Professional Development Intensive (PDI)

Sunday, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, All-Conference Event at Berkeley Rep

Lauren Rosi:  Creating Safe and Brave Theatre Spaces

Whether you are an actor asked to be emotionally vulnerable, a director facilitating rehearsals with challenging content, or an educator supporting young artists on their journey- theater needs to be a safe and brave space for all artists. We hear from our students that our classrooms are a haven, their safe space on campus. But is it? While asking our students for radical empathy, vulnerability and agility we also need to ask ourselves what steps we are taking to create an environment safe for these risks. During this interactive workshop, we will expand our perception of what is a brave and safe space while critically examining our own theater spaces. We will collaborate to share tools, ideas and resources to begin to answer the question: how do we make theater a (more) safe space for our emerging young artists?

Lauren Rosi is an award-winning theatre educator, actor, director, choreographer and DEIA consultant based in the SF Bay Area. After pursuing a career in acting and theatre education, Lauren has turned her focus to ensure arts spaces are inclusive and accessible. Her deep commitment to social justice, promoting equity in education, theatre and the workplace led to the creation of Art of Inclusion. As a cultural-responsive practices consultant, Lauren has designed and led professional development workshops for staff and board members in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility practices. Art of Inclusion also offers curriculum assessment, production and organizational consulting. Lauren holds a BA from Emerson College, MA from Regent University, and DEI Certification from Cornell University. Lauren is a professor at Contra Costa College and on the theatre faculty at Oakland School for the Arts.