Samantha Kaufman

"Sam is one of the best Fight Directors in the business. Her process is engaging, professional, and fun. I've seen her work with young adults and seasoned professionals and witnessed the fruits of her labor countless times around the Chicagoland area and through the stage combat workshop circuit.

I was happy to be directed by her myself in a show for both intimacy and fight oriented scenes in 2017 and grateful she appointed me as fight captain. The entire cast felt empowered by our work with Sam and inspired to do our best.

Overall, I cannot recommend them enough, in both academic and professional settings!"

"An exceptional, honest and empathetic human, and an amazing artist of integrity, expertise and passion. Given the opportunity, I will always choose to work with Samantha."

"Samantha Kaufman is a driven and compassionate educator. Her background allows her to understand physical movements and the theoretical approaches from self practice and trial and error. This not only gives her a perspective that transcends a just by the book approach but an approach that can be shifted in the applied area as well as theoretical. Simply stated she can adjust and give direction and correction in the moment when a misalignment or miststep has been made. She carries a warm heart but a disclipline mind with her clients. If need be, she can aid in the clients need to improve because she understands the clients need not only for performance but personal improvement."

" Samantha is incredible at what she does. I first met her at one of her workshops and was so impressed that I brought her on for our production of "Alias Grace." Her talent lies not just in technical skills but in how she works with people. Before diving into any scene work, she really listens - to the actors, to the creative team, to everyone's needs and concerns. When she coordinated the intimate scenes for our show, she found that perfect balance between powerful storytelling and performer comfort. She brings such deep knowledge to both fight choreography and intimacy coordination, yet makes everyone feel at ease in the process. Working with her was a genuine pleasure, and the results speak for themselves. "

""Sam is a joy to be around and always has a crucial insight or perspective that can turn the world on its head. She is unassumingly wise, sassy, clever, open, compassionate, and knowledgeable. Her organization and leadership skills are impeccable. I will be taking any opportunity I can to work with her again, be it in the classroom or the rehearsal space." - Firen Williams"

"Samantha was a wonderful teacher: she took me, a dancer who's never touched a knife in her life, to be able to do a full on knife fight scene as HAL in HENRY V! "

"Samantha is fantastic! I have worked with her as a teacher, a mentor, and a colleague while I was shadowing and working as an Assistant Intimacy Director for her on a project. She was the first welcoming face when I started getting into this field and she is a wealth of knowledge of scripts, people, and creative ideas. She is able to quickly evaluate her surroundings, the people she is working with, as well as adapt her agenda to fit to those she is talking to and future goals. I would whole-heartedly recommend her skills because she is always willing to help someone that is reaching out and anyone would be fortunate to work with her due to her creativity and flexibility with her craft."

"Sam has an uncanny knack for dealing with tough people and tough emotions in the theatre. I absolutely trust the process whenever I’ve worked with her on any show, and I am a fairly skeptical person. She is a great listener, communicator, and has a lot of knowledge. I not only would recommend her, but have many times."