Jan Callner
Singer, actress, composer, playwright, lyricist, producer, director, teacher/coach, mother, wife, pianist, musical director, and writer. Jan lives on the Central Coast of California and works with the Cambria Writers’ Workshop.
Teacher/Coach
I have been a performance teacher/coach for over forty years. Many amazing and talented people have passed through my studio in those years. My philosophy: the words, the lyrics, the music and the silence themselves dictate how they are to be interpreted.
Some actors start by deciding what kind of hat their character would wear. Some try to figure out how a “princess” would behave. Those methods can work, but I believe the essence is “deciding what hat I would wear as that character,” and “how I would act if I were a princess.” It is our job as actors/interpreters to listen to the words, the music, the absence of sound, the universe and then react in an honest believable fashion.
It is this discovery that builds the character, develops the scene and makes the actor.
Writer
The writer designation is the one I shall concentrate on for this part of my life. I enjoy writing non-fiction, mostly memoir, because I have had such an interesting life. The first installment of said memoir is “Okay, God,” an homage to my father, a Sicilian immigrant who married my beautiful mother, served his adopted country, and tried to raise three daughters to the best of his amazing abilities. I’m happy to report I think he “did good.”
I’ve written and co-written more than twenty musicals for young audiences, including my award-winning Frog Prince and The Magic Fish, which are fully recorded “radio-type” plays. I’ve traveled the world with music in rock bands and musical theater productions.
I’ve raised three talented and decent sons. I have five newer human beings as grandchildren.
All these extensive experiences become new again and provide me with continued inspiration for a creative life.
Career #13, ready to go!
Jan
Jan Callner 