Bill and Lisa Collins have been in the entertainment business for over 30 years.
Bill is the original voice of the McDonald’s ‘Two-All-Beef-Patties-Special-Sauce-Lettuce-Cheese-Pickles-Onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun” jingle, and was a successful commercial producer and performer in San Francisco from the 1960′s through the 1990′s with hundreds of commercials in his portfolio. With his 4+ octave range, his crystal clear vocals were part of classic folk and rock groups that dominated the San Francisco music scene in the 60′s and 70′s. He has worked in the film industry as an actor and voice-over talent, and as an actor in a number of musicals and industrials throughout the United States and abroad. He has added teaching to his long list of talents, and his humor, energy, and funny voices make his drama and film classes some of the best around.
Lisa began writing and producing plays and events at the age of eight, and hasn’t stopped since. She is the founder of the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival, a recipient of the ‘A Cappella Legend’ Award, and was dubbed as ‘The Den Mother of Doo Wop”by the San Francisco Chronicle. She has been a singer and actress in a number of original works as well as traditional theatrical roles, with emphasis on musical comedy character roles. She taught drama at the Orme School in Arizona, and several schools in California.
1n 1988, Bill and Lisa became friends during a 9-month run of an original musical comedy revue in Marin County called, “Hello Marin, Hello”, where Bill played the wayward pirate Sir Francis Drake, and Lisa was the Miwok Indian Princess Petaluma. They found that they were a great match – with Bill’s wild and crazy talent and Lisa’s organized creativity, and their shared passion for music and theater, and decided to combine forces in business as well as life. They married in 1993, which was the same year they started “Keyhole Mystery Theater” with friends and fellow actors Buzz Halsing and Steve Wilner.
Keyhole Mystery Theater was a terrific success, with quality musical comedy interactive murder mystery dinner theater shows performed in numerous venues throughout Northern California. To date, Bill and Lisa have written over 30 scripts, and have honed their interactive entertainment skills to a ‘T’.
After moving to Redding, CA in 2002, seeking a less hectic lifestyle in which to raise their daughter, the creative floodgates opened even further for Bill and Lisa. In 2004 they created a film-acting school called “Redding Talent Company” along with fellow actor Maya Pruett. In 2007 they produced Lisa’s original musical Melodrama – “Fowl Play In French Gulch” to rave reviews. In 2008 they made a film “Poor Thing” for the Sundial Film Festival, and wrote the beautiful song “Are You Still In There Somewhere” as a tribute to those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Making this film launched Lisa into a new passion – film editing – and the creation of her new company “Generation DVDs” which films people telling their life stories, then edits in music, photos, film and video footage to create a priceless memoir for, well, future generations!
In 2008 they discovered a way to share their flair for writing personalized songs with “Songroasters – The Ultimate Singing Telegram” and have enjoyed bringing tears of laughter and love to their clients’ friends and families.
In 2009 they realized a dream come true when they produced one of their murder mysteries – “Dead to the Last Drop” in a traditional theater setting, starting a new direction for the fun scripts that they have in their arsenal. In 2010, their original musical comedy “Club Dead – The Last Resort” took them to a new level of writing and composing, and they are excited about their current project “Behind The Mask” an original musical set in turn-of-the-century New Orleans.
In the fall of 2010, they joined WE Multimedia’s production of the west coast premier of the play “M*A*S*H”, and look forward to future projects as guest directors, producers and actors.
In February of 2011, the pair launched a weekly radio program – New Radio Theater – which features new audio plays and offers a year-end grand prize of $5,000 to the play voted number one!
Lisa does a weekly segment about the local theater scene on the Linda Bott show on KCNR radio, and Bill continues to teach drama with the Westside Performing Arts Company.
By now you should understand why there are so many different branches of “Collins Talent” – and rest assured, the list is growing!