About

DR. HEATHER L. CORWIN is an actor, teacher, and researcher of acting using a psychology
lens, and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She works at Roosevelt University instructing
movement for graduate students who are elementary and high school teachers in the MA Fast
Track program, owns and runs a private clinical psychology practice, and travels to universities
across the country to teach workshops on mental health for actors.

As a Master Movement Educator and Therapist with the International Somatic Movement
Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA), and a member of the Performing Arts Medicine
Association (PAMA), Heather’s research explores how actor training impacts emotional
intelligence. She has presented and led workshops and master classes on actor training often
combined with mental health at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Illinois
High School Theatre Festival (IHSTF), Michigan Thespian Festival, Voice and Speech Trainers
Association (VASTA), University of Tennessee Knoxville, Commonwealth Shakespeare
Company in Boston, Variant Actors Lab LA, Modern Sex Therapy Institutes in West Palm Beach
FL, Hood college in Maryland, and Stephens College in Missouri, and more. Pedagogical and
psychological research has been published in Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and
Health, Structural Integration: The Journal of the Rolf Institute, and The International Journal
of Transformative Emotional Intelligence: Research, Theory, and Practice. She served as the
Editor of The Players’ Journal (NIU) 2017-2018.

As a member of the on-screen union SAG/AFTRA and stage union AEA, Heather has can be
seen on Grey’s Anatomy, Love in the Time of Monsters; Toyota, ANA Airlines, and Eckerd Photo
Lab commercials, and has played on regional stages including International City Theatre (CA),
Asolo Repertory Theatre (FL), American Stage (FL), The Cleveland Playhouse (OH), The
Falcon Theatre (LA, working directly with Garry Marshall), Nashville Childrens’ Theatre (TN),
Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Chicago Opera Theatre (IL), Nashville Shakespeare Festival (TN),
plus more. At places like Ruth Eckerd Hall (FL), Mockingbird Public Theatre (TN), and many
universities, she has worked behind the scenes as a director, producer, choreographer, movement
coach, acting coach, stage manager, ASM, wardrobe mistress, props mistress, and more.

Heather has won fellowships or grants from the Tennessee Arts Commission, RUTHIE Acting
Grant, NIU College of Visual and Performing Arts Grant, and NIU’s Research and Innovations
Grant. The National Partners in American Theater awarded Heather the Regional Classical
Acting Coach award at the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).
Heather earned her BFA in Theatre from Millikin University, MFA in Theatre from Florida State
University/Asolo Conservatory, and PhD in Clinical Psychology with a somatic concentration
from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles.

Featured Work

The relationship between emotional intelligence and Sanford Meisner actor training. Diss.

2014

Actor training requires students to learn and practice creative skills that overlap with abilities necessary for high emotional intelligence (EI). In this study, the researcher looked at three groups studying actor training: Sanford Meisner actor training, non-Meisner, and those interested in actor training who had not studied it before to determine if skills of EI are impacted through having participants take the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT v2.0) before and after actor training. Results from the between-subjects analysis indicated that no significant difference existed in the average of two test scores between groups (Meisner, non-Meisner, and acting interest), F(2, 79) = 0.240, p = .787, partial eta-squared (ηp2)= .006. That is, on average the Meisner group (M = 2.506, SD = 0.219) did not score significantly different from the non-Meisner group (M = 2.518, SD = 0.197) or the acting interest group (M = 2.515, SD = 0.191). The second area of this study examined gender within the Meisner group, which indicated that a significant difference in EI posttest scores did not exist between male and female students, after controlling for EI pretest scores, F(1, 29) = 0.117, p = .735, partial-eta squared = .004. The results of this study suggest that EI cannot be impacted in less than 16 weeks by engaging in creative or imagined character exploration, through Meisner or other actor training.

Other Works

  • Somatic Psychology and Chekhov: A Perfect Pairing

    2024

  • One Rolfer's® View on Pregnancy, Aging, and Career

    2022

  • Trust: The Bedrock of Relationships

    2020

  • The Power of Words: Borrowing Psychology for Bodywork

    2018

  • Melding Interdisciplinary Fields: Performing Arts, Bodywork, Psychology, and Teaching

    2017

  • Research Basics: Definitions, Methods, and Where to Begin

    2016

  • The Interwoven Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence and Sanford Meisner Actor Training

    2016

  • Performing, Creativity, and the Body: An Interview with Director Monica Payne

    2015

  • Sensory Awareness and Feline Play

    2015

  • Attachment Theory and the Therapeutic Relationship

    2015

  • Empathy and Applied Empathy through the Lens of Rolfing® SI and Actor Training

    2015

  • Evolving the actor's neutral body

    2012

  • A Secure Attachment Base is Ideal to be a Great Learner

    2012

Awards and Recognition

  • Ruthie Acting Grant
  • Tennessee Arts Commission Acting Grant
  • Interdisciplinary Challenge Grant NIU
  • Research and Innovations Grant NIU
  • College of Visual and Performing Arts Grant NIU
  • Regional Winner – Classical Acting Award Coach, National Partners in American Theater, Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival