Sara “Toby” Moore is San Francisco’s beloved and critically lauded “poet clown” and creative director of Thrillride Mechanics, the world’s first “clown opera company,” currently in residence at Z Space in San Francisco. With four decades as a performer, director, teacher, and writer, their substantial body of creative work covers the full spectrum of performance and spans multiple mediums including the big top, casinos, film, off-Broadway, and circus-theater. National credits include the Krofft Puppets, Merv Griffin Productions, and Royal Caribbean. Regional highlights include Circus Center, New Pickle Circus, Make*A*Circus, Circus Bella, Aurora Theatre, Center Rep, Brava, and Oasis. Toby believes that sing-alongs, opera, and symphonic music are the cures for all woes!

San Francisco performer Laurie Bushman has hosted sing-along movies at the Castro Theatre and other venues for many years. The very beginning (and her personal favorite) was The Sound of Music at the Castro, when she had the privilege of working with Charmian Carr (who played Liesl von Trapp). Since then, she has hosted hundreds of films—many Disney favorites, as well as Grease!, Bohemian Rhapsody, Mama Mia!, and more. As an actor, highlights have included roles in Star Trek Live, Three’s Company Live, and The Golden Girls Live—as well as the musicals Scalpel! at Brava and Falsettos at Theater Rhinoceros.

Ms. Bushman teaches acting and performance skills at Children’s After School Arts (CASA), where she has directed hundreds of children in yearly original musicals, most proudly including the production City Not For Sale, which was featured on the This American Life segment “Not Our Town.”