Workshops
Hone your skills or learn something new!
We offer workshops in acting, directing, improv and other stagecraft throughout the year.
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!
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!
Topics include:
-
Selecting your monologue
-
Cold readings
-
Preparation
-
Outer work: presentation, appearance, character interpretation, emotional range, tempo and vitality
-
Inner work: handling fear, finding yourself in the work, breath and silence, the inner character, and the offering
Cost: $60. Maximum of 15 participants.
Email sccactorstheatre@gmail.com or use the PayPal button to sign up.
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.
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.
Pre-pay to ensure your spot!
Words, Words, Words: A Workshop in Understanding and Performing Shakespeare
with Bill Peters
October 19 through December 7, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Paul Robinson, an English director recently said, “English is the only language that you can’t translate Shakespeare into.” Many actors and directors come to rely on substituting subtext for Shakespeare’s actual language as they work through the plays in rehearsal. The result of which is the creation of vague, watered-down performances that are confusing to audiences.
This workshop is designed to help actors and directors master the intricacies of Shakespearian text. It is designed to serve actors and directors 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.
Maximum of 16 participants. Price is $160 for the 8-week workshop.
People who are Shakespeare-phobic are particularly welcome.
Email sccactorstheatre@gmail.com use the PayPal button below to sign up.
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.
"What a privilege to be able to take a six-week directing class with Bill Peters. It was utterly fascinating to watch Bill dissect a performance, pulling it apart, thread by thread, to show how there is no right or wrong way to say something, only a way unique to that director.
A memorable six weeks."
--Sally Bookman
Directing for Actors workshop
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.