Mission Statement
Our Story
Our Philosophy
Community
Our Faculty
Brandy Hotchner
Owner/Artistic Director
Brandy Hotchner is the founder and artistic director of Arizona Actors Academy, one of Arizona’s longest-running independent conservatory-style training programs for actors. For more than two decades, she has trained actors, directors, writers, and creatives in a rigorous yet deeply human approach to performance rooted in the American Method, classical text work, ensemble process, and psychological truth.
The daughter of two published playwrights and the co-founders of “A Company of Players,” one of Denver’s earliest professional theater companies for young audiences, Brandy grew up backstage, in rehearsal halls, dressing rooms, and theaters. Immersed in storytelling from childhood, she went on to earn a BA in Directing from the University of Redlands and an MFA in Acting from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School.
Her training includes extensive work in Shakespeare and classical theater with teachers from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, as well as workshops in New York with artists including Arthur Penn, Ellen Burstyn, Vivian Nathan, Sandra Seacat, and her longtime mentor Barbara Poitier, one of Lee Strasberg’s direct protégés. Under Poitier’s guidance, Brandy developed the foundation of the emotionally truthful, psychologically grounded approach to acting that would later shape Arizona Actors Academy.
During her years in New York City, Brandy worked extensively in independent theater and film, earning multiple Best Actress honors in one-act play festivals and appearing on stages including Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and New York Theatre Workshop. She also appeared in numerous independent films and directed original works in New York theater.
Brandy came to Arizona in 2002 intending only to pass through on her way to Los Angeles. Instead, she built a life, raised a family, and unexpectedly discovered her life’s work in teaching. In 2005, after being invited to teach Shakespeare in Scottsdale Community College’s acting conservatory, former students persuaded her to continue training them privately. What began as a small Monday night workshop eventually evolved into Arizona Actors Academy.
Under Brandy’s leadership, AZAA has grown into one of the Phoenix area’s most respected actor training studios, known for its conservatory-level rigor, ensemble culture, and emphasis on truthful human behavior. Her teaching synthesizes Method acting, Shakespeare and First Folio work, Dream Work, sensory training, textual analysis, and contemporary behavioral realism into a uniquely integrated approach to actor training. She is especially passionate about making elite-level artistic training accessible to working adults and fostering spaces where artists can develop not only craft, but confidence, resilience, imagination, and authentic connection.
Brandy continues to teach, direct, develop curriculum, mentor emerging artists, and lead Arizona Actors Academy through its ongoing evolution as a creative home for actors and storytellers in the Southwest.
Artist In Residence
Isaac has taught acting at the University of the Arts, the New York Film Academy, Texas State University, and the Tony nominated Matthew Corozine Studio in NYC. He studied acting with a variety of wonderful teachers including master acting teacher Fred Kareman, Larry Silverberg, Terry Martin, and Matthew Corozine. His students have gone on to work on Broadway, television, and in award winning films. He spent 13 years in New York City directing in Off Broadway venues including: HERE Arts Center, Joe’s Pub@The Public Theater, DR2, 59E59, and the Cherry Lane Theater. He has been awarded the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Direction twice and productions he has directed have been nominated for a Drama Desk Award, an Off Broadway Alliance award, 25 NYIT awards, and 11 Planet Connection Awards. NYC. He also performs regularly with the Ad Hoc Economy theatre company in the award winning show Butcher Holler Here We Come. Productions he has directed have toured all over the world including in the UK (London, Edinburgh) Hong Kong, Germany, Estonia, Canada, and Italy.
Jacque Arend
Improv Programs Director and Coach
Jacque Arend is an improviser, educator, producer, and arts leader who has played a central role in shaping Arizona’s contemporary improv community for nearly two decades. She is the founder and executive director of SAVI Fest (Sonoran All-Valley Improv Festival), an annual celebration of improvisation that brings together performers, teachers, and ensembles from across the country for workshops, performances, collaboration, and artistic exchange.
Jacque discovered improvisation while studying at iO Theater in 2005 and quickly became a driving force within Arizona’s growing improv scene. She was a founding member of the now-legendary Torch Theater, established in 2007, and has spent nearly twenty years performing, teaching, developing curriculum, and building training programs rooted in improvisation, ensemble, and authentic human connection.
