Samantha Kaufman
Intimacy Director
Samantha Kaufman is a certified Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC), where she has been certified since 2020 after originally earning certification with Intimacy Directors International (IDI) in 2018. She has been a teaching artist with IDC since its inception and with IDI since 2018.
Samantha’s intimacy direction and education work spans theatre, opera, film, and higher education across the United States and internationally. Her professional credits include Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Houston Grand Opera, among others. She has also worked with Prague Shakespeare Company, where she has served as a resident artist.
She has taught intimacy practices at universities, conservatories, and professional training programs nationwide and internationally. Samantha is deeply committed to artist advocacy and integrating consent-based practices into creative communities.
Samantha’s intimacy direction and education work spans theatre, opera, film, and higher education across the United States and internationally. Her professional credits include Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Houston Grand Opera, among others. She has also worked with Prague Shakespeare Company, where she has served as a resident artist.
She has taught intimacy practices at universities, conservatories, and professional training programs nationwide and internationally. Samantha is deeply committed to artist advocacy and integrating consent-based practices into creative communities.
Training:
Certified Intimacy Director | Intimacy Directors and Coordinators
Certified Intimacy Director | Intimacy Directors International (2019-2020)
Beginner Diploma | Theatrical Intimacy Education
*Training Mentors and Teachers Include | Claire Warden | Alicia Rodis | Tonia Sina | Dan Granke
Press:
Houston Press: "By the way, the intimacy director Samantha Kaufman must have worked triple overtime on this opera with all its simulated sex scenes. She deserves some type of award"
Houston Press: "Given the subject matter, it's no surprise than an intimacy coordinator was brought in. This helps, Snouffer says, because it takes the interaction away from the personal and moves it to more of a directed experience. "We have two people working with us, Samantha Kauffman and Adam Noble[ for fight scenes]. It's basically the same thing as fight choreography. Obviously we're not stabbing each other on stage. It's the same thing with scenes with any kind of physical intimacy, She's helping guide us so we're not two people improvising those things together. It also takes the personal aspect away from it. It's a choreography. So it's not like my body doing it or Ryan's body doing it. It's what we've been told our bodies do.""
EarRelevant: "The sex scenes between the lovers never feel shocking or uncomfortable, a credit to Samantha Kaufman, working in the roles of intimacy directors."
JHNG Interview: Riot Act's 'Skin a Cat' is a disarming tale of growing up
Broadway World: "The whole "Walking in Space" number transcended this HAIR into another dimension. It's an orgy sequence complete with a sprawling universe; imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Dionysus '69. The cast disrobes; the orgy begins. But this is not just any ordinary orgy. This is like the creation of the universe, with shooting stars in the cosmos resembling spermatozoa streaking towards their destination."
Talking Broadway and Chicago On Stage: "This is a play so full of simulated sex that I feel the need to call out intimacy designer Samantha Kaufman for her extraordinary work that helped bring director Arti Ishak's vision of the piece to the stage."
"To [Ishak's] and Kaufman's credit, Peck and Siddique seem entirely comfortable with whatever they are called on to do."
Chicago Theatre Review: Opposites Do Attract: "Huge praise for the almost nonstop fight and intimacy direction guided by Samantha Kaufman. Without her work this production wouldn’t be the same."
Chicago Reader: Academic Fireworks: "Well, as the title implies, that initial acrimony gives way to passionate physical and intellectual fireworks. (Kudos to Samantha Kaufman’s inspired intimacy direction.)"
Around the Town Chicago: Hatefuck Review: "Best of all is Samantha Kaufman’s fight and intimacy design: doing incredible work with regard to all of the sex scenes and those containing some amount of violence."
Chicago Reader: Messy Muslims: "Samantha Kaufman serves as the fight and intimacy director, helping build a rehearsal culture where actors have agency over their bodies."
Around the Town Chicago: Pro-Am Review "Kudos to violence and intimacy director Samantha Kaufman who has done a great job regarding scenes with close contact"
Read more about Samantha in this Canvas Rebel article.
Certified Intimacy Director | Intimacy Directors and Coordinators
Certified Intimacy Director | Intimacy Directors International (2019-2020)
Beginner Diploma | Theatrical Intimacy Education
*Training Mentors and Teachers Include | Claire Warden | Alicia Rodis | Tonia Sina | Dan Granke
Press:
Houston Press: "By the way, the intimacy director Samantha Kaufman must have worked triple overtime on this opera with all its simulated sex scenes. She deserves some type of award"
Houston Press: "Given the subject matter, it's no surprise than an intimacy coordinator was brought in. This helps, Snouffer says, because it takes the interaction away from the personal and moves it to more of a directed experience. "We have two people working with us, Samantha Kauffman and Adam Noble[ for fight scenes]. It's basically the same thing as fight choreography. Obviously we're not stabbing each other on stage. It's the same thing with scenes with any kind of physical intimacy, She's helping guide us so we're not two people improvising those things together. It also takes the personal aspect away from it. It's a choreography. So it's not like my body doing it or Ryan's body doing it. It's what we've been told our bodies do.""
EarRelevant: "The sex scenes between the lovers never feel shocking or uncomfortable, a credit to Samantha Kaufman, working in the roles of intimacy directors."
JHNG Interview: Riot Act's 'Skin a Cat' is a disarming tale of growing up
Broadway World: "The whole "Walking in Space" number transcended this HAIR into another dimension. It's an orgy sequence complete with a sprawling universe; imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Dionysus '69. The cast disrobes; the orgy begins. But this is not just any ordinary orgy. This is like the creation of the universe, with shooting stars in the cosmos resembling spermatozoa streaking towards their destination."
Talking Broadway and Chicago On Stage: "This is a play so full of simulated sex that I feel the need to call out intimacy designer Samantha Kaufman for her extraordinary work that helped bring director Arti Ishak's vision of the piece to the stage."
"To [Ishak's] and Kaufman's credit, Peck and Siddique seem entirely comfortable with whatever they are called on to do."
Chicago Theatre Review: Opposites Do Attract: "Huge praise for the almost nonstop fight and intimacy direction guided by Samantha Kaufman. Without her work this production wouldn’t be the same."
Chicago Reader: Academic Fireworks: "Well, as the title implies, that initial acrimony gives way to passionate physical and intellectual fireworks. (Kudos to Samantha Kaufman’s inspired intimacy direction.)"
Around the Town Chicago: Hatefuck Review: "Best of all is Samantha Kaufman’s fight and intimacy design: doing incredible work with regard to all of the sex scenes and those containing some amount of violence."
Chicago Reader: Messy Muslims: "Samantha Kaufman serves as the fight and intimacy director, helping build a rehearsal culture where actors have agency over their bodies."
Around the Town Chicago: Pro-Am Review "Kudos to violence and intimacy director Samantha Kaufman who has done a great job regarding scenes with close contact"
Read more about Samantha in this Canvas Rebel article.
Testimonials video put together and made by Kathryn Jankowski in 2020, for inquiries email her at: [email protected].
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"Sam is a joy to be around and always has a crucial insight or perspective that can turn the world on its head. She is unassumingly wise, sassy, clever, open, compassionate, and knowledgeable. Her organization and leadership skills are impeccable. I will be taking any opportunity I can to work with her again, be it in the classroom or the rehearsal space."
- Firen Williams
"Sam is a joy to be around and always has a crucial insight or perspective that can turn the world on its head. She is unassumingly wise, sassy, clever, open, compassionate, and knowledgeable. Her organization and leadership skills are impeccable. I will be taking any opportunity I can to work with her again, be it in the classroom or the rehearsal space."
- Firen Williams