The TKS Faculty have named our Notable Students of the Season! I’d like to officially announce and congratulate TKActors: Daniel Shain Graf, Ryan Fang, Brayhia Marshall, Danielle Kenon, Sophie Jane Corner, Gabi Shook, Jason Aubin, Austin Bourque, Sebastien Scioscia, Nikki Garza, Kiley Larson, Aleesha Ye, Daijon Purvis, and Owen Hayes on being selected as the Notable Students for Summer 2025.
These 14 students are truly inspiring – meeting the moment with enthusiasm, courage and playful curiosity. They embody what it means to be “committed to excellence.” After notifying these students of their nominations, we asked them to share some insights on their time at TK Studio with the following prompts:
- How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
- Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
- What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Let’s celebrate these exceptional students and send them lots of love and congratulations. We are so lucky to have them and all of you as integral members of our TKS Community!
Daniel Shain Graf
Instagram Handle: @danielshaingraf
Class: Summer Intensive: Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
By allowing me the space and means to free up my impulses as an actor and step into myself in order to embody somebody else. I feel twice as confident as an actor as I did when I graduated college because of my intensive training, specifically the specific and thought provoking notes Celestine and Terry have given me.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
When Terry discussed with us the brainspace of “learning” as opposed to “getting it right.” To be in school like this is different than algebra or science because the “failure” is necessary, and if you can switch up your brain allow learning to be it’s goal, you’re more likely to succeed in actually acquiring knowledge.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being under the tutelage of Celestine and Terry is such a privilege, they’re both brilliant teachers who teach a really important acting technique.
Ryan Fang
Instagram Handle: @ryan___Fang
Class: Summer Intensive: Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
One of the things Terry explained to us on the first day was the difference between civilians and actors. Living in this world, I have built so many habits and defenses around how to live and protect myself. Whether it be the social smile when you are feeling awkward or the turtling into your shell when your scared, these are all useful things to build as a person but in acting we need to run towards the chaos and pain and let it truly fuck us up. And it isn’t a matter of using our mind and deciding, it building a practice of developing our instrument. Warming up our bodies, connecting to our voices, unlocking our deepest desires, all of these things are difficult and intentional to truly create freedom and vulnerability in our work. Being lazy in acting is the easiest thing: know your lines, do a little homework, and rip it. I would walk onto set shake my arms a couple of times and just start “acting”. But I think the realization that there is so much more to the pursuit of excellence is something that I will bring with me into the future.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
One of the most impactful classes for me has been movement. The first class we started by standing doing nothing and having a whole room of people just stare at us. And i remember the scary realization that I was deeply uncomfortable with the intimacy of being seen. And through the practice of movement and working as a group and unlocking the behavior within me, I feel a deep shift. One particular moment in class, we were doing “open choreography” and the focus is to move honestly and connect with those around you. And for whatever reason, I had a deep sense of spontaneous anger, and my whole life my habit with anger has always been to turn into myself or calm it down and try to suppress it. But in that moment, I discovered the courage to let it out in a primal yell and share it with the space, and I remember the setting aside of fear and truly being free and letting it rip and how amazing it felt. And in the next moment the entire room let out a chorus of yells sharing that moment with me. And I started crying because in that moment, I felt how all of me in this work could be seen and accepted.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
The community of TKS to me has been such an example of a group with 100% dedication and 0% ego. A space where we can all work hard, care about the work, and have a good time all the same. People are fun, interesting, and from all over the world. No one is so high and mighty to not talk about their weekend plans or how they like to spend their days, and everyone is so generous with sharing advice, praise, and connection. Being here for the last six weeks, has made this experience so special.
Brayhia Marshall
Instagram Handle: @brayhiamarshall
Class: Online: Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
My training at TKS has redefined and strengthened the foundation of both my understanding of the Meisner technique and my creative identity as an artist. This renewed foundation offers greater stability, allowing me to build upon it and explore with more freedom as I continue to grow and evolve in my craft.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
One moment in my training that had a clear and lasting impact on me occurred during the second session of the Summer Intensive. Meghan gave me feedback on my activity and spoke about the power of expanding my imagination. She reminded me that in the imaginary world, all things are possible—and embracing those possibilities as truth helps uncover a genuine point of view. In that moment, something clicked. I realized I no longer had to offer a socially acceptable response or be overly considerate of the circumstance. I could express my honest point of view without judgment. That realization was incredibly freeing—it opened the door for deeper authenticity and greater play in my work as an artist.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
I’m honored to be part of such a meaningful legacy. When I first made the decision to seriously pursue learning the craft of acting, being included among the talented and hardworking artists at TKS felt like a distant dream. To now be counted among them is truly humbling. I’m deeply grateful for this blessing God has given me, and I hope to continue honoring this incredible community with my work.