Since joining Arizona Actors Academy in 2013, Jacque has led the studio’s improv and comedy training programs, including Improv Mechanics and High Performance Improv. Over the years, she also served as AZAA’s Associate Artistic Director, working closely alongside artistic director Brandy Hotchner through some of the organization’s most transformative and challenging periods.
Together, Jacque and Brandy helped guide AZAA’s transition from its years as a resident company at Phoenix Theatre Company into an independent conservatory and creative home of its own. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacque played a critical role in developing AZAA’s online programming and artist support initiatives, creating opportunities for isolated performers to connect, collaborate, teach, and continue earning income during an unprecedented shutdown of the performing arts industry. She also helped lead the studio’s transition back into live training during the era of masks, PPE protocols, and socially distanced performance work.
Jacque additionally spearheaded AZAA’s DEI initiatives and worked alongside Brandy to develop curriculum adaptations and classroom practices designed to make actor training more accessible and supportive for neurodivergent artists. Her leadership has helped shape AZAA’s culture into one that values rigor, accessibility, ensemble, and psychological safety equally.
Beyond the studio, Jacque has built and facilitated improvisation programs for universities, medical schools, corporations, and organizations seeking stronger communication, collaboration, adaptability, and human-centered leadership. She currently leads mandatory improvisation workshops for medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and has worked with organizations including PepsiCo, JPMorgan Chase, Federal Bureau of Investigation, American Express, and others.
Known for her intelligence, humor, adaptability, and deep belief in the transformative power of improvisation, Jacque continues to coach performers and help foster artistic communities that prioritize creativity, courage, collaboration, and play.
Rachel Riggs
Core Programs Director and Acting Coach
Rachel Riggs is an actor, director, educator, and the head of the Core Acting Program at Arizona Actors Academy, where she has been teaching since 2018. Over the years, Rachel has become a central creative force within the AZAA community, known for her warmth, insight, leadership, and deep commitment to developing emerging actors.
A longtime mentee of artistic director Brandy Hotchner, Rachel works closely alongside Brandy in shaping and evolving AZAA’s curriculum, philosophy, and student experience. She played a key role in the development of the Acting Essentials level, helping identify and address the artistic, social, and creative challenges facing newer generations of actors and young adults entering professional training today. Her teaching emphasizes embodiment, emotional truth, ensemble, textual understanding, and the development of confident, grounded performers.
In addition to leading the Core Program, Rachel has directed and produced numerous projects and community events at AZAA, including Gruesome Playground Injuries, AZAA’s Friday Night Readings series, multiple Scene Festivals, two 24 Hour Play Festivals, open mic nights, and studio gatherings designed to foster collaboration and artistic connection beyond the classroom. She is deeply passionate about building creative spaces where artists feel challenged, supported, and genuinely seen.
Rachel is also deeply involved in AZAA’s Dream Work methodology and retreat programs, having organized and helped lead every Dream Work retreat in the studio’s history, including AZAA’s international artist retreat in Italy. Through years of close mentorship and training, she carries forward a distinct artistic lineage rooted in the work of Lee Strasberg, Sandra Seacat, Barbara Poitier, and Brandy Hotchner. Her work reflects a deep commitment to psychologically truthful, imaginative, and human-centered actor training.
Rachel graduated magna cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in Theatre Arts. While there, she co-founded the multicultural theater company Shringara Theatre Co., which continues to serve the university community today. Her background also includes directing musicals and plays, stage management, voice and acting instruction, and professional performance work throughout the Midwest.
Marshall Glass
Acting Coach
Marshall Glass is an Arizona native and accomplished stage actor whose career spans classical theatre, contemporary drama, musical theatre, improvisation, and new work development. A lifelong performer, Marshall began acting at just ten years old and has since become one of the Valley’s most respected and versatile theatre artists.
He holds a BFA in Art History from Arizona State University, giving him a unique understanding of visual composition, human expression, and storytelling through art. His training includes study at the Megaw Actors Studio under E.E. Moe and Syd Morrison, Michael Chekhov technique under Lisa Dalton and Will Kilroy, and ongoing advanced training with Brandy Hotchner at Arizona Actors Academy.
