ONSTAGE THEATER ARTS

Cynthia Speakman is an actor and arts educator who has dedicated her life to teaching children theatre arts. She has been an actor in various formats in Sacramento and beyond since 1993, having performed on stage, in movies, in commercials, and even tours in Old Sacramento and with the spoken word group StoryVoices. With a degree in Elementary and Special Education from Texas Christian University, the path to teaching children the skills acquired through theatre arts made perfect sense. Cynthia started the after-school program OnStage Theatre Arts at Leonardo da Vinci K-8 in 2000, which has gone on to serve over 3000 students. Alongside running OnStage, the opportunities to teach with the Any Given Child Program (AGC) and Sacramento Theatre Company brought her to even more students. Through AGC, she participated in the Seminar Planning Effective Residencies for Students offered by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as well as various workshops for teaching artists offered through the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Teaching theatre arts year-round and expanding OnStage into a non-profit have been the most enlightening and rewarding experiences of her life. She is now excited to join the wonderful NorCal Arts team so she can continue her theatre arts classes and focus on her acting career.