Twila Fraser-Hewlett is a BFA Drama student in the New Studio on Broadway at the renowned Tisch School for the Arts, New York University. She is an actor, dancer, singer, and theatre-maker. She most recently worked as a professional producing intern for the 2026 Prototype Festival, one of the world's top festivals of contemporary opera and theatre, produced by the renowned new music theatre company, Beth Morrison Projects. Twila has also worked for The Industry Opera, an acclaimed site-specific opera theatre company based in Los Angeles.
In the summer of 2024, Twila attended the British American Drama Academy (BADA) at Oxford University, where she participated in the Midsummer at Oxford Summer program, a selective and intensive Shakespeare training program. She is a three-time alumna of the prestigious Interlochen Summer Arts camp, where she received the coveted Maddy Award and the National Youth Arts Award for her performance as Mother in Ragtime.
Upcoming roles include her performance in the 2026 New Studio Freeplay theatre festival and the New Studio on Broadway production of Titanic, directed by Ellie handel with music direction by Brian Walters.
Past roles included Wei in the Nine Shadows in Bloom, a devised experimental theatre piece produced by Dreamborn Theatre Company at the Chaine Theatre in New York City. She also appeared as King Duncan and Hecate in Macbeth as part of the New Studio on Broadway Shakespeare projects.
Producing & Directing: In the fall of 2025, Twila directed and choreographed David Ive's Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread for the NYU American Classics Theatre Company. And in the spring of 2025, Twila produced, directed and starred in a new staged adaptation of the Opera America-winning pop opera Emily and Sue by Dana Kaufman and Aiden K. Feltcamp for the NYU New Studio on Broadway Free-play Festival.
Twila is actively involved in student films and multiple student theatre companies within the Tisch School, including NYU Shakespeare in the Square and the American Classics Theatre. She has also appeared in several student films through the Tisch School and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
Additional credits include the role of the child in the art film Still Life After Death, directed by 5-time Emmy-winning Sandra Powers, which premiered at the Sharjah Art Festival in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and was later released on Amazon Prime Video.
Background
Twila grew up with a unique exposure to operatic-contemporary music and modern dance. She has been a collaborative artist with the NEA-winning California State University San Bernardino Opera Theatre, where she has appeared and assisted in many productions, including Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Missy Mazzoli's Song from the Uproar, and Philip Glass's Book of Longing. She has also performed in several productions and independent projects with the critically acclaimed Mojalet Dance Collective under the direction of Faith Jensen-Ismay of San Diego. She also volunteered for Family Night at the Theatre for six years, an annual community-based theatre event hosted at CSUSB, dedicated to developing inclusive and accessible theatre for disadvantaged youth in San Bernardino, California.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Twila began producing art, transforming her living room into a dance floor, studio, lesson space, music hall, and stage. She continues to frequently create work and collaborate with her peers, taking on roles as a director, choreographer, and producer.
Awards: Twila received the Maddy Award and the 2023-2024 National Youth Theatre award for Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical for her portrayal of Mother in the 2023 Interlochen production of Ragtime directed by Justin Lee Miller and choreographed by Joyce Chittick with music direction by Dan Ryan. In the summer of 2022, Twila was cast as one of Reno's Angels in the acclaimed Interlochen Summer Arts production of Anything Goes!
