Biography

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. This past 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 Shakespeare training program affiliated with the Yale and Julliard Schools of Drama. She is a three-time alumna of the prestigious Interlochen Summer Arts camp, where she received the coveted Maddy Award for her performance as Mother in Ragtime.

Recent roles include Ms. Mcculm in Thornton Wilder's Seven Deadly Sins: Ringing of Doorbells with the American Classics Theatre and guest singer with the LA Phil and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall in Home Alone in Concert, conducted by David Newman. Additional credits include the role of the child in the art film Still Life After Death, directed by 5-time Emmy-nominated Sandra Powers, which premiered at the Sharjah Art Festival in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and later released on Amazon Prime Video.

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. This past semester, Twila was the student dramaturg for the 2024 Tisch mainstage production, Waiting for Lefty. Current projects include the role of Emily in scenes from the Opera America-winning pop opera Emily and Sue by Dana Kaufman and Aiden K. Feltcamp as part of the annual Tisch NSB Freeplay Festival.

Twila grew up with a unique exposure to operatic-contemporary music and modern dance. She has been a collaborative artist with the NEA-winning CSUSB Opera Theatre, where she has appeared and assisted in many productions, including Leonard Berstein'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 volunteered for Family Night at the Theatre for six years, an annual community-based theatre event hosted at CSUSB. The project was dedicated to developing inclusive and accessible theatre for disadvantaged youth in San Bernardino, California.

Since 2020, Twila has been producing art, transforming her living room into a dance floor, studio, lesson space, music hall, and stage. She frequently creates work and collaborates with her peers, taking on roles as a director, choreographer, and producer.

Twila received a 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!

As a high school student, Twila was the president of the Riverside High School Theatre Program and performed in numerous roles, including Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods and Winnifred in Once Upon A Mattress. She was twice nominated for Best Actress at the John Raitt Awards for Youth and the Lucie Arnaz Awards. She was featured in the Riverside Unified School District Honors Musical at the historic Fox Theatre, Riverside, CA.