Jo Tomalin is a freelance director, actor and teacher.

I have been working in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1986. Before that, I spent three years in Paris, France, for Post Graduate work studying physical acting, improvisation, movement analysis and Commedia Dell'Arte mask work with the world renowned Master, Jacques Lecoq.

Currently I am Associate Professor at San Francisco State University's Theatre Arts Department where I teach performance classes.

One of my main interests is movement and my undergraduate work was at London University, Goldsmith's College where I studied Rudolf Laban movement analysis and Notation as well as Martha Graham dance technique. Since then, I have directed specialized movement pieces within plays. The shows I direct are mainly original works, often one person shows that have been performed in Japan, Taiwan, Germany, The Edinburgh Festival in Britain as well as San Francisco.

A few years ago I went to Bali, Indonesia to work with a mask maker for a month carving a wooden mask and learning Balinese mask theatre and Movement.

My Classical acting training was from the Trinity College of Music and Dramatic Art and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,  both in London.

I have performed in several plays in the San Francisco area as well as at the San Francisco New Vaudeville Festival. One year I went on the Chautauqua Tour of Vancouver and NW States where I performed my solo act as part of the show in 15 cities.

Currently I teach such subjects as Acting; Storytelling; Voice for Actors; Movement; Improvisation and Theatre Imagination at San Francisco State University and U.C. Berkeley Extension. My Voice for Actors classes are based on the techniques of Cicely Berry and Patsy Rodenberg. In between all of this, I spent a few years in Caracas, Venezuela teaching English while studying modern dance. I love learning languages and speak spanish,  french + even some Portuguese after a semester in Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.

I was honored to have been invited June '97 by a professional Opera training program in England, 'Opera Experience' to give a Master Class on Storytelling, Character and Stage Presence.

July 2000 I gave a Storytelling + Physical Theatre Workshop for the Great Lakes Regional Puppetry Festival at the University of Madison WI.  2002 I gave a movement workshop at the West Coast PuppetFest in Asilomar, CA.