BECOME A GUEST ARTIST INSTRUCTOR WITH OPEN GATE MOVEMENT ARTS

Picture
We are now accepting Guest Artist workshop proposals for both our Continuing Education and Fight Lab series!
​
If your values align with our mission to provide high-quality, accessible stage combat and theatrical movement training to the Chicagoland area, we would love to hear from you!  

Our new Application Process looks like this: 
  1. Click "Teach with us" to submit your proposal(s) for a workshop via Google Form.
  2. We will review your proposals and give you a response within 2 weeks.
  3. If we accept one of your proposals, you'll partner with our head of continuing education for admin and facilitating the class (booking space, transfer weapons, etc.)
  4. If we initially reject your proposals, you can always apply again.

OUR TEAM

We are the goobers behind Open Gate Movement Arts. Read and connect with our staff here. Our company is based out of Chicago, IL.

Nicky Jasper
she/they
SPT Coordinator  & Co-founder

Nicky Jasper is an actor, choreographer and SAFD Certified Teacher. She graduated from East Carolina University with a BFA in Professional Acting in 2013. Nicky is currently an adjunct instructor at Columbia College Chicago in the Stage Combat Department. She also works as a part of the motion capture team at Raven Software.
After graduation, Nicky was a part of the cast at Horn in the West, where she also served as Fight Swing. She later spent two summers in the cast of Tecumseh! Outdoor Drama, where she not only served as Fight Captain and Assistant Fight Choreographer, but was also the first female-identifying actor to have an on-stage featured fight in the show’s long history. Other theatre credits include Gruesome Playground Injuries (Carolina Actor’s Studio Theatre), The Tale of the Little Gentleman (U.S. Premiere, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte), Detroit (Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte), Wasteland Hero (Reutan Collective), and Fight Quest 2 & 4 (Otherworld Theatre Company).
​Nicky has had the privilege of serving on staff at stage combat workshops around the country, including The Winter Wonderland Workshop , The Tourist Trap, The Left Turn, The Louisiana Tech Stage Combat Workshop, Lonestar Smash, The Virginia Beach Bash, and The A-Town Throwdown. She also has previously served as Head Intern for the National Stage Combat Workshop in Ruston, LA. and will be taking over coordination of this workshop in 2023.
She currently serves as the Advanced/Intermediate Actor/Combatant Representative on the Governing Body of the SAFD. She can be reached in this capacity at [email protected]. 


​Connect with Nicky
Personal Website and/or reel
Social 1 
​Social 2
​SAFD Page
Fight Resume
​Other


​Connect with Kate
​Fight Resume
SAFD Page
Alignable
LinkedIn

Kate Booth
she/her
Head Coordinator of Continuing Education

Originally from Wisconsin, Kate Booth is a Chicago-based actor, educator, and fight director who revels in theatre that comes from the soul.

Kate has been teaching stage combat through private lessons and one-off coaching sessions in Chicagoland and the greater Milwaukee area for over 5 years. In addition to being our head coordinator of Continuing Education, she is a founding member and devising/performing artist with To The Point, a theatrical combat performance company that visits renaissance festivals throughout the Midwest.  She steps in to assist her OGMA colleagues Mikey, Nicky, and Dave in the classroom when helpful, and regularly assists Fight Master Chuck Coyl at The Actors Gymnasium in Evanston. She has participated in the SAFD regional workshop circuit, attending The Central Illinois Stage Combat Teacher Trainer, The Winter Wonderland Workshop, The Tourist Trap, The Boil, and The Mentoring Advanced Combatants (MAC) intensive. Fight direction credits include Paramount Theatre, The Conspirators, Kokandy Productions, Oak Park Festival Theatre, as well as universities and high schools.

Kate holds a B.F.A. in performance with an emphasis in acting from Northern Illinois University, which included a study abroad semester at the Moscow Art Theatre School. By day, she is a Product Manager with Purchasing Platform.

Michael Saubert Jr.
he/him
Company Manager, Coordinator of  Fight Lab!  & Co-founder

An actor, stunt-man, educator, martial artist, and choreographer.  You can see him this February on the Civic Opera House stage in Champion (The Lyric Opera). This past year, he performed stunts on FX's Justified: City Primeval, taught stage combat at Writers Theatre in Glencoe, and assistant fight directed on The Who’s Tommy (Goodman Theatre). 
Michael is a member of two motion capture teams for NetherRealm Studios and Raven Software. He can be seen in Mortal Kombat 11, Mortal Kombat Aftermath, Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, the recently released Mortal Kombat 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Vanguard, and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Michael has a BFA in Performance from The University of Illinois at Chicago. He trains at the Actors Gymnasium under Fight Master Chuck Coyl and is one of his teaching assistants. Michael is a regular practitioner of Shaolin Kung Fu and Sanda.


​Connect with Michael
Personal Website and/or reel
Social 1 
​Social 2
​SAFD Page
Fight Resume
​Other


​Connect with Dave
Personal Website and/or reel
Social 1 
​Social 2
​SAFD Page
Fight Resume
​Other

Dave Gonzalez
​he/him
SPT Coordinator  & Co-founder

Dave Gonzalez is a Certified Teacher of both Stage Combat (SAFD) and the Alexander Technique (AmSAT). A long-time member of the Society of American Fight Directors, his Chicago-area credits include Lookingglass Theatre, American Theatre Co, Filament Theatre, The Plagiarists, Roosevelt University, Elmhurst University, Innervation Dance Cooperative, and the world premiere of Last Hermanos at A Red Orchid Theatre; for which he received a Jeff Award nomination in Fight Choreography. 
​Dave has also taught classes across the country; including New Mexico, Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Florida, and the National Stage Combat Workshop.
As a stage combatant, he has performed with Chicago's Lyric Opera on multiple occasions, including a featured fight in the 2014 and 2018 productions of Il Trovatore, and most recently the 2022 production of Verdi's Don Carlos. He is currently teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI.