about THE SOUL StORY FOUNDER

Suraya Keating, founder of Soul Story Theater,  is an actress, theater director, Soul Story performance coach, Expressive Arts & Drama Therapist, and Playback Theater aficionado. In her role as Social Justice DirSuraya developed a life story theater program for people in prison as well as formerly incarcerated artists. During the past 20 years, she has written and performed various solo shows inspired by the wild ride of her life experience, and has coached dozens of individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds in the creation and sharing of performances inspired by their life journeys.

Suraya's love of theater sprouted after being raised in an emotionally repressed family that placed lots of emphasis on thinking, logic, appearances and walking the "expected path" but little emphasis on the body, soul or following one's heart.  This awakened in Suraya a deep hunger to re-connect with her body and heart through multiple art forms, including theater, dance, music, and more.  Through theater and the arts, Suraya was able to re-connect to and express all that she longed to express within her psyche.  Not only did Suraya find personal healing through the arts, but she repeatedly found that the arts also had a profound capacity to foster collective healing, unity and connection amongst diverse people. As Suraya followed her heart's guidance to study and train in theater, drama therapy and expressive arts therapy, she also discovered another passion: life story theater. Read below for more details on how Suraya's family history and life journey ignited her interest in life story theater.