Amy Tobin
vocalist performer
producer community worker
teacher coach
Welcome
I work in art and community,
with tradition and modernity,
and with reverence and irreverence.
My life’s work has taken me into bars and boardrooms, toward guiding funerals and singing at weddings. The line between theater and ritual is hazy.
Communal and Jewish life
For over 30 years, I’ve created and performed cultural, holiday, and lifecycle events, often inspired by ancient wisdom and tradition. I make art (and ritual) for those who don’t necessarily feel connected to a community.
These experiences have ranged from an immersive cabaret rock opera based on the biblical Book of Esther (see below); to community Passover seders (pageants commemorating the hunger for freedom), to experiments interpreting traditional prayers at the Jewish new year.
In recent years I have also facilitated private lifecycle ceremonies, including spiritual care and rituals at end of life. I was a wedding planner in my early career and have enjoyed teaching the occasional b’mitzvah student.
What I love is making meaning from old and sometimes challenging sources, drawing on rituals for structure and comfort.
Music
I compose and sing. In the early 2000’s, I created and toured The Esther Show, an adult romp through a biblical story full of politics and sex.
My music, released as Amy Tobin and as part of A Little Friction (with the multi-talented Kevin Carnes), is available everywhere you stream.
In the Bay Area, I’ve performed at the SF Fringe Festival and on stages like Z Space, Maritime Hall, Cafe du Nord, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with musicians across genres: acid jazz, electronic, musical theater, and beyond.
My second musical, Lilith, had a limited run in a college black box theater. It featured a homewrecking Talmudic scholar lip-syncing Pat Benatar.
My first musical, Who’s There, Gummybear?, premiered in the third grade.
Coaching for leaders
I’ve served twice as CEO/ executive director and consulted with dozens of complex organizations in multiple fields. I coach people who want to orient their work in mutual humanity and compassion.
Clients have included pulpit rabbis, CEOs of cultural and community centers, and executive directors of social service and arts organizations. I advise leaders 1:1 and guide groups.
Learn more on LinkedIn.
About
With an MA in Jewish Studies from the Graduate Theological Union and BFA in experimental theatre from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, I am studying to be a rabbi at the new, post-denominational Ezzree Institute. In 2025, I was a chaplain intern at Sinai Memorial Chapel, the Bay Area’s nonprofit Jewish funeral home.
As an organizational leader, I have led both startups and legacy projects. I served as CEO of the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, expanding adult and civic programs and laying the foundation for major regional expansion.
As founding executive director at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, I helped build a landmark home for the environmental and social justice movement.
In the early 2000’s, I was the founding Artistic Director of The Hub at the JCCSF, building community through Jewish and intercultural arts programs in San Francisco.
I’ve been a recipient of the Joshua Venture fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs, the Gerbode Foundation fellowship, and was a LABA Bay Area fellow.
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