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Volume 2, Issue 2
May/June 2006

Table of Contents:

A Message from the President
From the Editor
VASTA Conference 2006
Association of Theatre in Higher Education—Conference Announcement
Member News

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Lisa Wilson

Dear VASTANS,
April is a busy month for everyone. As those in academic programs rush toward finals, and we all complete preparation for performances and projects, deal with taxes, planning for next year, and planting a garden, etc, I wanted to mention a few of VASTA’s spring projects. On April 21 & 22 Dudley Knight represented VASTA at the Kennedy Center Irene Ryan finals. He offered a workshop for the Ryan participants and selected the winner of the VASTA Vocal Excellence in Performance Scholarship Award. The board sends special thanks to Dudley for representing us so well.

The VASTA Website now features the Chicago VASTA Conference 2006 information and registration information. Many thanks to Phil Timberlake for all of his hard work in getting this conference off to such a good start. I am looking forward to a wonderful workshop, feasting on the work of our featured presenters, and indulging in the delights or our VASTA member presentations. Forgive my purple prose, I just came from a class working with texture of language and my tongue is still dancing. As you can tell, my appetite was also whetted.

We have just completed the online election of Board members. If the tally is done by the time we go to e-release, we will include the names of the new board members. Thanks to Kate Ufema, Past President and Michael Barnes for such an efficient election process. The willingness of our membership to serve the profession in so many ways and working for VASTA makes me humble.

During the VASTA Conference in Chicago you will notice a session with VASTA Board members on a Diversity Document. As part of VASTA’s ongoing effort to embrace our diverse students and clientele, and to increase diversity among our trainers, VASTA Board member Beth McGee and the Board have developed a Diversity Document. The draft of this document will be presented to the membership for discussion. The Board is very excited to hear your thoughts on this document and to continue this critical discussion.

I would be remiss were I not to thank Erica Tobolski Newsletter Editor extraordinaire for her bravery and service in shepherding the VASTA Voice through its first year. And we extend a welcome to our able Newsletter Associate Editor, Allison Hetzel who will be moving into the Editor’s seat in the summer issue. Erica and Allison--thanks for a terrific first year. And special thanks once again to Michael Barnes for his technical expertise and design wizardry.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Chicago, and I remind you this is your organization. If you have suggestions, questions, want to work, or share your skills please contact me, or one of the board members.

Keep Breathing,
Lisa Wilson

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FROM THE EDITOR

Erica Tobolski

Dear Members,

I trust you have enjoyed this past year of the VASTA Voice as much as I’ve enjoyed overseeing them. When I accepted the post of Associate Editor three years ago under Chris Morris’ able leadership, little did I realize how my appreciation of VASTA would deepen (or how much work I was in for!). As many fellow VASTAns have said over the years, “VASTA is you.” As the newsletter Editor, my position has allowed me to meet and discover many more of “you,” (in the South, read “y’all,” in the Midwest, “you guys,” and in Pittsburgh, “y’uns) and this has been most rewarding. Transitioning from a printed and mailed document to an electronic format has not always been a piece of cake. But it has made me realize that new technology is here to stay, and that it can be our ally in imagination and creativity rather than a burden. Perhaps the best example of this was the VASTA Voice Radio feature, an audio link that ran in September 2005 and included interviews of members who attended the Glasgow conference. Thanks to Eric Armstrong for engineering this story. And many thanks to Michael Barnes who has done yeoman’s service in putting VASTA Voice down on the page and into your electronic mailboxes. Anyone out there willing to assist in this way? We need you as Associate Technology Director—contact Michael Barnes. Also thanks to the Regional Editors for their link to the membership; without them we wouldn’t have one of the newsletter’s most important links to each other, Member News. While we’re on the subject, please note the recent changes to the regions, which better balances the number of members per region. Thanks, too, to Lisa Wilson and the Board for their involvement with the actions and activities of the newsletter. Lastly, a hearty thank you to Allison Hetzel, who plunged into the role of Associate Editor with enthusiasm. Her positive outlook and persistence indicates to me that she is well-qualified to take the helm in the coming year.

