Staff
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Cynthia Speakman
Founder and Artistic Director
Cynthia has been an actor and performer in Sacramento since 1993. She was a long-time member of the highly successful performing ensemble, StoryVoices. Speakman, who holds a B.S. in Elementary and Special Education, has taught after-school theatre arts at Leonardo da Vinci School since 2000. She has also worked with the Any Given Child program in the Twin Rivers and Sacramento City School Districts. She also taught with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission Model Arts Program Robla School District for two years. Additionally, Cynthia has 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 (SMAC). Cynthia has found OnStage to be the most enlightening and heartfelt experience of her life.
Will Block
Shakespeare Teaching Artist
Will Block is an LA based actor and director, and is chuffed to be working for the very program that started him off on this crazy career path. A graduate of UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and Television, Will's regional credits include The Two Noble Kinsmen (Kingsmen Shakespeare), Hally in Master Harold...and the boys, Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island, five productions of A Christmas Carol (Sacramento Theatre Company), Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream (LA Phil at Disney Hall), and Hector Macqueen in the West Coast Premiere of Ken Ludwig's Murder on the Orient Express (La Mirada, directed by Sheldon Epps). He is a resident artist with LA's Porters of Hellsgate, with whom he has appeared as Lysimachus in Pericles, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Posthumus in Cymbeline, and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He is the Artistic Director of Method and Madness, for whom he played the title role in Richard II, and directed Henry IV and Macbeth. Other directing credits include productions of The Two Noble Kinsmen (Porters of Hellsgate) and Our Town (Sacramento Theatre Company). Has been a teaching artist with the Sacramento Theatre Company off and on since 2011.
Tom Block
Shakespeare Teaching Artist
Thomas Block is a Sacramento based actor and teaching artist. He got his start in theatre when he was four attending Cynthia Speakman’s OnStage program, and is thrilled to be returning as a teacher! Previous teaching experience includes working for the Sacramento Theatre Company’s Young Professional’s Conservatory (a program from which he graduated in 2015) and B-St Theatre’s classroom programs. Some acting credits include: Al Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, Osric in Hamlet (Sacramento Theatre Company), Ned Alleyn in Shakespeare in Love, Exeter in Henry V (Sacramento Shakespeare Festival), The Lawyer in Woman’s Honor, and the BFG in The BFG (San Diego State University). BA: San Diego State University.
Christian Weiss
OnStage Teaching Artist
Christian Weiss grew up in theater camps and school plays. In 2018 he graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor's in theater with an emphasis in playwriting. Since the beginning of 2019 he has been teaching with onstage and sculpting all the children's ideas and creative energy into plays for parents and other students to enjoy.
Peter Fuller
OnStage and OffStage Teaching Artist
Peter spent many years as a student and volunteer for OnStage, and is thrilled to teach today's young artists! He is currently pursuing a BFA in Theatre Arts at Central Washington University. Peter looks forward to a creative summer with OnStage!
Samantha Summerfield
OffStage Teaching Artist
Samantha is a recent graduate, with a BA in Theatre Arts and Dance from Sonoma State University, where she spent time designing and building costumes, stage managing, and helping independent senior projects get to opening night. She went on to work with Music Circus in Sacramento on their Wardrobe team. She then moved on to discover OnStage in the Fall of 2019! From the first session at Leonardo Da VInci, she instantly fell in love with teaching children about the joys of theatre. Samantha finds herself drawn to the technical world, and helping children harness their imagination to create real life costumes, props, sets, and more!