Newlywed Arika Nabutovsky (formerly Cohen) brings a wealth of experience and an optimistic, fun-loving attitude to the acting community. Even before she arrived at South, she had established herself as a woman with big dreams and an equally powerful heart.
Before taking her current position, Nabutovsky worked at Horizons for Homeless Children, a foundation which creates community centers to provide homeless children with a safe place to play, and their parents with education so as to help improve their living situations. Nabutovsky spent two years working for this organization, the years when she believed she was in the most prime shape for the job.
“Working at Horizons for Homeless Children was awesome, but really intense,” Nabutovsky said. “At the time, I wanted to do something really hard, but I was still young enough to have enough energy to handle the harrowing emotion.”
Upon deciding that it was time for a change, Nabutovsky discovered an opening for a teaching position at Newton South, and she hastened to seize the opportunity.
“I jumped on it,” Nabutovsky said, “and I love it here!”
Currently, Nabutovsky teaches Intro to Acting. She also runs an acting class specifically for ELL students, which is new as of this year. This class is both for students who have emigrated from their countries of origin very recently, and for those who have been here for a longer while. The students in the class speak a wide variety of languages, but the class is held mostly in English and focuses on both vocabulary and pronunciation.
“Many of the students have electronic translators, and sometimes the kids will translate for each other,” Nabutovsky said. “For instance, if I say something in English which a Chinese student understands, but a Korean student does not, the first person may type in the phrase in Chinese and translate it to Korean for the other student!”
Nabutovsky also boasts a vast array of skills and hobbies outside the realm of teaching. She is an artist, specializing in 2D and 3D work, as well as cake decorating. She additionally works on scenic, costume, and makeup design for theatre and film productions. At home, she enjoys growing her garden, and is a fan of Doctor Who and Sherlock.
She also is an actress herself. She particularly loves to direct big shows; her largest cast consisted of 70 actors.
“If possible, I don’t like to turn anyone away,” Nabutovsky said.
Out of all the plays she has ever been involved in, Nabutovsky nominates a multimedia production of Macbeth for first place, a production which combined both theatre and film. In the show, kids acted in front of a large screen which played filmed sections that lent themselves to cinematic rendition.
“For instance, during Lady Macbeth’s hallucination of blood on her hands, we had previously filmed the actress playing out the hallucination, so the actual vision the character saw was projected behind her as she acted out the scene,” Nabutovsky said.
So far, Nabutovsky’s performance as a teacher has received rave reviews.
“I think she’s very energetic and friendly,” freshman and Intro to Acting student Liel Dolev said. “I think she has the perfect balance of games and knowledge about acting. Overall I really like the class.”
Fine arts department head Jeff Knoedler gave her similar praise.
“What sets her apart is her zest for teaching,” he said. “Her spirit that makes her fun and engaging both in the classroom and out.”
