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AKIKO AIZAWA
Movement 3 & 4
As an actor, Akiko Aizawa has devoted her career to some of the most rigorous and influential physical theatre training in the world. She is internationally recognized for her work with the legendary Suzuki Company of Toga and the acclaimed SITI Company, where she performed, taught, and helped preserve two of the most important actor training methodologies of the last fifty years. At the Maggie Flanigan Studio, Akiko teaches Movement 3 (Suzuki Method) and Movement 4 (Viewpoints), continuing MFS's commitment to developing physically expressive, disciplined, and imaginative actors.
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
“I was placed in the intense reigns of Charlie Sandlan. I became a better artist, actor, friend, sibling and daughter because of the studio. Even now, I crave the studio every day. What I learned is present in my work every day. I truly believe in everything they stand for.”
Jes Macallan
“Maggie taught me that I could control my work, my acting, and to throw all of the bullshit out that I had in my head about ‘what I should be doing’ and to just listen and respond honestly, in the moment. She gave me a craft. She is, quite simply put, THE BEST.”
Piper Perabo
“Maggie Flanigan taught me the true meaning of artistry, passion, and professionalism. I am certain that I continue to work as an actress because of my training with Maggie. At every audition and every performance, her guiding voice is with me. It is a gift beyond measure.”
Andrea Anders
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Philosophy
The body is one of the actor's greatest instruments of expression. Great physical training does not ask actors to perform movement—it teaches them to cultivate presence, discipline, awareness, and expressive freedom. Through the Suzuki Method and Viewpoints, students develop a grounded, powerful, and responsive instrument capable of meeting the physical and imaginative demands of professional acting.
At the Maggie Flanigan Studio, movement is never taught in isolation from acting. It exists to deepen the actor's ability to listen, respond, imagine, and create truthful human behavior. Akiko's classroom challenges students to cultivate precision without rigidity, strength without tension, and freedom through disciplined practice. Her work prepares actors to collaborate confidently with directors and ensembles while developing the physical simplicity, presence, and expressive range required for a lifetime devoted to the craft.
ACTING STUDIO NEW YORK NY
The Maggie Flanigan Studio is the leading acting studio in New York City where professional actors train for long careers. The acting programs at the drama school are based on the Meisner Technique and the work of Sanford Meisner. The two year acting program includes acting classes, movement classes, voice and speech for actors, commercial acting classes, on camera classes, cold reading, monologue, playwriting, script analysis and the Meisner Summer Intensive.
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Education & Training
Akiko spent seven years as a member of the internationally renowned Suzuki Company of Toga under the direction of Tadashi Suzuki before joining the SITI Company in 1997. She became a core member of the SITI Conservatory faculty, teaching the Suzuki Method and Viewpoints extensively throughout the United States and internationally. Her decades of experience place her among a small group of artists who have trained and taught these disciplines at the highest professional level.
Experience
During her distinguished career with the SITI Company, Akiko appeared in more than thirty productions directed by Anne Bogart, including The Bacchae (Brooklyn Academy of Music and Guthrie Theater), A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), Falling & Loving (with STREB Extreme Action), Steel Hammer (music by Julia Wolfe), American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), the theater is a blank page (with Ann Hamilton), Trojan Women(Getty Villa), bobrauschenbergamerica (American Repertory Theater), Radio Macbeth (The Public Theater), and Culture of Desire (New York Theatre Workshop).
Additional theater credits include Hanjo (directed by Leon Ingulsrud), Suicide Forest (directed by Aya Ogawa), and Sleep (directed by Rachel Dickstein). During her years with the Suzuki Company of Toga, she appeared in productions including The Trojan Women, Three Sisters, Dionysus, The Bacchae, The Chronicle of Macbeth, Ivanov, Waiting for Romeo, and Greetings from the Edge of the Earth, all under the direction of Tadashi Suzuki.
Akiko has taught and led workshops extensively throughout the United States and internationally as a guest artist at universities, conservatories, and professional training programs. She is a member of Actors' Equity Association, One Year Lease Theater Company, SITI Company Emeritus Artists, and APT Performing Company.
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SIX-WEEK MEISNER SUMMER INTENSIVE
Begins June 12th, 2026
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