Danielle Kenon
Instagram Handle: @Daniellekenon
Class: Summer Intensive: Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS taught me everything. This is my foundation. I feel incredibly lucky that I found a place that gives me the basic blocks I need to build myself up strong. I feel solid. I feel like now when I go practice on my own I don’t have to worry about where to start. I have the toolkit. I just have to choose which tools to use.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Right after the last day of the Spring Voice intensive, our class all went to a diner together. There was a moment where I admitted to everyone that the reason I had no acting experience was because I was too scared to try. They had all been there before. You could see it in their eyes. Their advice was said calmly and sensibly but everyone had the same intense look in their eyes. It felt like I was the baby bird being pushed out the nest to fly. It’s like, with just their intent, they were drilling home the idea of ‘You are safe. You can be free. You can do this.’ And I really felt it. They made me want to leap.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It means finally being around people that feel right to me. We are all so completely different and in many ways being here is utterly foreign to me. But somehow I feel like I finally came home. I feel like we’re all working towards our own ‘living hell’ struggle but we’re all in it together.
I’ve spent a very long time alone. When I get anxious, which is often, it’s usually because I’ve forgotten that there’s any other way to be but alone. Yes, these classes teach me how to see but the TK community gives me something worth seeing. I couldn’t possibly be alone. Not when I can see all of you.
Sophie Jane Corner
Class: Online: Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
As a professional working actor TKS has really helped me sharpen my tools and understand a deeper meaning in my crafting and acting. I always felt like there was something missing and through my intensive training I’ve come to find more genuine and real connection with my own emotions and partner led work which has deepened my input and output as an actor. Almost like a new box has been built for me to dip into when working. The dedication and commitment to my craft through TKS training has also enabled me to come a more rooted understanding of what I can do as an actor and all the options open to me. I have felt challenged and inspired by the work and by my fellow actors and teaching and has really opened up my understanding to a new level.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Throughout the training there’s been moments of “oh this is working” when doing some activities or doing some partner work – but the best example I could give would be when I as at a regular gig of mine where I perform a monologue to a group of people. A monologue I have regularly done for the last 4 years. Through my training at TKS I was having moments of doubt in myself and the lasting impact, but when I came to perform this monologue outside of the sessions one random afternoon – for the first time in 4 years I genuinely as Sophie felt so connected to the script I ended up having an experience as Meghan would call it. Feeling genuinely moved, inspired and emotional. I came into class next session and told my peers about this and that was the lasting impact – that this work has influenced my “day to day” work, or material I have done so many times and has really sharpened the tool kit up for me.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being apart of TKS has been so heart warming, inspiring and encouraging. A home away from home and I was lucky enough to visit in person this July but even on our online training the community atmosphere, the nurturing environment that TKS creates is so felt and seen. It’s been an amazing journey to feel held in and grow from and I am excited to see what’s next.
Gabi Shook
Instagram Handle: @Gabi_is_shook
Class: First Year Conservatory: Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS has helped me let go of baggage I didn’t even know I was carrying. And has shown me that I can do things in my work that I had always hoped I would be able to, but that I wasn’t sure were possible for me.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
I think my biggest moment of growth came when I was finally able to operate from a place of trust in myself. The freedom that is on the other side is one of the best things I’ve ever experienced. I feel like a totally different person now and taking this new me into the work has been so exciting.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
There’s a bond that is formed through this training because in doing this work you allow people to see your whole person. I think even after we graduate and move into the industry, it will be a support system I will have for the rest of my life.
Jason Aubin
Class: Summer Intensive: Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
My training has been necessary in my pursuit of not only artistic excellence but the experimentation of artistry. TKS is not just a studio, it’s a gym a lab to play, to take risk and try out new things, to truly explore your imagination.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
There was moment where I was doing the activity in class and I was so entrenched into what I was doing, it felt like it was only me and my scene partner in the room I didn’t even notice or think about anyone being there, that’s the first time It dawned on me that I was finally “Doing Truthfully”. Shoutout to my teacher Megan lol.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being apart of the TKS community is sobering. Didn’t know what to expect or how I would be welcomed, now that I’ve had some time into it, I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my summer and improve my craft. I feel like I found a new home that’s been waiting for me all along.