Cheers!
Erica Tobolski

If you have ideas for articles or would like to submit an article for future issues, please contact Erica Tobolski, Editor at tobolski@sc.edu, or Allison Hetzel, Associate Editor at ahetzel25@aol.com

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VASTA Conference 2006

Phil Timberlake

The Voice and Speech Trainers Association invites you to VASTA Conference 2006, BABBLE: Encountering Sound and Speech, August 6-10 at Roosevelt University in Chicago. We’ll be celebrating VASTA’s 20th birthday!

Our presenters are at the forefront of speech training for actors in the United States. LOUIS COLAIANNI will explore a visceral approach to phonetics and its application to both classical text and stage accents. CHARLOTTE FLECK will utilize exercises developed for teaching expressive speech (using her training with Edith Skinner and Deborah Hecht), such as vibration and manner of articulation, rhythm and phonetics. DUDLEY KNIGHT (assisted by Phil Thompson) will explore the physical actions of all language sounds and then explore both detailed and informal articulation strategies.

We will also bring our presenters together for a lively discussion on the topic of speech “standards.”

GUEST PRESENTERS

• Dr. Teresa Reed is a Gospel singer and scholar. Dr. Reed will lead us in singing our way through the history of Gospel music.
• Dr. Salikoko S. Mufwene is the Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago.

MEMBER PRESENTATIONS:
Thursday, August 10 th is VASTA DAY! Over 25 papers and presentations from our membership.

LOCATION:
The conference venue is Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Right in the heart of downtown!

See the brochure at www.vasta.org for full details on registration and housing.

Please join us in Chicago August 6-10 for BABBLE: Encountering Sound and Speech!

Phil Timberlake
VASTA Director of Conferences
phil@amytimberlake.com

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Association of Theatre in Higher Education
Conference Announcement

Pamela Christian

Hello VASTA Members:
Our organization will be alive and kicking at the 2006 ATHE Conference in Chicago, August 3-6th. Seven very strong and interesting panels have been accepted, covering a range of voice-related topics, that will surely prove valuable to our organization and related disciplines.

In addition, VASTA will be turning TWENTY years old!! There will be cake and champagne at the VASTA Reception on Sunday afternoon, August 6th. Come one, come all. Come to Chicago just to celebrate. For more information about the ATHE conference, go to:

http://www.athe.org/

See you there
Pamela Christian
Conference Planner 2006

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Member News

INTERNATIONAL
Regional Editor, Linda Cartwright
linda.cartwright@clear.net.nz

HEATHER KEENS ( UK) embarked on her PhD this year at Kingston University. Current exploration is the teaching of ‘belt’ singing. What is belt? Are there differing types of belt? Does it differ between genders and voice type? What can we do to make it more accessible for all singing teachers to teach? The subject conjures up visions of wading through tons of melted toffee waist-high or even neck-high. Heather has also discovered and made acquaintance with fellow American ‘belt’ explorers Lisa Popell and Wendy DeLeo Le Borgne. She hopes to visit America this summer to explore ideas and share toffee wading.

FLLOYD KENNEDY ( Australia) is still researching theory of voice for her M.Phil and researching early 20 th century Australian stage comedy for Richard Fotheringham, as well as teaching Introductory Dramam at the University of Queensland, Voice at QUT (Creative Industries) and Acting, with Ira Seidenstein this semester, for Being in Voice. She has just finished dialect coaching for The Physics Project (rural Illinois and Mexican), and is about to go into rehearsal for Anne of the Thousand Days by Maxwell Anderson, in which she will be playing Elizabeth Boleyn.

