“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time.”
Rena Cohen M.F.A. is an award-winning professional theatre director, published theatre critic and acting teacher who is dedicated to working with clients from every occupation and profession to help them to develop their individual strengths as communicators.
Rena is relaxed and easy to work with. She operates from the premise that public speaking is about communication, not perfection. She is committed to helping you articulate your message so that you can successfully impact your audience in a way that is comfortable and authentic to you.
She has served as professional adjudicator for speech arts for the National Professional Music Teachers’ Association (2004) and the Westcoast Speech Arts Festival (2006, 2008) and is also the founder/coordinator of a recognized community educational program for Gateway Theatre. Maintaining her close professional attachment to the performing arts, Rena is also the Managing Director of Realwheels theatre company.
Recognition:
- Best Director Award from the Quebec Drama Federation (two-time winner)
- Certificate of Special Recognition for outreach programming: Richmond School Board
Testimonials:
My preparation was really helped both by our meeting and by drawing on your notes.
Working with Rena not only builds confidence for a strong presentation but she is a reminder of the value of having fun, not only in a presentation but throughout her step-by-step conversational process toward success.
Rena Cohen is an excellent speech arts coach and a wonderful adjudicator. She has adjudicated the public speaking classes for the Westcoast Speech Arts Festival on several occasions and we always found that she provided the participants with excellent advice, helpful evaluations and creative techniques that they could easily understand and put into immediate use. Rena connected with the students, their parents and their teachers as she was warm, friendly, and entertaining while all the while sharing her knowledge and experience. She brings this same attitude and ability to her coaching. I can recommend her highly!
Rena's help was invaluable and gave me the confidence to be able to stand up in front of people - 10,000 people, actually. Working with Rena made all the difference between a speech that would have been adequate to one that still stands out for people when they think of that event.
Rena's exercises are fun and practical, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to develop this part of my professional life. She gave me a context for public speaking that helped me become much more comfortable and effective in front of any audience.
Working with Rena is adding some tools to my "kit", polishing skills, increasing insight and awareness, overall making me better prepared for this part of my work and career. She provides concrete new things to try, and her overall approach to public speaking is about keeping my own style and making it better.