Arielle Knittel
Arielle Knittel is a San Diego-based performer and lifelong creative who has spent most of her professional life working in education and youth enrichment. A musician since childhood and a longtime dancer, she has performed as a singer, plays saxophone and banjo (much to the dismay of the apartment beside hers), and is now happily adding acting to the ever-growing list of art forms she refuses to choose between. After years of helping kids find their own creativity, she’s currently enjoying being a student again herself, and finding a wonderful creative community at The Actor’s Place.
What are your name and pronouns?
My name is Arielle Knittel and my pronouns are she/her.
What is your profession?
I am an educator slash manager. I help run elementary school education programs around San Diego, I still teach occasionally too, but I’m more on the back end of things now.
What do you love about acting?
I love what it does for the actor and I also love what it does for their audience. So for the actor, it allows you to explore emotions that you have probably been feeling since you were born, but getting back in touch with them in their very honest, raw form, because as we get older, we kind of learn to diminish our emotions, especially in professional spaces, and that is not super healthy. And I think sometimes it makes it harder and harder to empathize with the world and just feel things. I like that acting takes the actor back to feeling the feelings they felt when they were kids, like feeling them for the first time again. And I think what that does for the audience is it lets them see, visually, maybe some feelings that they have had, but more clearly and in a very safe space on the stage. It helps them become more empathetic with the world too, by like seeing it played out in front of them too.
What play, musical, or live performance got you into acting?
I was in 8th grade, and I was going through an emo phase, I was all My Chemical Romance, I didn’t care about the Jonas Brothers, I was very dedicated to being edgy. And my mom and aunt dragged me to a showing of Hairspray, and initially I was like, “this is going to be so stupid, why am I here.” And my little emo heart didn’t want to admit it at the time, but it was transformational. I loved how honest it was, it was funny, the actors didn’t give a shit what they were doing up there, they were just giving it their all. When you’re in eighth grade, you’re feeling very self conscious, and so to see people just not being self conscious at all and just doing what they love, I was like, oh no, I think I love Hairspray and I think I love theatre.
Is there any advice you'd like to give to someone looking to get into acting?
I’m sure people hear this all the time, but don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. That’s the first step is just allowing yourself to be affected by your own emotions again. All the walls that you built up, just work on building them back down again, because that’s kind of what you need to do to not just act, but to have fun acting.
What is your go-to warm-up before a class, rehearsal, or performance?
I listen to a lot of Kendrick in the car before I go to a performance to warm up my vocal muscles, like a lot of quick fire rap songs. And then, at a performance, in the rehearsal room, just like basic vocal exercises and also basic stretching and getting into your body, I didn’t realize how important that was until I tried it.
What is one of the most valuable things you have learned so far in your classes at The Actor's Place?
The importance of community, if you’re trying to perform, a lot of the opportunities that come your way are just from talking to other people in the class. That’s how literally all of the performance opportunities for me have come up. And you’re working with people who are also kind of new and maybe having the same concerns about if they’re good, if they’re not good. And just having someone like that to vent to sometimes until we can help build each other up has been the best part about the Actor’s Place.
Why did you choose to take classes at the Actor's Place?
If I remember correctly, the advertising was specifically for people who were just getting started. It didn’t feel as intimidating as a lot of other places, and I felt like I was actually going to learn the basics there and that’s been very true so far.​
Larissa Santos
Larissa Santos is an actor from Tijuana, Mexico, with over 11 years of experience in musical theatre. She has appeared in productions including Peter Pan, Oliver Twist, Avenue Q, Hercules, High School Musical: On Stage, and Lady of the Dawn, along with showcases through Spotlight ON! under Jeffrey Sparsons. She recently performed in Quince at the Lamplighters Community Theatre (New Plays Festival 2025) and currently appears in Dracula with IFCT in San Diego. Always growing her craft, Larissa trains privately in voice at Blue Music Studio and acting at The Actors Place, and paints on glass and watercolor as part of her business, "Lari Paints the Glass." Through every role, Larissa carries one dream close to her heart: to keep stepping onto the stage, letting roles find her, making a little magic, and filling her heart with happiness along the way.
What are your name and pronouns?
My name is Larissa and my pronouns are she/her.
What is your profession?
My profession right now, I audit documents, so I would be like an Auditor, I work for a company in Miami, so basically I am an archivist and I audit, so kind of like an administrator right now.
What is it that you love about musical theatre?
Well first of all, I love that we can tell different stories, it’s the exciting part for me. Like trying to figure out my role, and start building with imagination, the story of the character that I’ve been assigned. And the magic that happens behind everything is just like (mimes mind being blown), it’s something that excites me a lot, makes me really happy, and also the adrenaline of being on stage, is something that I will never stop trying to pursue, so I can keep feeling those nerves, it’s very inspiring. It’s just like, all of the magic you can do, musical theatre is just amazing, I just love it.
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If you could only listen to one musical for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Of course, I would say Wicked, and Pippin. I really like Pippin, the music is so cheerful, I really enjoy the beats. It’s something that, if I’m feeling down, I just like to go back to the music of Pippin, there’s something special about it. And I will also say Beetlejuice, I have a lot of Beetlejuice songs in my playlist that hype me up too. And of course, Defining Gravity, that’s the one.
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Is there any advice you'd like to give to someone looking to get into acting or musical theatre?
Yes, I would say, to not be afraid of taking up space. Personally, I sometimes feel small and not talented enough to be in the room. That made me miss a lot of opportunities or not enjoy my process of being an actor. So I would say, let’s not be afraid of taking up space and just being there, we all deserve to be in the room and just enjoy what we love. That’s something I would like to say to all the people that would like to try acting, just keep doing it, try, and any opportunity you can see, take it, any class, any masterclass, or any audition, just go for it, keep doing it, and eventually things will start moving.
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What is your go-to warm-up before a class, rehearsal, or performance?
I like to meditate, first of all, I go to the mirror and I start talking to myself, the typical phrases, like “you got this”, “you can do it”, “we are talented enough to do this”. I also like to stretch, and do some movements to start getting warm. I'll probably go for a walk, but mostly stretching, and trying to hype myself up, talk to myself, and mentalize that. It’s going to happen, it’s going to start, so let’s do it, and let’s enjoy this.
What is one of the most valuable things you have learned so far in your classes at The Actor's Place?
Something that I’ve been learning from the Actor’s Place is that it’s okay not to be perfect. The last class I took was Musical Theatre for Beginners, and I really like to learn from Natalie. One of the things we talked about in class was that it’s okay to make mistakes and let’s celebrate them, because we’re not perfect. And that room is a safe place, and we’re all learning and we’re all looking for the same thing, to grow and to shine. Something that I’ve been learning from the Actor’s Place is to be yourself and to be open to everything, everything that happens in the room, it helps you grow.
Why did you choose to take classes at the Actor's Place?
Honestly, a friend of mine took a masterclass with Natalie, and she recommended I join the Actor’s Place, she said it was really good. I took, with my friend, Audition Ready with Natalie and Katie, and the environment and the quality of the teachers was so welcoming. What I really like about the Actor’s Place is that they care about you, they really care about you, and that you learn and that you feel comfortable with yourself and feel comfortable being there, because it can be something very vulnerable and can sometimes be scary. They make you feel safe. That’s why I love the Actor’s Place and I’m always recommending them to everybody, because I’ve been growing a lot and I feel really good with myself, and I can go out there and expose myself to auditions and everything. And the knowledge Natalie has is really good, and I’ve been learning a lot from her on how to work on a song.
You can see Larissa perform at IFCT this month, click here for tickets!