KEVIN CRAWFORD (Accademia Dell Arte, Arezzo, Italy) is facilitating a "Voice Intensive: Renewing Traditions - Revisiting Barriers, Boundaries and Limits in Voicework" from 5th to 20th August at the Accademia. He will be collaborating with Richard Armstrong (Faculty at NYU Experimental Theatre Wing) and Andrea Ainsworth (Vocal Coach at The Abbey, Dublin). Linda Gates (Senior Lecturer at Northwestern University) and Patricia Bardi (Vocal Dance & Voice Movement Integration - Amsterdam) will be giving surprise Master Classes and presentations. For Further information contact:  <kevincrawford@wanadoo.fr> web site: <www.saltimbanco.org.>

CANADA
Regional Editor, Dawn McCaugherty
dmccaugh@ucalgary.ca

ERIC ARMSTRONG ( York University, Toronto) had a fairly quiet winter this year, focusing mostly on preparing his tenure file. He enjoyed participating in Marya Lowry's Ecstatic Voice workshop in NYC in March and acted as the Acting Area Coordinator for the Department of Theatre.

BRAD GIBSON (Vancouver) is currently teaching Voice and Speech at HELP University College (HUC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he is developing a Centre for Voice and Speech with a curriculum based on Linklater, Skinner and Lessac  principles, creating a training DVD and teaching HUC's American Degree Program offering Voice, Speech and Drama courses for transfer to AUS, UK and US Universities. In spring 2005 Brad completed his MFA and Voice Teaching Diploma ( York University) and was returning faculty at Canada’s National Voice Intensive. Brad also serves as ongoing web-bibliographer for the VASTA Online Bibliography and will be returning to Canada's National Voice Intensive in 2006.

Mark Ingram ( Toronto Film School, York U., Randolph Academy) Mark has had another busy year, teaching voice and acting at Toronto Film School, York and Randolph Academy; voice coaching on Three Birds Alighting on a Field, and The Twelve (a compilation of Twelve Angry Jurors and Twelve Angry Men); and doing fight choreography on The Princess Bride, Not Wanted On The Voyage and Company. He’s also managed to squeeze in some voice work on five MOWs and continues to renovate his house.

JEFFREY SIMLETT ( Toronto) is currently working with Toronto's Classical Theatre Project, coaching their productions of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet (also playing Horatio!); the shows will play in rep in both Toronto and Ottawa through the end of May.  He then returns to Northwestern University's National High School Institute, where he has been a core faculty member (teaching voice, speech and dialects) since 2001. 

DAVID SMUKLER ( York University, Toronto) has been busy coaching a number of projects and corporate clients. He was delighted recently to spend a weekend with other designated Linklater teachers and friends celebrating Kristin’s seventieth birthday in NYC. David and other members of the faculty of Canada’s National Voice Intensive, now in its 21 st year, are pleased to present a 2 week mini-Intensive in July as part of CSU Summer Arts, Fresno State, at the invitation of Tom Provenzano. http://csusummerarts.org

NORTHEAST
OLD REGION: NEW ENGLAND (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT,) 
NEW REGION: NORTHEAST (ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, PA, RI, NJ, DE, MD, D.C.)

 Regional Editor, Peter-Jack Tkatch
Peter-Jack.Tkatch@uvm.edu
 

NANCY HOUFEK (American Repertory Theatre/Harvard University) coached The Keening, Three Sisters, No Exit, Romeo & Juliet, and Orpheus X at the A.R.T.  She was awarded a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard.  Nancy taught in the Fitzmaurice Certification program in Los Angeles in January, was published in the Voice & Speech Review, and continues to present workshops throughout the country for organizations, universities, and private sector companies on public speaking and negotiation.  

NANCY KREBS was installed as President of the Lessac Training and Research Institute in January at the first annual Lessac conference, held in Denver.  She served as dialect/vocal coach for Cripple of Inishmann at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, MD; also for Lysistrata at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and for Candida at Everyman.  This summer, she will teach a one week Lessac Teacher Training workshop at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN.

