WholeSpeak. Express your whole self.
Empowering Performers  ~  Performing Empowerment
Workshops and Coaching for Performers
Are you an aspiring actor, or are you very experienced? Performance training is essential regardless - yet while most of us would never fathom being a ballet dancer without years of training and ongoing technique work, many desire to act on the stage without taking the time to truly know the craft, and continuing to refine and improve skills. 

WholeSpeak offers acting, movement and vocal workshops for performers, appropriate for all skill levels. Through our coaching and classes, novice performers learn tools that create a strong foundation, while experienced actors deepen and expand their range. Guaranteed.

Audition & Monologue Coaching
Whether you are an experienced union actor or just starting out, it's essential to get outside help from an expert; just like plays need a director, actors need an audition coach to help them craft what is essentially a brief performance. If you don't make the right impression, you won't get cast. The amount of factors that go into casting go far beyond giving a good performance - they include the choice of monologue, how you dress, and even how you walk into the room. 

The audition coaching package ($200) includes:
  • 3 coaching sessions in person (if not in the San Francisco Bay Area, then over Skype/iChat) 
  • Choose between either followup emails and two 15-minute coaching calls, or a fourth coaching session
  • Help with selecting the monologue that’s best for you
  • Blocking and coaching for a two-minute audition (1-2 monologues), with strong choices for every moment
  • Acting tips and techniques that will help you overall in your acting career
  • A 20% discount on cold reading and acting workshops for 1 year
  • A packet of comprehensive tips, from the insider’s perspective
This is an investment in your career - one that will pay off. You'll work with Jonathan Bender, MS, MFA, founder of WholeSpeak. He has been coaching actors since 1996, is a professional director, and Artistic Director of The Illuminated Theater / PSA. Email info@wholespeak.com to get the edge needed in this competitive market.

Cold Reading Workshop for Auditions
Many actors dread to cold read, yet it's actually fairly easy to master. This three-hour workshop helps you:
  • Get fully comfortable with the format, and how to make the best impression
  • Learn techniques to make quick choices that show variation
  • Practice with other actors, and have feedback from a professional director
The cost is only $45, or $35 for early registration. Our next date will be in the Spring of 2010. Email info@wholespeak.com to be notified of upcoming details.
Comprehensive Viewpoints
Viewpoints is a system of movement improvisation that fully explores time, and space and connection available onstage, which performers and directors rarely take full advantage. Viewpoints is useful for:

  • actors who want to become more connected with their bodies, with other performers, and with the entire performance space (!);
  • a cast or ensemble desiring to work together more tightly and rehearse in more innovative and efficient ways;
  • directors seeking to create a dynamic experience for the audience

Whether you’ve heard of Viewpoints in passing, or taken a monthlong SITI Company training, this 5-week workshop will cover new territory. Integrating both the practical ensemble training exercises created by Anne Bogart and SITI Company members, as well as the wider-ranging aesthetic originated by Mary Overlie, come broaden your skill set as a performer, mover and creator.

    One Body, Many People: An Organic Approach to Character Acting 
         Have you always wanted to learn how to play multiple characters with ease? Break out of your box? Taught from a physical perspective, this one-day intensive provides techniques to dramatically increase your ability to create characters physically, vocally, and emotionally. This workshop is guaranteed to give you a new toolbox that you can use for years to come. Appropriate for all skill levels.

    Solo! A Solo Performance Workshop 
         Are you itching to perform your own solo show? Be it a fictional work playing multiple characters or about your own personal experiences, solo performance a tremendously difficult endeavor, requiring one person to embody the abilities and dynamicism of an entire cast. This class will guide you through the process of creating a successful, exciting performance and provides the tools to perform it virtuosically. Personal attention guaranteed. The class will end with a performance showcase. All skill levels welcome, but experienced performers are encouraged to enroll.
    • Learn different approaches for creating material
    • Play multiple characters with ease (character acting workshop included)
    • Discover greater variation physically, vocally and emotionally
    • Perform your work for an audience!
    Body-Centered Acting
    The body tells the truth. It is the container for emotion, impulse, and connection. It's far more than broad "physical theater;" working through the body creates a repeatable means to access emotions and have consistent performances. By delving into the relationship between body, mind and emotions, Body-Centered Acting (or, Somatic Acting) helps actors cultivate truth and authenticity on both stage and screen.

    Somatic Acting: Laban Movement Analysis and Viewpoints, the first unit in a series of Somatic Acting classes, connects embodied patterns with impulse and reaction. By combining psychophysical states through the Laban efforts (space, weight, time and flow) with the kinesthetic responsiveness of Viewpoints, performers discover how to truly connect on stage while being deeply rooted in character. 

    • Become deeply rooted in the physical expression of your characters, within a realistic acting style
    • Easily access a wide variety emotional states
    • Tune in deeply to fellow actors, creating authentic connection
    Vocal Virtuosity
    The body tells the truth. It is the container for emotion, impulse, and connection. By delving into the relationship between body, mind and Would you like to radically expand your voice as an actor or speaker, or even just in everyday life? Drawing upon aspects of Roy Hart Vocal Work and speech/diction technique, participants gain access to an incredible vocal range and learn the skills needed to keep the audience’s rapt attention.

    • Greatly increase range of inflection and tone
    • Excellent for voiceover work
    • Improve diction and breathing technique
    Copyright . WholeSpeak. All rights reserved.