The Actor's Studio of Orange County Announces New Ownership
Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) January 21, 2014 -- The Actor’s Studio opened in 2007 under the leadership of Ken Garcia, who was the beloved main instructor for five years before tragically passing away in Summer 2012. Amidst this loss, his wife, Ronny Rubens-Garcia, inherited the herculean task of keeping the studio open to both honor her husband’s legacy as well as continue to support the students he had amassed. A testament to both Ken’s teaching, Ronny’s leadership and the community they created, the studio stayed busy providing a full calendar of classes.
The studio is undergoing a major shift as Sonya Cooke is stepping up as the new owner and head teacher with the generous support and guidance of Rubens-Garcia and the ASOOC team. Sonya began teaching at the studio earlier in 2013. Sonya is thrilled to continue and further the studio’s mission of providing excellence in acting training to Orange County.
2014 has many changes in store for ASOOC. Under Cooke’s leadership, the ASOOC is expanding its class offerings, creating programs to get more involved with the community, and preparing to present showcases of the students work. On the horizon are classes in Improvisation, Voice and Speech, Stage Combat, the Mentorship Program and Summer Workshops for kids and teens. “The school has a wonderfully diverse community of students, but they all share the same goal of deepening their expressivity, listening and creativity,” says Cooke. Equipped with a unique system of training Sonya has termed The Seven Pillars of Acting Technique, Cooke aims to help her students reach their artistic and professional goals.
Sonya Cooke brings to the table an extensive background in professional acting, directing, teaching and acting technique pedagogy. Hailing from NYC, she has acted in TV, film, New York theatre, regional theatre, musical theatre, webseries, commercials, print, and voice-over. She trained at UC-Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts (MFA in Acting) and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (BFA in Drama.) Her teaching career began when she started coaching actors in New York in 2008 and launched a blog on acting technique: http://www.thecooketechnique.com, where she continually writes about her ideas and exercises on acting. In addition, she has worked with many institutions all over the country as a teacher and program developer. This summer she is participating in the Arts in Society academic conference in Rome.
Sonya Cooke, Actor's Studio of Orange County, http://www.asooc.com, +1 949-307-1404, [email protected]
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