teaching artist

Charisse Loriaux is a Bay Area actor, teaching artist, and arts advocate whose work is grounded in a steadfast commitment to inclusion, collaboration, and amplifying every voice. Her teaching artistry journey began at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival School Visit Program, where she first felt the pulse of community-rooted storytelling. She later joined the Red Ladder Theatre Program, engaging under-resourced populations through improvisational techniques that foster confidence, communication, and essential life skills. For many students, her work has offered a first, and sometimes only, encounter with live theatre and Shakespeare in performance.

For over two decades, Charisse has been a creative force in designing and delivering award-winning, arts-based programming that centers holistic health - mind, body, and spirit, across educational and workplace settings. Her early work included a decade of touring Northern California with Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre, bringing arts education and the magic of live performance to thousands of students across diverse socio-economic communities. Driven by a mission to enhance youth well-being and cultivate a culture of care, Charisse has created and directed original works that explore mental health, resilience, and emotional literacy including the Resilience Squad, a four-part workshop series on stress management, healthy communication, mindfulness, and boundaries and Ghosted, a high school program focused on suicide prevention and 

mental health and wellness.

Her practice has also been shaped by her time with The Marsh Youth Theatre, where she deepened her commitment to youth-centered, ensemble-driven work. In recent years, Charisse’s focus has expanded to workforce engagement, where she introduces resilience tools to help curb burnout and promote boundary setting for a more balanced and joy-filled work life. As a seasoned facilitator and performer, she partners with diverse communities to lead trauma-informed, heart-centered workshops that nurture connection and creative expression.