About Us

Marc Clopton – Executive Director

Founded in 1991, the Actors Studio of Newburyport is a 501©(3) theater. The Actors Studio of Newburyport serves as a vital cultural resource for the community: to inspire, enrich and engage audiences and to develop both the art form and the individual by encouraging full creative expression. The fifty-seat black box theater has offered both aspiring and established actors and writers, and their audiences, an intimate, creative experience we call “interactive theater”.

Marc Clopton has taught locally for more than twenty years. His drama teaching credentials also include: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Performance Group at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, CA; Gene Bua’s Acting for Life in Burbank, CA; the UCLA Adult Education Program; and his own studio classes in Los Angeles.

Marc’s directional credits include: Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal,” Bernard Pomerance’s “The Elephant Man,” Tennesee William’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Steve Faria’s comedy “Sense” and musical “Things That Matter,” Linda Goodman’s “Daughter’s of the Appalachians,” de Ghelderode’s “The Women at the Tomb,” and Deborah Vine’s “Love, That Four-letter Word.”

Marc performed at the Player’s Club in Manhattan in Bud Schulberg’s rewrite of “The Disenchanted,” the glamorous script about the life of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald.

“When I see a student come through the door, I don’t see a beginner or an expert, but a full person full of mystery and inspiration, an actor with a life’s worth of experiences which will inform their work.”

Kimm Wilkinson – Consultant

Kimm is a talented visionary and well-known member of the local arts community. She had an immense impact on the development of the performing arts in Newburyport during her long tenure as the Artistic Director of the Firehouse Center for the Arts. As current board Vice-Chair and Development chair of Theater in the Open, she has been instrumental in helping the organization raise funds, build audiences, and create a broader network of collaborating artists. She has thirty years of experience performing, directing, and producing local theater. Kimm lives in Newbury, MA with very deep roots in the community. Kimm will be coming on board in January as our Managing Director.

Executive Director

Marc Clopton

Board of Directors