for performing artists

“Well, my dear, one doesn’t want to do anything that isn’t extraordinary, does one?”
— Mary Lynley Taylor, Edwardian Actress and World Traveler

From auditions to Hell Week, from first inspiration to final polishing, or just to solve a particular problem, more than 40 years of proven experience will be committed to making your performance a success.

Contact Linda to create 
YOUR BEST AUTHOR PRESENTATION

With an illustrious career as a professional theatre director, teacher, and performer, and 25 years experience managing one of the largest independent bookstores in Northern California, LINDA PACK creates compelling quality presentations for author events and provides expert coaching specifically for you and your book.


This comprehensive and completely customized program of preparation and performance coaching is divided into three 2-hour sessions, teaching skills which will enable you to optimize your media promotional opportunities in various formats and effectively present your work in interviews, panels, readings & Q&As.

Exercises and practice will include TARGETED STRATEGIES for discovering your key talking points,
SELECTION AND SCRIPT  DEVELOPMENT of the best material from your work for your live readings and presentations, and improving CONNECTION AND COMMUNICATION with all your audiences, as well as book buyers, booksellers, and librarians.


“I want to thank you, Linda, for the invaluable training & suggestions you gave me. The presentation was successful beyond my wildest dreams.”
Aiice Combs, author of “The Lady with Balls”

“Linda has exceptional organizational skills and the ability to communicate in a clear and structured manner a vision of what needs to be achieved. She knows how to make the work fun.” Nancy Harris, Executive Director, Mendocino Music Festival

 

Preparation for Auditions, Roles & Performances

Prepare for success! Individual attention to what you need as a performer to make your appearances in front of any audience better for them, for the material, and especially, for you. Develop your strengths and stage presence. Learn how to make better artistic choices and use your physical resources as your allies. Improve your preparation process, create program flow and capitalize on your venue.

bullet “Linda's superior talents as advisor, organizer and coach are world class...

Twenty years after only a couple of sessions with Linda, I am still utilizing the tools she gave me on a daily basis. She is wise, knowledgeable, professional and approachable. In minutes Linda was able to assess, analyze and advise our band with just fragments of information.”

Carie MacAlpine
Lead Singer, HipShake Blues Band
 

bullet “Obviously you don't know what you don't know. But you DO know after...

...Linda gets done with you. I hired Linda to help me prepare for acting auditions in New York. She arrived replete with materials, ready to impart ways I could work on my own as well as with scene partners. Linda is immensely creative, energetic, and thought of things that I hadn't anticipated.”

Ana Lucas
Actor and Singer (who was cast, from a New York audition, in "Bed" which played in Manhattan, and "Widows", which toured northern Greece.)
 

bullet “Professional performance requires high standards. Linda's mentoring in...

...dialect coaching, puppet show development, and script memorization and interpretation has helped me gain quality and maintain that standard.”

Marilou Brewer - Singer, Dancer, Actor
The Andrea Fulton Chorale, Bracebridge Dinner
Yosemite Awahnee Hotel
 


 

Production Mentor

Guidance in the arts and skills needed to get your show on. Encouragement and support to help you develop and communicate your vision coherently, assemble your artistic team, write smart schedules, run rehearsals efficiently, design for optimal staging, and nurture quality performances. Get the help you need to avoid pitfalls and anxiety, utilize time and energy wisely, and make your production shine.

bullet “Linda's leadership and communication skills, her thoroughness, perception...

...and sensitivity made the creative process of working on a play gratifying and rewarding. It was always a pleasure to work with Linda when she was the director and I was the choreographer on many Gloriana Opera Company productions. She has exceptional organizational skills and the ability to communicate in a clear and structured manner the vision of what needs to be achieved to all involved, thereby creating a cohesive whole. She knows how to make the work fun.”

Nancy Harris
Executive Director, Mendocino Music Festival
 

bullet “Basically, there is little - probably nothing - Linda Pack cannot do...

As Director of the Mendocino Music Festival I worked directly with Linda as she took on the daunting task of producing and directing full scale operatic performances, a demanding job with multiple levels of responsibility, requiring complex administrative, communication and managerial skills. She is highly intelligent, organized, efficient, and always on task.”

Peggy Templar
Executive Director, Mendocino Art Center
 

bullet “I can't recommend Linda's “magic touch” enough. Linda has a truly...

...amazing gift for direction and staging (as well as performing). As a director, Linda took my visions, listened to my ideas and concerns, and then helped make them realities on stage. My production is a magic and illusion show - not an easy task to direct and coordinate; because of her, the show was full of magic - magic well beyond the tricks and illusions! ”

Robert Goleman
Magician, The Fabulous Blendos
 

 

Linda the Play Doctor! SOS: Save Our Show!

Need Emergency First Aid for Production Problems? Call Dr. Linda! The Organizing Principle provides rescue service for shows in distress, getting them in shape and on their feet, correcting poor pacing, weak performances, pesky technical issues, bad attitudes, and desperation. Calm, clear, strong, reassuring, and wise in the ways of Hell Week, with Dr. Linda in the house, the show WILL go on!

bullet “I thank Linda for thinking “great,” not “ordinary.” As my producing and...

...directing mentor, Linda’s skill at organizing and her vision have helped me turn a so-so show into something spectacular. The clarity of her communication and direction has helped many of my actors blossom before my eyes. Thanks to Linda’s tutelage, I have a better idea of the larger production values, staging, and down to the smallest prop, how important the vision is to create fantastic show.”

Roberta Morrow
Gloriana Musical Theatre
 

 

My gift to you: Understanding and Dealing with Stage Fright

You have prepared your material well. You are in good health. You look fine.
What you are feeling is adrenaline. Don't be afraid of it. This feeling is actually your friend. Adrenaline is energy waiting to be used. Be grateful for it, it will power your presentation.
This exercise will take focus and determination, but you will immediately begin to feel calmer.

Visualize that energy as a tangled, pulsing skein of light. You are going to disentangle it, and use it to create a strong and elastic support system

Using your breath, direct that messy mass as low in your body as you can, down from the top of your head, through your core and finally, below your feet.

Weave that disorganized energy, strand by glowing strand, into a safety net. Observe the strength of this net as you draw out and control each strand.

Breathe deeply, resting on the loving, grounded platform that you have built from your own energy. Admire and appreciate the power you have available. Remain or return here as often as you find necessary.

As you step onstage, breathe deeply from the bottom of your feet and let your performance soar clear and high off the energetic trampoline of your own strength.

 

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