Robert Ernst
Robert Ernst is a co-founder of the Berkeley-based Blake Street Hawkeyes and the Iowa Theater Lab. He has had the fortune to be a guest artist at CTE for the last ten years. He teaches creative writing of all kinds with a focus on play- writing. He has a BA from the U. of Iowa and was involved in the MFA Writer’s Workshop program there. He also was on staff at the U. of Iowa in the Center for the New Performing Arts dept., where he was a co-founder of the Iowa Theater Lab, a Jerzy Growtowski-influenced physical theater company.
Robert has performed on all stages, big & small in his 42 years in the Bay area. Other selected stage roles include: The Time of Your Life at ACT and Seattle Rep., Speed of Darkness and People’s Temple at Berkeley Rep, Red State at The S.F. Mime Troupe, Play Land and The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite at The Magic Theater.
His own original work, Catherine’s Care was nominated for a Critic’s Circle award for Best Play. Robert’s own pocket opera, The John, was picked for Best of the Year Series by the Bay Guardian. He received Dramalogue awards for Best Director and Best Production for Tokens. Robert performed non-stop, according to The Guiness Book of World Records rules, for twenty-four hours and one minute. He is a member of the band, Smooth Toad
Julia McNeal
Julia McNeal – is an award-winning actress who appeared in numerous theater and film productions in New York and Los Angeles before making the Bay Area her home 11 years ago. Local credits include: SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Porchlight, TheatreFirst, Center Reperatory Company, Pacific Alliance Theatre, First Person Singular, PlayGround (company member), among others. Coming up: Sam Shepard’s Lie of the Mind at the Magic Theatre. Some favorite roles: Alma in Summer and Smoke, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire; Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Kate, in Old Times. Film and TV credits include: Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth, and Law and Order. She is trained in Linklater Voice Technique, Meisner Technique and various other modalities which she brings to her classes at CTE. She also teaches a distinct technique for Playing Multiple Characters at The Marsh theatre and privately. Julia is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
Regina Saisi
Regina Saisi is a San Francisco-based actor and improviser. She has taught at ACT, CTE, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, UC Santa Cruz and KAUST in Saudi Arabia and has performed internationally in Belgium, Holland, Italy, Finland, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. A pioneer in the development of long-form improv, she is a founding member of the improvisational theatre companies Improv Playhouse of San Francisco, True Fiction Magazine, Pulp Playhouse, and is a Company member of BATS Improv where she is currently the Dean.