Speakers Bureau

Unfurl the effortlessly full and dynamic voice that is your unique birthright.

Through a series of exercises designed to eliminate the blocks that inhibit vocal freedom, learn to gradually and safely release tension in the physical instrument, expand breath capacity, and increase dynamic vocal range.

Using both personal texts and those chosen by the instructor, explore ways to clarify intention, impact an audience, and cultivate the ability to truly be heard in your truth.

*Workshop can be tailored for different timing options from 90 minutes, to a 5 class series and beyond.

Excellent For:

Instructor: Miriam Ani, MFA

Miriam holds a MFA in Acting with an emphasis in voice work from CUNY Brooklyn College, and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Theatre, and English. She teaches Acting at California State University, East Bay and Sacramento State University, and served as a KCACTF respondent since 2014.

At first, Shakespeare’s wordsmithery can feel like an obstacle; almost a foreign language. Contemporary playscripts toy with silence. Subtext looms large; lines are often more about what is left unsaid. But Shakespeare’s poetic language is more than just a literary technique. Hamlet instructs his players to “suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” suggesting a realm of active, spoken, physical experience, where words are the very “means by which.” Learn the basics of vocalization, scansion, and text analysis to illuminate how Shakespeare’s text can actually serve as a beckoning roadmap for the actor; in which sound and sense, meaning and language, are entirely inseparable.

*Workshop can be tailored for different timing options from 90 minutes, to a 5 class series and beyond.

Excellent for: 

Instructor: Miriam Ani, MFA

Miriam holds a MFA in Acting with an emphasis in voice work from CUNY Brooklyn College, and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Theatre, and English. She teaches Acting at California State University, East Bay and Sacramento State University, and served as a KCACTF respondent since 2014.

How can you create dynamic physical presence onstage?

Build upon your craft to develop a kinetic awareness of stagecraft; including a brief discussion of the theatre as a living art and a full body immersion into both working with the internal energy of the individual actor, the energy between actors, and the energy between actor and audience.

Experiment with allowing the body to “talk” in order for the actor to become fiercely alive and spontaneously responsive, so that every moment of every performance is vital, impulsive, and fresh.

*Workshop can be tailored for different timing options from 90 minutes, to a 5 class series and beyond.

Excellent for: 

Instructor: Miriam Ani, MFA

Miriam holds a MFA in Acting with an emphasis in voice work from CUNY Brooklyn College, and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Theatre, and English. She teaches Acting at California State University, East Bay and Sacramento State University, and served as a KCACTF respondent since 2014.

Being put “on the spot” is the stuff of many adults’ nightmares. In a safe and collaborative environment, investigate your blocks, learn to say YES; and trust that your unique, creative well is always full— it may just need a playful nudge!

*Workshop can be tailored for different timing options from 90 minutes, to a 5 class series and beyond.

Excellent for: 

Instructor: Miriam Ani, MFA

Miriam holds a MFA in Acting with an emphasis in voice work from CUNY Brooklyn College, and undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Theatre, and English. She teaches Acting at California State University, East Bay and Sacramento State University, and served as a KCACTF respondent since 2014.

Explore the “courtesies” of the Restoration and Elizabethan periods and how societal values were codified into manners, greetings, dress and social interactions, with professional writer, director and actor Jennifer Le Blanc. The course will include lecture, visual materials and an experiential component learning fan language, proper bows and curtsies along with why and when they were used, and other outward manifestations of a carefully constructed social order.

Excellent for: College and High School English and History courses, literary and historical organizations, book clubs reading material from the period, dance and theater classes

Single Class and 5-class options available.

Instructor: Jennifer Le Blanc, MFA

With an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, Colorado, Jennifer has worked as an actor, director, and playwright/adaptor both in the Bay Area and regionally. Jennifer is an Associate Artist at SPARC.

Do you love Jane Austen’s stories? Have you ever wondered about the process of adapting novels into scripts? Jennifer Le Blanc adapted Jane Austen’s beloved novel Persuasion for the stage and you are cordially invited to enjoy a conversation with her about her process. Come hear about the play’s production history, see a scene or two, and discuss methods of adaptation. A lovely evening for fans of Jane Austen, aspiring writers, lovers of literature, or classical theatre enthusiasts.

Excellent for: Writers and Playwrights, literary and historical organizations, book clubs reading material from the period, Jane Austen Fans

Instructor: Jennifer Le Blanc, MFA

With an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, Colorado, Jennifer has worked as an actor, director, and playwright/adaptor both in the Bay Area and regionally. Jennifer is an Associate Artist at SPARC.

