Crafted Journey How To: Bringing Consent, Choreography, and Mental Health to Performance

A staged fight, an intimate scene, a moment of physical care: the audience sees emotion, tension, and story. What they do not see is the careful choreography that makes those moments safe, repeatable, and believable for the performers living inside them. In the years since #MeToo, and with shows like Bridgerton bringing intimacy coordination into public conversation, theater and film have been paying closer attention to how vulnerable scenes are built. The stakes are creative as much as ethical: when actors are supported with clear boundaries, consent-based practices, and mental health awareness, they can approach vulnerable scenes with the trust those moments require.

So what does it actually take to choreograph intimacy, violence, and care on stage or screen while protecting the people who bring those moments to life?

On this episode of Crafted Journey, host Suzy DeLine speaks with Bessie Zolno, an intimacy and violence choreographer, fight choreographer, and mental health coordinator for theater and film. Their conversation traces Zolno's path from early theater performance and musical theater training to stage combat, intimacy coordination, and mental health work, while exploring how these specialties support actors through physically and emotionally demanding scenes.

Main topics of conversation

• Zolno explains how a serious back injury in college led her deeper into stage combat and helped her discover a physically supported approach to performance and choreography.
• She reflects on meaningful projects, including Cost of Living at Oakland Theater Project, where she helped stage care work, dressing, showering, and intimacy with actors portraying and living with physical disabilities.
• The discussion looks at the growing visibility of intimacy coordination, from the #MeToo movement to Bridgerton and even Saturday Night Live parodies, as audiences become more aware of the role these professionals play.

About Bessie Zolno

Bessie Zolno is an intimacy and fight choreographer, violence choreographer, and mental health coordinator working across theater and film. Her experience spans stage productions, films, one-acts, and educational settings, including choreography and consulting work with Columbia College Chicago, California Shakespeare Theater, Pride Films and Plays, and freelance theater and film projects. A longtime performer and teaching artist, she has appeared in more than 35 Bay Area productions and readings and won the 2015 SFBWW Award for Best Leading Actress.