Adjunct Professors of Theatre

Robin Larsen

Adjunct Professor of Theatre

Robin Larsen is a Los Angeles-based theatre director known for “so many superlative productions” (Hollywood Reporter). She is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing and is the Founding Artistic Director of Lobby Theatre, in residence at AGBO Films in downtown Los Angeles. Dedicated to plays and playwrights that illuminate the social and moral challenges of the 21st century, Lobby premiered in 2023 with Pulitzer Prize-finalist Aleshea Harris’s Is God Is. 

Robin’s work has been seen at South Coast Repertory, The Wallis Annenberg Center, Disney Hall (with the LA Philharmonic), and Antaeus Company, among others. As a founding member of Rogue Machine Theater, Robin directed the west coast premiere of Joel Drake Johnson’s Four Places, which won the Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Backstage Garland Awards for Best Production. Also for Rogue Machine, she staged the Los Angeles premiere of David Harrower’s Blackbird (LA Times, LA Weekly, Huffington Post, KCRW “Best of Year” lists, and LA Times “Best Theatre of the Decade”). Regional and world premieres include the world premiere of Keith Huff’s Pursued by Happiness, the west coast premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s The Revisionist, starring Tony-winner Deanna Dunagan, the west coast premiere of Joel Drake Johnson’s The Fall to Earth at the Odyssey Theatre, starring JoBeth Williams, and the Los Angeles premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s I and You at the Fountain Theatre. 

Robin was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and attended the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami. After a four-year stop in Dallas, TX, where she earned a BFA in Acting from SMU, she continued west to Los Angeles, where another degree followed: an MFA in Film Directing/Production from UCLA. While at UCLA, she won the Student Academy Award, the DGA Student Film Award, and the Princess Grace Award. After grad school, Robin collaborated on numerous film and TV projects with Joe and Anthony Russo, wrote for Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures, and had her work screen internationally at Cannes and Berlinale and stateside at Tribeca and Austin. Robin is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Guild and an emeritus member of the Writer’s Guild of America.

Maya Billig

Adjunct Professor of Theatre

Maya Billig is a choreographer, director, and educator based in Los Angeles, California. Working as an independent artist for over a decade, she has traveled to more than 35 countries performing, teaching, and training in a range of dance techniques. Maya has created multiple full-length shows, dance films, and music videos, with her dance films screening at international festivals across Europe. Her work has been supported by organizations such as Jacob’s Pillow, the Knight Foundation, and Dance Magazine. She teaches dance as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and UCLA, sharing her passion for movement with the next generation of pre-professional artists and students. Maya received an MFA in Choreographic Inquiry from UCLA, and a BFA in dance from New World School of the Arts/ University of Florida.