- May 16, 2025
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Rachel Moulton is an actor first and foremost, but she's always gathering information and skills to share with her students.
“They feel seen and confident, and they're willing to make strong choices and take risks,” Moulton said. “They're not worried about whether it's good or bad. Are people going to like me? Am I going to fail or am I going to succeed?”
Moulton is an associate artist performing on stage as well as the director of education at Florida Studio Theatre. She said they have been brainstorming ways to implement their programming beyond their downtown Sarasota campus.
“We were trying to be innovative in reaching more adult students who have perhaps a geographical-accessibility issue getting to downtown Sarasota, or they just don't know what we offer here if they're not already coming to our theater,” Moulton said.
Moulton said they learned about the Lakewood Ranch Library’s search to engage with nonprofit partners for new programming to attract people to the library.
Florida Studio Theatre began discussing ways to collaborate in December with the library's Jill Franxman, who also volunteers with the theater as an usher.
They decided on doing a four-week series for adults made up of classes that Florida Studio Theatre regularly offers: Improv for All, Acting Foundations, Reader’s Circle and Intro to Playwriting. Each class will be held for free once over the four weeks from 1-3 p.m. Mondays at the library.
Dave Stein is a teaching artist at Florida Studio Theatre. He will led the Improv for All workshop on April 28. He tells all of his students that life is just a giant game of improv.
“You take in information, you listen to what's being said to you, you absorb that information, you translate it, and you put something else out,” Stein said. “That's what improv is.”
Stein said the point is to loosen minds up and to not feel the stress of whatever is going on in the world.
“I love being able to give people the opportunity to express themselves and feel comfortable in a space communicating with new people, old people, friends, new friends,” Stein said. “Just opening those ways for people to communicate and feel comfortable in their own skin.”
On May 5, the focus of the class will be Acting Foundations, which Moulton will lead. Moulton said the purpose is to warm up the students’ bodies and imaginations and learn how to connect with fellow actors.
“They're going to get a sense of how an acting class works,” Moulton said. “They're going to do a physical and a vocal warm up, play ensemble-building focus games and really get a better understanding of what it means to be an actor.”
Moulton will also lead the class held on May 12, which is a Reader’s Circle. The participants of the class will be assigned a script for a 90-minute play.
They will learn background information on the play and its writer. They will then be assigned roles and will read the play aloud. After reading the whole script, they will discuss it. Moulton said they will talk about what inspired and challenged them while reading.
May 19 will be the Playwriting Workshop led by Nancy Rominger, Florida Studio Theatre’s associate artist in charge of new play development. She recently directed two new plays “Advice” and “Shedding a Skin” at FST.
It will be a master class on how to write a play, discussing all of the necessary elements including characters, setting, conflict and dialogue.
Moulton said one of the things she finds the most rewarding, regardless of what age she’s working with, is seeing when a student feels a sense of pride and accomplishment.
“They're finding joy in the constant curiosity and discovery that can happen in a classroom setting that's highly collaborative,” Moulton said.