What do Shakespearean actors do before they arrive at the first day of rehearsal?  How do they know what all those words mean?  Research!  This class is a basic, practical approach to dramaturgy for the actor or theatre goer who is new to Shakespeare.  How to know the story, look up the words, and understand the jokes, before you get to your first rehearsal.  There are so many great books and resources about Shakespeare, but some are more useful for academia, some for audience appreciation, and some for performance. You will learn how to unlock Shakespeare’s language and fully enjoy the performance.

Excellent for: English and Theater teachers, directors and actors, College and High School English and Theater courses, literary organizations, book clubs reading material from the period

Instructor: Jennifer Le Blanc, MFA

With an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, Colorado, Jennifer has worked as an actor, director, and playwright/adaptor both in the Bay Area and regionally. Jennifer is an Associate Artist at SPARC.

Have you noticed how much dystopia and issue-awareness there is in our current arts & entertainment? It’s understandable; not only do we have a lot of issues in the world, but we’re trained to build our stories around conflict. But what about solutions-awareness? Is there a way to create great fiction that also shows paths to hopeful and achievable possibilities? In this class you’ll learn how to transform real-life solutions into engaging, solutions-focused fiction — in any genre and any narrative medium (plays, tv, film, video games, books, graphic novels, etc.)

*Workshop can be tailored to be a single overview class, or a multi-class series that results in each writer having a draft of their own solutions-focused project.

Excellent For: HS and College English classes, Writers’ Groups in any genre and any narrative medium (ex. theater, tv, film, books, etc.), Activists looking for a way to reframe and rejuvenate

Instructor: Gwen Loeb

Gwen Loeb is the CEO and Co-Founder of the nonprofit World Builders Incubator (WBI). WBI brings thought-leaders and creatives together for the creation and development of arts, entertainment, and resources focused on social and environmental solutions.

Explore fundamentals of physical comedy through the texts of Shakespeare’s fools, clowns and lovers. Participants will learn how funny business is written into and between the lines of the comedies, tragedies and romances, and in the process identify and practice basic structures of physical comedy.  Accessible to participants of all levels and physical abilities, this workshop can unlock new ways of reading and physicalizing any text.

*Single-class and 3-5 class format’s available

Excellent For: High School and College theatre and Literature Classes (adaptations possible for middle school)

Instructor: Doyle Ott

Doyle Ott is a performer, director and teacher who has taught theatre and clown at Sonoma State University, San Francisco Circus Center , and has lead workshops internationally from the UK to Montreal to Colombia. He has published book chapters on Shakespeare and circus, and  in addition to acting and directing he performs regularly in hospitals and care facilities with the Medical Clown Project.

From Greek and Roman myths to British and Celtic folklore, Shakespeare drew on mythic sources to create stories and characters that have become mythic in their own right.  This presentation helps participants identify mythic stories in Shakspeare and connects the way the bard used myth to the work of contemporary authors like Richard Riordan, Natalie Haynes, and Madeline Miller. The workshop uses classical and contemporary art, music and text to create a rich participatory experience that invites curiosity about how the stories we tell inscribe the way we think about the world.

Excellent For: Adult, High school and middle school  English, history, social Studies and literature classes.

Instructor: Doyle Ott

Doyle Ott is a performer, director and teacher who has taught theatre and clown at Sonoma State University, San Francisco Circus Center , and has lead workshops internationally from the UK to Montreal to Colombia. He has published book chapters on Shakespeare and circus, and  in addition to acting and directing he performs regularly in hospitals and care facilities with the Medical Clown Project.

What’s a nice British playwright doing in a place like this? Learn about the historical and social forces that made Shakespeare a major part of American culture.  From colonial campfires, to frontier circuses, from early African American Theatre companies to early twentieth century immigrant communities, from Revolutionary war encampments to hip hop dance shows, Shakespeare has been performed, claimed and reinvented countless times by participants in the great messy experiment that is American culture. Participants will discover how Shakespeare has shaped and been shaped by the American experience.

Excellent For: Nerds like me (Really high school-adult)

Instructor: Doyle Ott

Doyle Ott is a performer, director and teacher who has taught theatre and clown at Sonoma State University, San Francisco Circus Center , and has lead workshops internationally from the UK to Montreal to Colombia. He has published book chapters on Shakespeare and circus, and  in addition to acting and directing he performs regularly in hospitals and care facilities with the Medical Clown Project.