ABOUT US

BILLIE SHEPARD  Long-time resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Billie has appeared in lead roles in Equity productions nationwide, including Rumors and Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the San Jose Repertory Theatre. She has been featured in numerous TV productions, including Nash Bridges, Disney's Not Quite Human, as well as in dozens of national and regional commercials from Ford to Camay.

A 30-year veteran of coaching and actors training, Billie has founded two acting academies and five acting workshops in four states – including The Actors Workshop at San Jose Repertory Theatre and The Monologue Workshop, originally developed at Full Circle Productions in San Francisco, where she specialized in on-camera techniques.

She created and teaches her groundbreaking class, the Best of Both Worlds, at the San Jose Rep's Studio Theatre where students can build their acting muscle in an expansive theatrical setting and also experience the intimacy of on-camera work.

Billie is a Dean's Scholar with a B.A. in Creative Arts from San Jose State University.

BILLIE'S TECHNIQUE  A strong believer in continuing education, Billie regularly studies with veteran actor Alan Arkin. Star of stage, screen, television and recent Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor in "Little Miss Sunshine", Alan is a founding member of the famed Second City improvisational troupe.The techniques of this groundbreaking performing arts group are now used in acting programs all over the country. Billie draws on many of Arkin's methods in her workshops
and classes.

MARY MACKEY  Mary has been acting in commercials, industrials, stage and film for over 15 years. After being crowned Miss Northern California in 1982, she began a successful career as a high fashion runway model, working for top designers in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. She has studied acting through the AFTRA Conservatory and with John Howard Swain and Billie Shepard.

A SAG/AFTRA actor represented by JE Talent, Mary's favorite credits include filming an international commercial with Sharon Stone, acting opposite Don Johnson in Nash Bridges and playing Katherine in Taming of the Shrew.

As an instructor at the respected San Francisco acting school, Full Circle Productions, Mary taught film, monologue, and commercial on-camera acting techniques. Together, she and Billie created the Best of Both Worlds Workshops.

A great believer in giving back, she founded and coordinates a local extension of SAG Foundation's BookPals program, Family Homeless Shelter Reads. She reads and organizes actors to read to children at shelters around the Bay Area. The program also helps establish libraries at these shelters through donations of new and 'gently used' books.

BILL OLSON  Bill has been performing as an actor in the area for more than ten years. A physical comedian and puppeteer, he has worked extensively with Lunatique Fantastique (the Bay Area's premiere puppetry troupe) including touring to London, and performs his own one-man vaudeville style show. He has taught acting, improvisation and clowning with groups as varied as the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and Kaiser Permanente. A fully trained teacher of the Alexander Technique, he has helped hundreds of people become aware of and overcome the limitations of their unconscious habits.

JOIE SELDON  Joie performed improvisational theater for six years with Synergy Trust, the famed Los Angeles improvisational theatre company, while teaching their weekly Open Improv Workshop. Her teaching experience includes several universities, including Claremont College, UC Santa Cruz and UCLA, as well as over ten years of acting instruction in the Bay Area.

In developing this unique class for actors, she drew upon her extensive actors training, teaching experience and psychology studies. Accessing Your Emotions was originally offered at Full Circle Productions in San Francisco. Joie is currently completing her postgraduate studies and continues to work in voiceover, industrials, commercials and independent film.

CONTACT US
650.967.8152

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