ALLISON KENNY has spent a good part of her life leading and participating in creative and community-based activities focused on personal transformation.  Growing up in Phoenix, AZ as the “dramatic” and extroverted one in a house with 3 other sisters, she built her values through active engagement in softball teams, theater productions, show choir, and youth ministry programs.  She was a natural leader from a young age who was particularly influenced by her role in WomanStory, a Phoenix-based organization that supports the spiritual and emotional development of women and girls in intergenerational, arts-based camps and retreats.   To this day, she has a personal mission to create healing spaces for women.

Prior to moving to San Francisco in 2002, Allison earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Performance from Northern Arizona University.  Performing and directing with Theater Outreach for Social Change, Allison traveled throughout the Southwest, touring a series of vignettes that depicted social issues central to the lives of teens and young adults.  It was here that Allison’s passion for creating meaningful theater emerged.

In the Bay Area, Allison discovered that she had a deep love and talent for working with young children and has developed her own special methodology for working with children ages 2-6.  She is particularly proud of the work that she did as the Artist-in-Residence for St. James Pre-School in San Francisco’s Richmond District, where she worked for 4 years.  She has also taught theater and creative drama with the Beyond Borders program at Marin Country Day School, Young Performer’s Theater, the YMCA of San Francisco, the Marsh Youth Theater, and the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts Kaleidoscope Program.  She wrote and starred in “Story Swap with Madame Razz,” a highly hands-on show with song, dance and stories for young children. She also designed and directed Home Base Preschool, a collaborative of San Francisco families focused on alternative early childhood education.

In addition to her work with young children, Allison is a consultant, coaching and training adult youth workers in enrichment programming, facilitation skills, positive discipline and early childhood arts programming. She’s been a trainer for Team-Up for Youth, the Community Network for Youth Development, the Glendale Unified School District in AZ and as the Youth Development Coordinator for the YMCA of San Francisco. 

Currently, Allison is a member of the Living Arts Playback Theater Ensemble, a troupe of improvisational actors and musicians who  "play back" personal stories of audience members in ways that both honor and illuminate the original experience.

 Click here for ALLISON KENNY's Packet of Professional Services

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