This week’s Campus Celebrity, Stephanie Clayman, is not your average Bentley professor. She has used her acting skills and experience to create a management class at Bentley that allows students to perform the skills needed to understand people and the dynamics of human relationships. Stephanie is a hidden gem at Bentley, and I had the opportunity to ask her some questions about her experiences and career thus far as an actor and professor!
HCB: What have your acting experiences been like?
SC: I have been acting for a long time, in many different settings. I have done roles in feature films, independent films, television, radio, and voice over narration. I have performed live theater in schools, museums, restaurants, theaters, and on street corners. I have done role plays with doctors to help them learn communication skills and costumed character role plays at corporate events.
HCB: How did you get into teaching and how did you begin teaching at Bentley?
SC: I began teaching with theater companies whose mission was working with children. Learning to be a good teacher was a long process. Over the years, I have taught ages from preschoolers through adults, and in settings ranging from housing projects and jails to universities. I began teaching at Bentley in 2010, when a colleague teaching Introduction to Acting had to go out on early maternity leave. Later, I took over that course, then created Management Through Acting.
HCB: What has your most memorable experience been at Bentley?
SC: I enjoy teaching at Bentley because I feel that I can offer an approach and skill set that are very unusual and valuable. Like any teacher, my most rewarding experiences are when students really “get” a new idea or skill. I think my most memorable experience was seeing one student, a big football player who spoke very quietly and carried a lot of tension in his neck and shoulders, really transform in a presentation. He relaxed, his shoulders dropped, his voice was clear and strong, and his passion for his subject was evident. He was beaming afterwards.
HCB: What is the best advice that you have received? What is the best advice that you give to your students?
SC: It’s not really advice, but I think often of what someone once told me: “People can only do one of two things. They can love you, or they can show you how they’ve been hurt.” I try to keep that in mind when someone is behaving badly towards me – and I try to figure out the hurt that might be under that behavior.
Best advice I can give my students: “Breathe. Pay attention to your body and your feelings. They matter.”