Austin Bourque
Instagram Handle: @austinbourque8
Class: First Year Conservatory: Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
Training at TKS opened my eyes to the true level of effort it takes to pursue excellence in anything. It showed me just how much time, attention to detail, and hard work are actually required not just the surface-level effort I once thought was enough.
What I considered “hard work” before was only a fraction of what it really takes. In reality, it’s ten times more demanding than I ever imagined. (In a good way)
Seeing the people around me push themselves every day and have the willingness to bleed their souls into their work motivated me to step up. It helped me raise my own standards, hold myself more accountable, and recognize that I hadn’t been working nearly as hard as I could. Improvement doesn’t just happen inside the classroom it happens through the extra hours, the repetition, the reflection and in the feedback.
If you want to be great at anything, you have to give more than you think is necessary. But beyond the working hard, I also learned something just as important: the value of trusting yourself. Yes, you need to work hard but you also need to let go, be present, and believe in your own process.
Most of all, TKS helped me develop a deeper trust in myself. It taught me that yes, improvement takes a relentless amount work, but also that making a mess of things is an integral part of the artistic process and that letting go of perfectionism is sometimes what allows the creativity to flow.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Sheesh, there’s been a lot, but one moment really stuck with me and I’ll probably mess it up trying to explain. We were working on scenes, and I was completely off. I wasn’t present. I wasn’t connected. Just going through the motions, trying not to screw up.
Afterward, during feedback, Celestine looked at me and said something along the lines of, “The audience is here to see YOU in the work, not just some guy machine-gunning lines.” That line hit me. Not because I felt called out but because I knew she was right.
I was hiding. Performing, not connecting. And it clicked, I could memorize everything perfectly, but if my truth, my instincts, my energy weren’t in it then what was the point?
That moment flipped a switch. It gave me permission to let go of control, trust my instincts and bring Austin into the work.
So I started taking risks. Letting go of perfect. Trusting my impulses. Leaning into the mess. And weirdly, that’s when it all started to click.
That shift didn’t just change how I showed up to class it changed how I saw myself. I stopped trying to get it “right,” and started trying to be real. And that made all the difference.
Also I started looking forward to feedback, even when it stung, because I realized it wasn’t criticism it was collaboration. It was someone taking the time to care about my growth.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
The community at TKS has been incredible. It means so much to be surrounded by people who not only share similar dreams, but who also match that ambition with an insane work ethic. These are people who get it who understand why I’m pushing myself, what I’m chasing, and why I care so much about it.
Pursuing something that isn’t part of the “normal” path can feel isolating. Most people don’t really understand it, and that can get lonely. But here, I’ve never once felt alone. Being part of this community has made me feel seen, supported, and understood in a way I didn’t know I needed.
I’ve made real friends, people I deeply respect and I’ve had experiences that I’ll carry with me for life. I’m genuinely grateful for that. It’s rare to find a space where you can be both ambitious and authentic, where people root for you and challenge you at the same time. That’s what this community has given me, and I don’t take it for granted.
Sebastien Scioscia
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The training at TKS encourages continuous curiosity with the learning process as opposed to the results. My turning point was when I accepted that I could be far more curious about the feedback being offered to me. After that I became more willing (and then more able) to reveal myself and my emotions. Revealing myself led to discovering some of my personal tendencies that do not serve my acting. Already I feel more like myself just walking around in life, and it all started with getting truly curious.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It means to have peers that root for you and a teacher that truly cares about you: invaluable to any actor.
Nikki Garza
Class: Summer Intensive: Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS has really hammered into me that artistic excellence is a process, and a process that actors should be enjoying. Honestly, when I first signed up for the intensive, I was hoping for a “here’s how to book” manual. Now after the intensive my desire is so much bigger. Of course I still want to book, but I have a new zest for continuing to learn and grow as an actor that goes beyond just bookings.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The first time my movement class connected as an ensemble during open choreography was absolutely beautiful. Feeling how when you give yourself permission to be free and feel without judgment, it can open such freedom on both an individual level and group level. The level of playfulness and ease we achieved felt like being a kid again, and when we finished I felt such an immense sense of accomplishment and gratitude. I had no idea how meaningful and poignant movement class was going to be for me and I’m so thankful I took it.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being a part of the TKS community means surrounding myself with like-minded individuals in pursuit of the same goals. I had not realized how impactful training at a studio, where not only are the instructors coming in on their A-game, but all the students are fully wanting and willing to lean all the way in to the pursuit of growing both professionally and personally.
