Becky Parker Geist
Acting, directing, coaching and voiceover work are Becky’s deep passions. As adjunct faculty for Solano Community College, Becky taught and directed several Solano Youth Theatre productions. She has developed and run her own theatre programs for kids, youth and adults, and loves developing new performance works using a collaborative ensemble approach. She has also run small classes and coached privately for many years, including students preparing auditions for college and conservatory programs and actors just looking to improve their acting skills.
Becky Parker Geist is an actor, coach, director, writer, teacher, voiceover talent, and Chaucer Theatre’s Executive Director. In 1995 she co-founded Chaucer Theatre, a professional touring theatre company, with her husband John Geist and she has co-directed most of Chaucer Theatre’s repertoire. The company has toured England, Northern and Southern California, and the East Coast.
Becky received a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination for Ensemble Performance in Chaucer Theatre’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale. She is represented by Tonry Talent. Becky is the owner and founder of Pro Audio Voices, serves as President of the board of BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association), and is a member of Audio Publishers Association and Theatre Bay Area. She is a published author and speaker.
As part of the Chaucer Theatre core ensemble, Becky originated many Canterbury Tales roles including: Hostess Harriet Bailey (appearing within several Canterbury Tales), Dame Prudence (Tale of Melibee), Pertelote (Nun’s Priest’s Tale), Dame Fortune (Monk’s Tale), Dorigen (Franklin’s Tale), the crone (Wife of Bath’s Tale), and many others. She wrote, produced and performed on tour the one-woman show Joy with Wings: A Daughter’s Tale.
Becky has performed with Marin Theatre Company, Common Cultural Practice, EDEN2 Theater Ensemble (which she also co-founded) among other Bay Area theatre companies. She has also served as playwright, including over 25 literary adaptations, dramaturg, and screenwriter. As part of the Geist, Parker & Gilland screenwriting team she developed the first in a series of feature film screenplays based on the Canterbury Tales. For churches, Becky has developed performance pieces based on lectionary and Biblical characters for use in sermons, holiday presentations, and other church events.
As a teacher, Becky also developed and managed a licensed after school program for kids age 5-13 from 1995-2008. She holds a CA sub teaching credential and has substituted in classrooms from pre-school through high school, including special needs. As a parent, she has raised three very successful daughters, two of whom are working in theatre.
Becky received her B.A. in English & Theatre from Moravian College, and her M.F.A. in Acting from U. of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She was a script-reader in the literary department of Actors Theatre of Louisville for the annual Humana New Play Festival, and narrated over 70 titles for the Library of Congress’ Talking Books for the Blind. She has also done voiceover work including radio spots, online ads, narration of industrials, museum information and children’s books.