitters in film. He has been a guest teacher at various universities across the country, including Ashland University and the University of Wisconsin. What he is most proud of is not just his students' professional success, but also the growth and confidence they've developed as artists. Watching them transform from nervous beginners to bold, fearless performers has been an incredible journey, and he feels honored to have played a part in their development.

Her training includes The Academy at Black Box Acting (Meisner, Viewpoints), Second City Conservatory Program (Improv, Comedy), in addition to her B.A.’s in Psychology & Theatre from University of North Carolina -Charlotte. When not working you can find Keisha exploring “the A” (aka Atlanta) with her husband and their 10 year old twins. 

When Déjà is not on set she enjoys helping other actors as an acting coach, and taking long rides on the trail as a novice cyclist. Her company, Dream It First Productions, produces The Working Actor Mentorship Program.

He co-founded Motivated Mornings in 2020 in order to support creatives pursuing their passions by providing structure, community, and accountability. His hobbies include skiing, snowboarding, water skiing, Crossfit, yoga, sketching, and reading. He also has a knack for dog training.

Other film credits include Josephine, Coming Through the Rye, Texas Rein, Ithaca and Big Stone Gap. She has worked on searches for series regulars on Netflix’s Stranger Things and a leading role in Disney’s A Wrinkle In Time. Christian worked as production coordinator and location manager on the short film Elemental. She handles office management duties and company events...her specialty is making crowns.

As a narrator, Matt has voiced audio descriptions for notable titles such as The Godfather Part II, The Blair Witch Project, Encore!, Disney’s The Imagineering Story, Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts, and more. He has also acted in and directed more than 40 dubbing titles including Hunt, Ip Man: Kung Fu Master and the slavic series Sloborn. As a writer, Matt has penned several feature films, shorts, and showrun two popular audio dramas: Space Ward and The Veil. He is currently workshopping a pilot based on the universe of Stephen King. A theatre kid at heart, Matt has found solace in his artistic community and feels grateful to be part of the collective magic at AWS.