DEBORAH KINGHORN ( Univ. of New Hampshire) presented at the Inaugural Lessac Conference held in Denver, CO in January.  Her workshops included four refresher sessions in the vocal and body energies for all conference attendees, and "Setting Up Your Own Short Workshop--A Practical Guide".  She directed A Murder is Announced in November, and will lead this summer's Lessac Intensive held at DePauw University in Indiana June 18-July 15.  For more information contact her at, < deb.kinghorn@unh.edu> or visit, < www.lessacinstitute.com.>

BARRY KUR (Professor/Associate Director of Penn State University School of Theatre) The Board of the Lessac Training and Research Institute have chosen Barry as President-elect.  In this position, he will serve as liaison between the Board and the planning committee for the Lessac Institute Conference in 2007. Barry will join Nancy Krebs in leading their second Lessac Teacher Training Workshop in June. At the inaugural Lessac Conference, he presented the new second edition of his text, “STAGE DIALECT STUDIES: A Continuation of the Lessac Approach to Actor Voice and Speech Training.” Available through the Lessac Institute web site. At Penn State, Barry played the role of "Jimmy Jack" in Translations and coached productions of The Boyfriend, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Rivals.

MARYA LOWRY ( Brandeis University) received a grant to travel to Greece for ten days in April to continue research on Greek lamentation and travel.

VIVIAN MAJKOWSKI (American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University) is finishing her MFA in Voice & Speech June 1 st. This season: vocal coach on the Institute’s Melancholy Play; ART’s Three Sisters and Romeo & Juliet and currently for MXAT American Stage’s Bulgokhov’s Zoya’s Apartment. She is teaching Voice, Speech and Shakespeare to 1 st year MFA actors; Public Speaking to the dramaturgs. In April she took part in the creation of the first Biannual International Voice Conference with the Central School of Speech and Drama and Moscow’s top four conservatories: GITIS, Vahktangov, Schepkin and MXAT.

NATALIE MCMANUS , of Potomac, Maryland, is an adjunct professor at George Mason University's Theatre Department.  She teaches both the introductory voice and speech class, as well as the advanced voice class.  This past year she took part in a Sound and Movement class with Kristin Linklater and attended the Linklater Teacher reunion in NYC.  Her company, Puck's Pals (teaching Shakespeare workshops in middle schools), continues to add more schools.  The high school Forensics (speech) team she co-coaches came in third in the county this year.  When time allows, Natalie works with private clients in her home, and acts whenever possible.

RUTH ROOTBERG recently spoke about the Alexander Technique on two radio programs: "It's all about Healing" and "Principled Profit."  Her article, "Keeping your cool when the Boss overheats: Inhibition in the Workplace," written jointly with April Sotura, appeared in AmSAT News in the Fall of 2005.

LEIGH SMILEY (University of Maryland) attended The CPR’s Giving Voice Festival where she gave a lecture, “The Cowboy Resonance in America” and a day long “Breath and Resonance in Archetype” workshop. At UMD, Leigh coached Jane Eyre, The Crucible and Amen Corner. This spring she text/voice coached Hamlet at Rep Stage and Winter’s Tale at Georgetown University. She organized the NYC “Ecstatic Voices” workshop taught by Marya Lowry in March. Leigh has been awarded a prestigious Creative and Performing Arts Grant to create a project around the voice of lamentation which will have it’s first production at the Capital Fringe Festival in July.

KAREN RYKER (University of Connecticut-Storrs) is currently coaching As You Like It (alongside David Stern).  She is still accepting reviews of new publications for VASTA’s next issue of The Voice and Speech Review.  Contact her at < Karen.ryker@uconn.edu> if you’re interested.

SUSAN WILDER has just coached Measure for Measure at the University of South Carolina (Theatre South Carolina) as a Guest Artist of The Shakespeare Theatre Company. She will next be acting in Since Africa at the InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia.  

LYNN WATSON (U. Maryland, Baltimore County) developed and presented a workshop at the VASTA Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Michael Barnes and Daydrie Hague were co-presenters for the workshop, “Fitzmaurice Voicework in Vocal Direction/Coaching.” She began serving as Secretary for VASTA and also as an associate editor for The Voice and Speech Review. Her article, “The Theatre Vocal Director in the U.S. and England” appeared in the most recent issue of VSR. Lynn taught sessions for Fitzmaurice certification training and consulted on voice and dialect for Arena Stage’s production of The Rainmaker, directed by Lisa Peterson.