Kiley Larson
Class: Online: Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
This training requires you to be insatiably curious and passionately committed. It has rewired my tolerance for taking bold risks, and reframed my relationship with failure as a rich opportunity for personal growth and artistic expansion.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The moments when I’ve felt the most alive are those when let my defenses down, become truly vulnerable, and expressed myself unapologetically. It’s a lot easier said than done, but exhilarating when it happens.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
The support that the TKS community generously gives to one another is truly unparalleled. This work is so intense and intimate that witnessing each other‘s artistic journeys forges a really meaningful bond.
Aleesha Ye
Class: Summer Intensive: Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
I am not exaggerating when I say this, but this has been one of the most life-changing summers of my life. Training at TKS has transformed my entire understanding of acting; it has debunked everything I thought I knew about acting but at the same time reinforced my love for this discipline. As an artist, I feel so much freer and more confident in my ability to bring life and authenticity into my work. To really ‘do’ and not ‘pretend to do’ has been revolutionary for my acting, and I’m so appreciative of TKS, especially my teacher, Meghan, for bringing that to my craft. As a person walking through life, I feel braver and more unapologetic. More than ever, I find myself not caring about what other people think of me (and that is a crazy concept coming from a serial people-pleaser!). If I can be so free and open in front of a class full of people I previously barely knew (but are now my dear friends), what’s there to be afraid or embarrassed of? What’s there to lose? Meghan always says in class to not be afraid of what might come out and what we might experience. Now, I find that if I am feeling a ‘negative’ emotion in life, I am much quicker to acknowledge that, “ah yes, I am feeling this way, but it is okay. How beautiful, how lucky am I to be human and to have the capacity to feel such a wide breadth of emotions.”
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The biggest moment in this training that definitely had an impact on me was the movement class. Cynthia really helped me calm my anxiety and being calm and collected. Now I feel more confident in myself as a person and in my craft because I’m not as scared as I used to be. Movement class was definitely a milestone for me
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It means I don’t ever want to leave!! I’m a bit disillusioned when it comes to communities. Don’t get me wrong, I love building new communities and meeting new people, but I guess I’ve been feeling a bit jaded post college, which was such a natural platform for building true relationships. I go into every situation open-minded but often find that in adulthood or ‘the real world,’ people have so many other obligations going on that it’s difficult to create those true, deep bonds I’m so fond of. Somehow, someway, the TKS community has shown up for me. Within just a few short weeks, I have this new group of friends that I feel so connected to, people that I want in my life for a very long time. It all started with our shared love of creating and understanding art, but it has grown into something so much more. I am feeling so grateful.
Daijon Purvis
Class: NextGen Summer Intensive
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
The training at this studio really showed me that the embarrassment is part of the job and that you need to allow you to be yourself in order to improve. This training made me more comfortable and confident in my craft and putting parts of yourself into a character.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The biggest moment in this training that definitely had an impact on me was the movement class. Cynthia really helped me calm my anxiety and being calm and collected. Now I feel more confident in myself as a person and in my craft because I’m not as scared as I used to be. Movement class was definitely a milestone for me
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being apart of The TKS community has really made me feel like I’m part of a family and we are all improving as people and as actors. It’s such a beautiful community and it has so many hard working and determined people and they are so supportive of each other. That is so special and I’m so glad I’m apart of it and I wouldn’t have any other way.
Owen Hayes
Class: NextGen Summer Intensive
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
My (short) time at TKS for me confirmed that this is the path I want to take in life. Besides being affirmational to my confidence in my aspirations I was also exposed to such a wide swath of the elements that make up the craft of acting, it’s really exciting that there is so much to learn out there. I’m ultimately really grateful that I got what in the big picture is just a really small taste of training because it really felt quite large and monumental.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
I am so very grateful to be a part of the TKS community. The high school program proved to be the definition to what has recently been an undefined desire to start to move forward in some way. I’m really honored to have been able to work with such great teachers and to have met Terry, a man who had such a profound impact on my dads life when he studied with him was really special.
Join the TKS community and become a confident actor for the rest of your life.