About Sara | sarastockmayo

I am a trained musician, spiritual leader/spiritual director and creative arts coach. With a diverse educational and professional background, my work draws from many of areas of thought and practice. After training in theatre, I become a registered Drama Therapist. I have worked in a variety settings including: mental health facilities where I co-wrote and produced plays with adults in recovery from acute mental illness, schools that used theatre as a means for rehearsing real life responses to violence and social pressures; professional and community theatre spaces where I have performed, written and directed. I co-founded ShpielBurgh Productions, a community theatre company that produces original works based on Jewish themes. I have also brought theatrical elements into my work as a spiritual leader, designing events using masks and puppetry to tell biblical and universal stories.

My work as a creative arts coach draws upon my experiences in both drama therapy, spiritual direction training and my own creative practices. I employ a variety of techniques to help individuals and groups unlock their creative potential through writing, embodied practices, dramatic play, music and art.

I have served as the cantorial soloist and music director at Temple Sinai, a Reform congregation, as well as in a variety of other synagogues in the Pittsburgh and New York areas. I write creative poetic liturgy with many of my poems published on Ritualwell, a Reconstructionist resource for prayers, rituals and poetry. I have served as co-chair of my local chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam, Shalom and am one of the service leaders at Kesher Pittsburgh, a non-denominational Jewish community. I also serve as a community outreach coordinator for the newly founded arts non-profit, the Rotunda Collaborative at the former B'nai Israel synagogue.

I hold a BFA in Musical Theatre from Syracuse University and an MA in Drama Therapy from NYU, Clinical Pastoral Education from UPMC as well as certification in Jewish Spiritual Direction from the Yedidya Center.