Tonya Lynn is a SAFD Certified Teacher and Fight Director based in Pittsburgh, PA. Her fight directing credits include over 150 productions, with highlights including Il Trovatore at Pittsburgh Opera, the world premiere of Storming Heaven at West Virginia Public Theatre, the original production Sword Play at Colonial Williamsburg, VA, the Pittsburgh premiere of She Kills Monsters at the University of Pittsburgh (including a sold-out encore performance at the August Wilson Cultural Center), and 17 productions with Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks. She is also active in many local theatre training programs, providing choreography on multiple occasions for Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University, the University of Pittsburgh, Allegheny College, and many others. Tonya is a co-founder of Brawling Bard Theater (a five-time award winner at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival), and a company member with the New Renaissance Theatre Company.
Tonya is a Teaching Artist in Residence at the University of Pittsburgh, an adjunct instructor at Point Park University and the Community College of Allegheny County South Campus, and has worked as a guest artist in stage combat at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as serving as a teaching artist with Pittsburgh Public Theatre, City Theatre, Gateway to the Arts, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She is a workshop coordinator for the Fight Choreographer Track at the Summer Sling Stage Combat Workshop at Brooklyn College, and co-founder and Workshop Coordinator for the Allegheny Alley Fight, a regional SAFD workshop in the Pittsburgh area since 2015.
I am a graduate of The New School for Drama MFA Acting program in New York City. While at The New School, I worked in close collaboration with artists in stage and film creating new works; Solo Performance, Playwriting from Personal Perspective, and had the opportunity to workshop installation pieces with Parson's Communication Technology and Design students. Currently, I am a good standing member of The Association of Movement Theatre Educators (ATME) having just returned from presenting, Intimacy in a Digital Age: Removing Walls and Filters to find Authentic Self at this year’s Colloquium. In 2017, I performed Dichotomies of the Body: Spectacle and Skin, Shame and Salvation, a devised movement piece selected as part of The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Conference’s After Dark Series at Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. This past August presented at ATHE, speaking on the panel Intimacy Direction vs Cultural Change.
Aside for my skills in storytelling I have earned my 200-hour YogaWorks Teacher Certification along with certifications in Lagree Fitness Method and ACE Personal Training. As a certified instructor serving the Greater New York Area I have built a network fostering online and personal trainer/client relationships while designing individual and group exercise formats that are both challenging and fun; safe and effective for everyone.