Workshops
Hone your skills or learn something new!
We offer workshops in acting, directing, improv and other stagecraft throughout the year.
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Note: If registering through PayPal isn't your thing, you can always pay at the first class. However, you do need to contact us to sign up in advance, so we can manage the numbers. Thanks!
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Acting Shakespeare
​with Bill Peters
Mondays, January 26 - March 16, 2026
from 6:30 to 9:30 pm
Shakespeare’s plays, besides everything else they are, are huge lumps of language that often seem like a chore to digest. Making them one’s own is often seen as a heavy duty rather than a pleasure. We will start with the idea that Shakespeare was not in the business of mystifying or boring his audiences, but that he was a master entertainer concerned with entrancing his audiences and awakening in them “the desire to listen with their entire being.”
This workshop is designed to help actors and directors master the intricacies of Shakespearian text. It is designed to serve people who have experience performing Shakespeare, as well as those who don’t. Over the course of 8 sessions, we will explore the nature of Shakespeare’s theatrical imagination, and the linguistic tools he used to create his themes, plots and characters. The work will consist of studying and performing various monologues and scenes from his collected works. This workshop will also serve to enhance the participants' responses to other styles of playwriting. The techniques we will explore in the workshop will be of use to actors, directors, teachers, playwrights and all those who are interested in unlocking the power of Shakespeare in themselves. People who are Shakespeare-phobic are particularly welcome.
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Cost: $160. Maximum of 14 participants.
Email sccactorstheatre@gmail.com or use the PayPal button to sign up.
Bill Peters is a professor emeritus at San Francisco State University where he taught playwriting, acting, directing and Shakespeare performance for many years.
His directing credits include projects at the Manhattan Theatre Club, The Denver Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Jewel Theater in Santa Cruz, and the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. He has directed many times for Actors' Theatre's 8 Tens @ 8 Festival.
Only one spot left!
Register soon...
Pre-pay to ensure your spot!
The Voice of Your Life: Wellness, Ease, Strength, and Integrity
with Joanna Cazden
Mondays, April 6, 13, 20, 27, 2026
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Renew your expressive voice through solo and group exercises, health tips, and intuitive explorations of your vocal identity. Over four sessions you’ll learn easy warmups; review why breath use is both important and individual; understand your vocal cords and how to keep them healthy; and appreciate your voice your voice as a multi-dimensional channel for both artistic expression and personal life.
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Cost: $85
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For more information, visit: www.joannacazden.com.
"I learned to make friends with my voice—exercising, caring, and trusting its natural state."
"Joanna is deeply intuitive, full of experience, passionate, and grounded in her approach. She created a safe, expansive space in class that helped me reconnect with my voice in ways that felt both powerful and healing. I gained not just vocal tools, but a deeper sense of self-trust and authentic expression."
Voice specialist Joanna Cazden, has become known in the Santa Cruz area for her holistic philosophy, up-to-date information, and engaging teaching style.
As a coach and voice therapist certified in Performing Arts Medicine and Fitzmaurice Voicework for actors, a singer-songwriter-musician who has appeared with Pete Seeger and Holly Near as well as local jazz and choral ensembles, and a longtime student of meditation and alternative health, Joanna combines deep knowledge of the vocal instrument with practical insights for artists and public speakers at every level of experience. She worked at a voice rehab clinic in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years and has taught at CalArts, American Academy of Dramatic Art, specialty programs across the US and UK, and several CSU campuses. Her book Everyday Voice Care: The Wellness Guide for Singers, Actors, and Talkers is now in its 2nd edition (Bloomsbury, 2025).
Check out Joanna's book for valuable information about how to care for your voice!
Available HERE.
Writing Your Short Play:
Imagining, Creating & Table Reading a Ten-Minute or One-Act Play Script
with Wilma Marcus Chandler
Saturdays, April 25 & May 2, 9 & 16, 2026
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
This workshop is designed for emerging playwrights who wish to develop a short play and prepare it for performance. Join others in bringing your stories to the page and the stage!
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Topics include:
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Differences between ten-minute plays and one-acts
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Your inspirations and ideas
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Characters, settings, styles and genres
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Use of music, lighting, costumes
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The pitfalls, first reads, revisions, and more
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Cost: $60. Maximum of 15 participants.
Email sccactorstheatre@gmail.com or use the PayPal button to sign up.
She is Emerita Chair of Theatre Arts at Cabrillo College, Aptos. She is the founder of the on-going annual 8 Tens @ 8 Festival at Actors' Theatre and was the Festival's artistic director for many years. She is the founder and producer of the In Celebration of the Muse writers' festival and co-founder of the National Festival of Women's Theater and My Kin Talk, a Jewish Readers' Theatre Company. To date she has written, directed and/or produced over 100 productions and literary festivals in the Bay Area.
Wilma Marcus Chandler is a playwright, theatre director, and teacher. Her many books on theatre scholarship, directing, stage combat, and scene study have been published by Smith & Kraus, Inc.
Pre-pay to ensure your spot!
This workshop is now FULL.
If you'd like to be on the wait list, send an email to:
sccactorstheatre@gmail.com
The Outer & the Inner Audition:
A Workshop on Auditioning
with Wilma Marcus Chandler
Saturdays, August 22, 29 & Sept 5, 2026
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
This workshop will help you prepare for auditioning, inside and out!
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Topics include:
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Selecting your monologue
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Cold readings
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Preparation
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Outer work: presentation, appearance, character interpretation, emotional range, tempo and vitality
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Inner work: handling fear, finding yourself in the work, breath and silence, the inner character, and the offering
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Cost: $60. Maximum of 15 participants.
Email sccactorstheatre@gmail.com or use the PayPal button to sign up.
She is Emerita Chair of Theatre Arts at Cabrillo College, Aptos. She is the founder of the on-going annual 8 Tens @ 8 Festival at Actors' Theatre and was the Festival's artistic director for many years. She is the founder and producer of the In Celebration of the Muse writers' festival and co-founder of the National Festival of Women's Theater and My Kin Talk, a Jewish Readers' Theatre Company. To date she has written, directed and/or produced over 100 productions and literary festivals in the Bay Area.
Wilma Marcus Chandler is a playwright, theatre director, and teacher. Her many books on theatre scholarship, directing, stage combat, and scene study have been published by Smith & Kraus, Inc.
Pre-pay to ensure your spot!
Bill Peters is a professor emeritus at San Francisco State University where he taught playwriting, acting, directing and Shakespeare performance for many years.
​His directing credits include projects at the Manhattan Theatre Club, The Denver Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Jewel Theater in Santa Cruz, and the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. He has directed many times for Actors' Theatre's 8 Tens @ 8 Festival.