Guest Instructors

Anthony Clarvoe
Anthony is a veteran playwright and his plays include the award-winning Pick Up Axe, The Living, Let’s Play Two, The Brothers Karamazov, Ambition Facing West, Ctrl+Alt+Delete and The Art of Sacrifice. He has received a dozen commissions as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim, McKnight, Jerome and Irvine Foundations, and National Endowment for the Arts.

Joy Carlin
Joy is a former Associate Artistic Director of A.C.T. and has been a member of the acting company for many years. She has also been Resident Director and Interim Artistic Director at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Jeanne Haynes
As a storyteller and teacher Jeanne’s venues include The Marsh, ODC Theater and Noh Space at Theatre of Yugen in San Francisco; Julia Morgan Theatre and Ashby Stage in Berkeley, Bay Area Storytelling Festival, regional Telebrations, KPFA FM Berkeley Public Radio and schools throughout the Bay Area. She teaches weekly adult storytelling classes and conducts senior workshops. As an artist in residence she has taught the art of storytelling to some 2000 students in 17+ Bay Area schools.

Terrance Kelly
Terrance is a performer, musical director and Emmy Award winner. He has performed in Washington, D.C. for President Carter, wrote and arranged much of the music for the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, where he has served as director since 1986. His credits include choral arrangements for Linda Ronstadt and the Kronos Quartet and gospel arrangements for popular music for television and video soundtracks. He has twice received the Gospel Music Academy Award of Best Director.

Martin Holtz
Martin is the Associate Creative Director and founding member of the Bay Area Playback Theatre. He has been a featured actor in Shakespeare festivals, cabaret and political street theater. He has written, directed and produced numerous shows, workshops and educational training events for performing arts centers, museums, libraries, schools and public and private organizations.

Jeri Lynn Cohen
Jeri Lynn has been a Charter Member of Word for Word Performing Arts Company for 18 years, originating roles in over a dozen of their productions. She has appeared throughout the Bay Area at A.C.T., Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Campo Santo, Marin Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, San Jose Stage Company, and she has toured internationally with both the San Francisco Mime Troupe and Word for Word Performing Arts Company.

Sam Weber
Sam Weber is professional tap dancer who works internationally as a performer, master teacher and choreographer. A protégé of San Francisco tap master Stan Kahn, Sam is the winner of numerous awards, including the New York Dance Critics’ Bessie.

Barbara Scott
Barbara Scott has been improvising for over 25 years. She’s been a member of the BATS Company and coaching staff since its first year, and played Theatresports as part of the national and international touring company. Barbara is a founding member of True Fiction Magazine improvisational theatre and she teaches at the American Conservatory Theatre, Full Circle Productions, the San Francisco Opera Center and the SF Conservatory of Music. She is also a working actor in film, industrials, trade shows and voiceover.

Benjamin Pither
Benjamin is a theatre educator and performer. He currently teaches the acting and musical theatre at the New Conservatory Theatre Center and has worked as a drama teacher for NCTC at several schools in the SF area.  He has served as the Theatre Arts Director for three years at Camp Swig and Camp Newman. Benjamin was trained as a theatre educator when he was selected as a Stephen Spielberg Fellow in 2001 and he has performed with Willows Theatre, 42nd St Moon, Berkeley Rep, Cal Shakes, the Playwrights’ Foundation, and the Playwrights’ Center of SF.

Ellen Robinson
Vocalist, composer, musician, choral director, educator, Ellen has been surrounded by music all her life. She grew up on the east coast and at age nine began learning piano. She taught herself guitar at age 11, sang in her high school chorus, studied piano in college, and later performed as a singer songwriter in folk clubs in New York City. When she eventually moved to California, she began to explore the world of jazz and fully embraced her vocal instrument and she has been performing as a jazz vocalist ever since.