With her experience as a New York City Stage Manager, Larisa has been teaching theatre in Japan for over a decade. She founded International Stage Academy of Performing Arts (ISA) after a group of her Japanese students expressed they wanted to go to New York to study, but didn’t have the means. Larisa believes everyone deserves a chance to realize their dreams, so she gathered her friends from Broadway and the West End to bring the very best education to professional and amateur performers across East Asia. 

Larisa grew up in Michigan, USA, studying piano and percussion from a young age. After high school, she spent a year in Spain studying Flamenco in the mountains of Granada. Larisa moved to New York and graduated university with a degree in Stage Management. For the next few years, she stage managed shows in New York City with casts of large numbers, worked with well known directors and artists, and interned at a major entertainment company. In 2012, Larisa moved to Japan, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Currently, Larisa works with schools in Japan to create theatre programs in English, and can be seen interviewing both Japanese and touring celebrity performers as the Regional Editor for BroadwayWorld. Larisa is also a certified Voice Teacher and gives private voice lessons online, coaches acting, and is a theatre business consultant.