Deb Jackel has been teaching Meisner-based acting technique, Audition Technique, and Cold Reading at the William Esper Studio since 2000.
Winner of the 2011 Backstage Readers' Choice Awards for both "Favorite Audition Technique Teacher" and "Favorite Cold Reading Teacher," Deb brings extensive experience with the business of acting to her teaching. Prior to going to train as a teacher with William Esper, Deb spent years in the New York talent agency world, representing actors at agencies including Don Buchwald and Associates, Ambrosio/Mortimer and Associates, and Abrams Artists. In her many years working on both sides of the business, Deb observed the most common roadblocks to successful auditions and has since used her knowledge to empower actors. Deb is an expert in helping actors cultivate and protect their passion, vulnerability and uniqueness during the often misunderstood, stress-inducing audition process. She coaches actors privately on audition material and technique, and also leverages her experience to serve as a career consultant for emerging actors who wish to better understand the business of acting. She has led audition workshops at Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Meisner Studio and throughout New York City. In 2010 Deb co-created “The Empowerment Weekend for Actors” with Alaine Alldaffer (casting director, Playwrights Horizons), an intensive weekend workshop devoted to the psychological and spiritual approach to the art and business of acting and auditioning.