A live immersive performance, EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Geffen takes place. The actor engages an audience member under a ceiling featuring colorful fabric drapes and patterns. The audience surrounds the stage, seated on chairs and benches.
A man and woman share a tender moment, touching foreheads with eyes closed: a moment from Pasadena Playhouse's UNCLE VANYA
The image shows a stage scene with several actors, a chandelier hanging above, and purple lighting. The actors are performing a party sequence from JERSEY BOYS at La Mirada Playhouse
Two men are in a dramatic emotional scene, one on knees clutching his face in distress, the other holding him from behind in comfort, with a shadowy figure standing in the background. A moment from THE INHERITANCE at Geffen Playhouse
Stage scene with two performers in the throes of love; a woman and man lie on the stage floor, with blue vertical beams and a moon overhead, lit with blue lighting.

Consent as Care and Craft,

Experimentation as Play and Pedagogy.

Amanda Rose Villarreal is a scholar, artist, and educator drawn to the electricity of co-creation through which story becomes embodied.

Her scholarship and artistry often center consent-based performance practices. Amanda Rose works as an intimacy choreographer and coordinator throughout the US, and edits the Journal of Consent-Based Performance.

Perhaps most notably, Amanda Rose works globally in immersive and gamified performances, crafting tools for audiences and performers to negotiate story and shared presence in real time, where consent is not a checkbox but a recursive, engaged process.

Consent is key to effective collaboration; Amanda Rose is therefore passionate about the ecology of collaboration and how we hold uncertainty, how we repair, and how we make room for play within creative processes while crafting art that lingers.

Immersive Artist
Intimacy Artist
Performance Activism
Researcher
Educator
  • Two men are lying on the floor in a close, intimate pose, with one man lying on his side and the other resting on his side facing him. The man on the left has dark curly hair and a beard, while the man on the right has dark straight hair and is looking towards the camera.

    The Inheritance (2022): Intimacy Choreographer.

    directed by Mike Donahue at Geffen Playhouse

  • Two actors are engaged in an intense scene, with a man holding a woman close as she covers her mouth with her hand, in a dramatic theatrical performance.

    Women of Zalongo (2023): Intimacy Choreographer.

    an NEA grant-funded project directed by Kari Hayter at Santa Monica Playhouse

  • Two actors performing in a theater, one man in a tuxedo sitting on a red and gold ornate sofa, and one woman leaning toward him, wearing a purple robe, engaging in a dramatic scene.

    A Little Night Music (2023): Intimacy Choreographer.

    directed by David Lee at Pasadena Playhouse

  • A woman with short, curly hair wearing a beige coat with a fuzzy collar, a black shirt, and a pearl necklace is holding a green mug while looking down. She is in a room with colorful decor, including shelves with various items and patterned tiles on the wall. Several other people sit nearby.

    Fefu and Her Friends (2023): Director and Intimacy Choreographer.

    an immersive production at the Golleher Alumni House

  • A woman with dark curly hair wearing a brown beanie and a leather jacket, holding a cloth with both hands, illuminated by blue and red lighting.

    Project Ascension (2022): Consent Consultant and Performer.

    a pervasive game produced by Sinking Ship Creations in NYC.

  • a scene of group intimacy from the 2024 La Mirada Theatre production of Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

    Jersey Boys (2024): Intimacy Choreographer

    at La Mirada Theatre, directed by TJ Dawson

  • The image shows a performance or discussion event in a dimly lit theater with an audience seated around a stage. The stage has four people seated in chairs, with colorful hanging fabric decorations overhead.

    Every Brilliant Thing (2023): Intimacy Director

    at Geffen Playhouse, directed by Colm Summers

As an educator…

A Guiding Faculty for Theatrical Intimacy Education, I have trained theatre artists and educators across the US, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

After a decade of experience teaching theatre in K-12 settings and directing youth theatre, I developed and now lead the teacher credentialing program at California State University Fullerton, supporting emerging educators as they build classrooms, studio spaces, and stages rooted in curiosity, consent-based pedagogy, and rigorous theatrical craft.

As an educator, I am passionate not only about ethical and equitable theatre education, but also about quality professional development for theatre teachers and teaching artists that addresses the unique needs of creative classrooms outside of the common core.

A woman wearing glasses and a black shirt with 'Theatrical Intimacy' written on it stands in front of a group of diverse people, who are standing and listening attentively in a bright room.
Book titled 'The Theatre Artist's Guide to Consent-Based Pedagogy' by Amanda Rose Villarreal and Kim Shively, with colorful illustrations of diverse people performing and acting.

Now Available: The Theatre Artist’s Guide to Consent-Based Pedagogy

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Now Available: The Theatre Artist’s Guide to Consent-Based Pedagogy 〰️〰️〰️