Marshall’s extensive theatrical credits include Angels in America with Stray Cat Theatre, as well as numerous productions with Southwest Shakespeare Company including 1984, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Wittenberg, Two Gentlemen of Verona, She Stoops to Conquer, and Much Ado About Nothing. His work with The Phoenix Theatre Company includes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Tribes, Rent, Airness, and The Truth of Winnie Ruth Judd. Additional credits include Barefoot in the Park, The Legend of Georgia McBride, Pru Payne, and The Glass Menagerie with Arizona Theatre Company.
Other standout performances include Doubt at Mesa Encore Theatre, The Rainmaker at Hale Centre Theatre, and My Favorite Year at Theatre Outback, for which he received the AriZoni Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
Beyond performance, Marshall is deeply passionate about arts education, mentorship, and community engagement. He has taught acting and theatrical arts to students of all ages and has spent over five years performing with Partners That Heal through The Phoenix Theatre Company, bringing improvisation, imagination, and laughter to children and patients in hospitals and medical facilities throughout the Valley.
Marshall is also an active collaborator in the development of new works, participating in multiple productions through The Phoenix Theatre Company’s New Works Festival and helping develop original projects including Take Up the Paperthrough Arizona Actors Academy.
Liz Hutchman
Improv Coach
Liz’s improv journey started in 1999 and she has been studying, performing, and teaching ever since. What Liz loves most about improvisation is that it is a collaborative process rooted in trust, agreement, and exploration. When not on stage performing monthly with her teams Skewed News Hour, Birds & Broads, and The Collabortory, you will find her teaching workshops around the valley, including Gentle Play, a workshop specific to bringing the joy of improvisation to care takers and patients with early onset dementia. Liz also teaches improvisation to medical students, using the foundation skills in improv to help strengthen communication and resiliency. Liz is also the Managing Director of Sonoran All-Valley Improv, a non profit dedicated to further connect improvisation and education in Arizona. Liz strives to create a safe and fun teaching environment that both inspires and motivates individuals to recognize their talents and explore all possibilities.
Jacque Arend
Improv Instructor & Administrator
Improv Instructor & Administrator
Jacque Arend studied acting for two years before finding improv at Chicago’s IO Theater in 2005. She has been improvising regularly throughout Phoenix since, with longstanding groups like Mail Order Bride, Light Rail Pirates and The Torch Theatre’s signature Neighborhood show. She has learned from some of the greatest improvisors and teachers today such as Craig Cackowski, Susan Messing and Miles Stroth. Jacque is a founding member of The Torch Theatre and has been teaching improvisational comedy there since 2007. She’s rooted in longform which is based in scenework and creating an ensemble performance but has a strong sense of comedy which builds the foundation for her specialty workshops, Comedic Sense and the Sketch Intensive. Jacque has been teaching at Arizona Actors Academy since 2013.
Jacque is also the Arizona Actors Academy’s main administrator, facilitating registration and billing.
Rachel Grimes
Beginning Acting, Youth Programming, & Vocal Coach
Beginning Acting, Youth Programming, & Vocal Coach
Rachel Grimes is an accomplished singer, actress, director, and theatrical producer who absolutely loves to teach! Rachel graduated magnum cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in Theatre Arts. While at school, Rachel co-founded the multicultural theatre company Shringara Theatre Co., which continues to be active at the university today. She also directed musicals for the Music Theatre Society, straight plays at the Phoenix Theatre, and was stage manager for multiple productions including The Bald Soprano.
Rachel spent the years following college performing for Blue Gate Musicals in Ohio, teaching acting and voice at a studio outside of Chicago, and founding her own theatre company: Share a Dream Theatre Co. Share a Dream encourages theatre lovers of all ages to submit a dream role play to be produced, with all the proceeds from the show going to a charitable organization of the artist’s choice.
In her youth Rachel participated in shows at East Valley Children’s Theatre, winning an AriZoni Award for Best Principal Actress in a Musical for the role of Gerda in The Snow Queen. Rachel has also run dozens of camps throughout the years at East Valley Yamaha Music School- with productions including Robin Hood and Charlotte’s Web.
In her free time Rachel loves to read YA Fantasy novels, laugh with her family and friends, and do administrative work at her mom’s music school.