Jared Kirby has been involved in Western Martial Arts and Combat for Screen & Stage for over 20 years. Jared began his studies of historical fencing in Minneapolis, Minnesota after Mr. Tim Ruzicki came back from Scotland where he trained with the Dawn Duellist Society.
For several years after, Tim and Jared ran a group called the New Dawn Duellist Society in order to promote the study and training of European Swordsmanship.
In 1999, Mr. Kirby moved to Scotland in order to study with Maestro Paul Macdonald in private lessons and train with the Dawn Duellist Society himself. Even after moving back to the states, Jared would assist Maestro Macdonald at seminars and events.
During this time living in Edinburgh Jared studied Stage Combat with the BADC and BASSC, eventually certifying with the BADC while he was there. It was near the end of his time in Scotland when he met Maestro Ramon Martinez and Jeannette Acosta-Martinez. They had come to Scotland for the Paddy Crean Seminar and Jared took a class with them on Spanish Rapier at the event. It was amazing! Jared immediately decided to move to NYC to train with them while pursuing an acting career.
Concurrently Jared pursued an acting career and was fortunate enough to be able to tour the US and perform in London. It was after more than half a decade of performing that Jared changed gears to work for a rare historical document dealer. Seth Kaller Inc specializes in American History documents. Having graduated with a minor in history, this was an amazing opportunity to handle original documents!
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He teaches in New York City (and the metro area) and has choreographed fights Off-Broadway, Nationally, in London and Sydney.
As a Fight Coordinator, Jared has worked with stars such as Peter Sarsgaard, Steve Guttenberg and has trained performers who are working on hit shows. Jared is a member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA.
He is the president of Combat Con in Las Vegas, past president of Art of Combat, and served for six years on the board of the International Order of the Sword & Pen.
Jared currently teaches fencing at SUNY Purchase, Sarah Lawrence College and is a Master of Arms (Maestro d’Armi) through the Martinez Academy of Arms. Jared has an ongoing Combat for Screen & Stage class in New York City and teaches at the prestigious Tom Todoroff Conservatory as well as the NY Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.
He teaches a variety of workshops across the US and around the world including Canada, England, Scotland, Finland, Italy and Australia. He has taught at the Paddy Crean International Art of the Sword Workshop, the International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Convention (ISMAC), Rapier Camp and the Western Washington WMA Workshop just to name a few.
Jared is the editor and one of the translators of “Italian Rapier Combat”, the first complete, professional translation of Capo Ferro. He is also the editor and wrote the introduction for “The School of Fencing” by Domenico Angelo and annotated by Maestro Jeannette Acosta-Martínez. Most recently “The Gentleman’s Guide to Duelling” was released in February 2014 and a reprint of Donald McBane’s The Expert Swordsman’s Companion was released in January 2017. For more information, see Amazon.com.
Check out Testimonials to hear what people say about working with Jared.
You can learn more about Jared’s path to becoming a Fight Coordinator and Fencing Instructor from this terrific interview done by Tony Vang:
For more about Jared’s approach to Stage/Screen Combat, check out this great documentary:
or this 7 page article from the December 2014 issue of New Jersey Stage magazine:
or the Backstage Article:
If you want to learn more about Jared’s approach to the violence in Shakespeare you can watch an interview from This Week in Shakespeare:
TRADITIONAL FENCING 