Intimacy Choreography

What is intimacy choreography?

Hello! I’d be delighted to offer intimacy choreography or coordination for your next production.

My job is to collaborate with the actors and the director to help stage moments of physical and/or emotional intimacy in your show.

I support your rehearsal process by developing a shared vocabulary and culture of consent amongst your entire production team. I absorb the director’s vision for the storytelling and translate it into choreographic language which is de-loaded and de-sexualized with the actors. I’m an advocate in the room for everyone’s access needs and boundaries.

Similar to how a fight choreographer stages beat by beat each moment of staged violence to ensure the safety of the actors and accurate repetition of the storytelling, an intimacy choreographer stages beat by beat moments of intimacy in the production.

What to expect when you hire me:

The most effective integration of an intimacy choreographer into your process is often before any casting has taken place.

Here is one possible timeline:

• Meeting between director, stage manager, and the intimacy choreographer (IC).
• IC creates an audition disclosure statement which is shared with the audition announcement.
• First rehearsal.
• Full cast + crew introductory workshop from the IC cultivating a culture of consent, establishing shared vocabulary, setting expectations.
• Choreography sessions for specific moments of intimacy.
• Stumble-Thru + intimacy notes.
• Dress rehearsal + intimacy notes.
• Final tech + intimacy notes.

Meet Your Intimacy Choreographer

Caitlin Lushington (she/her, they/them) is a queer teacher, artist, and a creative resiliency coach gathering wisdom on how to cultivate a creative life that is fulfilling and joyful. As a teacher dedicated to unraveling dominant culture narratives, she has found it both a profound relief and absolute terror to continuously give up her conditioning as the knowledge-holder in the space. Also, she would someday like to teach an acting class on a hike through the woods.

Caitlin has performed and directed throughout the West Coast, including with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Ashland New Plays Festival, San Francisco Fringe, Third Rail’s Mentorship Company, Anonymous Theatre, and Speculative Drama. In 2015 she co-founded Enso Theatre Ensemble, where she devised new approaches to making and teaching theatre founded in mindfulness principles and practices. With Enso she was nominated Best Director for The Romeo & Juliet Project by Broadway World, produced, directed and performed in numerous shows, and developed a one-of-a-kind mentorship program for early career directors.

Caitlin is a faculty member at The Actors Conservatory where she teaches Acting, Audition Technique, and Professional Orientation, a class that helps students to clarify their vision and process for building a sustainable creative life whilst living amongst systems of supremacy. She is the resident Intimacy Choreographer at Tigard High School, where she also teaches Frantic Assembly’s devising method. She offers one-on-one coaching to actors and arts educators and as well as workshops in creative resiliency & burnout, both locally and internationally.

Caitlin holds a B.A. with honors in acting and directing from the University of California, Irvine, and an M.F.A. in Actor Training & Coaching from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She brings to her work her 14+ years mindfulness practice, including a yoga teacher training, as well as ongoing training in diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.

Outside the theatre, Caitlin loves to play villains in the table-top role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, will talk your ear off about loose-leaf tea, and enjoys long walks through the forests of the Pacific Northwest.