Meet some of our inspiring teaching artists for this summer!
Patricia Cotter’s awards include The American Academy of Arts Letters, the Richard Rodgers Award, the Daytime Emmy Award, and the Writers Guild of America Award. Current projects include a commissioned musical theatre project, (working title) The Bridge Project with composers The Kilbanes had a 2024 workshop at The Marin Theater Company. She is writing the book for the musical Heavyhead, a modern retelling of the Medusa myth which was commissioned for its first public reading at the Jersey City Theater Center in 2023, developed at Drama Club Camp, 2024 and was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2024 National Music Theater Conference. Her queer history comedy The Daughters, (The Kilroys Honorable Mention) was included in the Mondays at 3 reading series at New York Theatre Workshop and had its West Coast developmental premiere at San Francisco Playhouse in 2019. Her two-person comedy, I’ll Give You Something to Cry About, was presented in 2020 as part of Centenary Stage Company’s Women Playwrights Series. Other plays include 1980 (Or Why I’m Voting For John Anderson) Chicago’s Jackalope Theatre 2017, Jeff Awards nominee for Best New Play, The Surrogate, winner of the 2016 Susan Glaspell Award, finalist at the 2016 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, produced at Centenary Stage Company, NJ, in 2017, Rules of Comedy, produced in 2015 Humana Festival of Ten-Minute Plays, The Stars Look Very Different Today was produced as part of TheatreWorks 17th Annual New Works Festival, 2018. Musicals (librettist/adaptations) include Rocket Science: A Musical, which received readings at Playwrights Horizons in New York (directed by Kathleen Marshall) and was produced at The Village Theatre, Seattle; The Break-Up Notebook: A Musical (based on her play), at The Vineyard Theatre in New York. She was asked by Disney Theatricals and MTI to write Mulan JR. (based on the Disney film Mulan), which is produced and performed nationally. She is an alumnus of The Bay Area Playwright Foundation’s Resident Playwrights program, and a current member of TheatreWorks Susan Fairbrook Core Writers Group. In addition to writing for the stage, Patricia has written for Audible, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Disney Theatrical, and Comedy Central.
DeAnna Driscoll is a seasoned professional actor and theatre educator with over 25 years of experience. Most recently, she was seen at Center REP playing Jonathan in Arsenic and Old Lace, and she is very excited about her upcoming roles in The Tempest with Marin Shakespeare Theatre. DeAnna spent many years in San Diego, CA and worked with several notable theatres, including The Old Globe Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Cygnet Theatre, and Diversionary Theatre, among others. Over the years, DeAnna has earned two Critics Circle Awards, a Backstage Garland Award, and The Pate Award for her outstanding work.
Her television credits include Unverified, Lincoln Heights, Point Pleasant, and Veronica Mars, along with film roles in Unverified, Nixon Baby, and Decaf.
DeAnna’s teaching philosophy blends elements from the Stanislavsky method, the Stella Adler technique, and The Meisner method allowing actors to adapt and refine techniques that best suit their personal growth. Her courses cover a range of topics including audition techniques, character development, scene study, script analysis, and playwriting.
Currently, DeAnna is an acting coach and educator with A.C.T. in San Francisco, CA as well as currently working with Center REP in the Young REP Theatre Lab. In addition to her teaching, DeAnna specializes in Arts Integration and collaborates on projects with educators globally. She has worked with the TASAUBA College of the Arts in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, the Giant Panda Research and Conservation Center in Chengdu, China, and over 50 public school educators in Barcelona, Spain.