Tonya Lynn is a Pittsburgh, PA-based fight director and educator whose credits include over 160 productions, with highlights including Il Trovatore and Tosca at Pittsburgh Opera, the world premiere of Storming Heaven at West Virginia Public Theatre, the original production Sword Play at Colonial Williamsburg, VA, the Pittsburgh premiere of She Kills Monsters at the University of Pittsburgh (including a sold-out encore performance at the August Wilson Cultural Center), and 17 productions with Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks. Tonya is the recipient of the 2024 KCACTF Award for Distinguished Achievement in Fight and Intimacy Direction for ≈ [Almost Equal To] at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. She is also active in many local theatre training programs, providing choreography on multiple occasions for Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University, the University of Pittsburgh, Allegheny College, and many others. Tonya is a co-founder of Brawling Bard Theater (a five-time award winner at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival), and a company member with the New Renaissance Theatre Company.  She has trained with the United Stuntmens’ Association and for nearly 20 years has been an active member of the Society of American Fight Directors, with whom she is recognized as a Fight Director and a Certified Teacher. 

Tonya is a Teaching Artist-in-Residence at the University of Pittsburgh, and an adjunct instructor at Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University and the Community College of Allegheny County South Campus, as well as serving as a teaching artist with Pittsburgh Public Theatre, City Theatre, Gateway to the Arts, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She has served as a workshop coordinator for the Fight Choreographer Track at the Summer Sling Stage Combat Workshop at Brooklyn College, and is co-founder and Head Coordinator for the Allegheny Alley Fight, a regional SAFD workshop in the Pittsburgh area since 2015. She also teaches ongoing weekly private classes in stage combat which are open to all skill levels.  For more information, visit: www.eclecticmayhem.com