Synopsis
If auditioning makes you freeze with overwhelm, panic that you don't have enough time to prepare, question your choices or get mired in self-doubt and have a hard time letting go, then this session is for you!
Join award-winning actress and narrator Marni Penning for a special session that brings her Amazon Best-Selling book The Penning Method for the Panicked Actor™️ to life. Marni will demonstrate the method she has been using to coach her students into roles in theatre, film, television, and audiobook narration for over three decades. She will teach participants how to create a memorable, confident, unique performance, all without panicking and miraculously in five minutes or less!
Requirements
Participants will receive an image of a short bit of text via email prior to class , and should have a way to mark on it, either by printing it out, or electronically. Participants are required to remain for the duration of the session.
Instructor Bio
Marni Penning, creator of the Amazon bestseller The Penning Method for the Panicked Actor™️ and fondly dubbed "The Maven of a Million Voices", is an award-winning actress known for a theatrical depth and range that has propelled her to a successful stage and film career spanning decades.
Marni was nominated for Best Fiction Audiobook Narrator up against Ethan Hawke and Meryl Streep at the prestigious Audie Awards (like the Oscars of audiobooks) in 2024, and won an Audie in 2025. With nearly 400 titles she has narrated available on Audible (or wherever you get your audiobooks), Marni wants to change the world by telling raw, emotional stories about complex, flawed, and strong women.
A classically-trained co-founder of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (now in its 32nd year), Marni recently combined her love of the Bard (including 56 productions of 24 of Shakespeare's plays!) and Voice Acting to create the podcast "One Woman Shakespeare" – full audio productions playing all the parts herself. She is also a playwright, teacher, children's book illustrator, and acting coach, who lives with her husband, kiddo, dog, fish, snake, and chickens outside Washington, DC.