NEW YORK
OLD REGION: MID-ATLANTIC (NY, PA, NJ, DE, MD, D.C.) 
NEW REGION: NEW YORK (NY) 

Regional Editor, Leigh Smiley
leigh_smiley@yahoo.com

PATRICIA FLETCHER (MFA Program, New School Drama School, William Esper Studio, NY, NY) Coaching projects included, Jean Reno in Margaret written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Harvey Keitel in A Crime and Untitled 911 Project, Gina Gershon in Ugly Betty, Jerry Broome in Hire a Liar.  The Cripple of Inishman directed by Daniela Varon (Dartmouth College), Fool for Love directed by Christopher Martin, Closer (Off-Off Broadway with Natane Boudreau) and 2005-2006 Season at New School Drama School.

KATE (WILSON) MARE recently coached Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Roundabout Theatre, Three Days of Rain on Broadway, Thurgood at the Westport Playhouse, and the film Pride and Glory. At Juilliard she recently coached Diary of a Scoundrel and a Greek project.

AMY STOLLER (Freelance) Recent credits: Dialect Designer for Safety, by Chris Thorpe; Dialect Designer for Exit Cuckoo, by Lisa Ramirez; Dramaturge for Soldier's Wife at the Mint; and Co-Director of Jane Austen, by Karen Eterovich, which made its NYC debut at the Players Club. Onstage roles include Mrs. Arbuthnot in A Woman of No Importance at the Medicine Show, plus Lady Corinthia Fanshawe in Press Cuttings and the Countess de Beaurien in It Pays to Advertise, both with the Shaw Project, on whose Board of Advisors she now sits.

KRISTA SCOTT’s recent voice/text/dialect coaching assignments were Othello, Metamophoses and Vincent in Brixton at Cornell University, where she was also the guest director of Cornell University's Heermans-McCalmon playwrighting contest winner, Edith Piaf Saves the Day by Rebecca Wolozin. She presented a Fitzmaurice Voicework workshop at the Region II KC/ACTF held at SUNY New Paltz in January. In May, she will portray Drusilla Clack in an original adaptation of The Moonstone which combines Wilkie Collins novel with The Sorcerer by Gilbert & Sullivan. Krista looks forward to meeting up with her VASTA colleagues in Chicago at the ATHE/VASTA conferences this summer.

LUCILLE SCHUTMAAT RUBIN ( Professionally Speaking) she coached Awake & Sing, The Wedding Singer, Family Secrets, Drumstruck, King Lear and Hello Dolly, plus Wonder Pets for TV. Lucille also coached individuals in an accent free phone voice, an expressive voice for oral poetry, anxiety free speaking for board presentations, vocal comfort following a trauma to the larynx, a voice to match self perception, vocal endurance for all day presentations, accent neutralization for voice-overs, a pleasant voice quality for TV hosting, interviewing skills, and calm nerves when speaking to a large audience. She continues to teach stage voice at Circle in the Square Theatre School.

SOUTH EASTERN
OLD REGION: SOUTHEASTRN (WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, AL, FL, TN, KY) 
NEW REGION:SOUTHEASTRN (WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL) 

Regional Editor, Daydrie Hague
hagueda@auburn.edu

KATE BURKE ( University of Virginia) attended design meetings at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green WI, where she will be voice and text coach this summer for Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure and The Matchmaker.

AMANDA DURST ( Virginia Commonwealth University) has been teaching full-time at VCU, working for both the Theatre Department (acting, voice/speech/dialects) and the English Language Program (American English Pronunciation). In her “spare” time, she is employed at the Barksdale Theatre as their Dialect and Vocal Director – most recently having worked on The Syringa Tree and The Full Monty. Amanda also freelances at other theatres in the area, and performs whenever she can. She is happy to report she has been singing lead vocals in the newly formed group, “Monument and Grace” – watch for them!

RINDA FRYE ( University of Louisville) recently coached dialects for Act aLady by Jordan Harrison for the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre.  She also directed As Bees in Honey Drown and dialect coached The Mikado for the University of Louisville, and dialect coached Impossible Marriagefor The Necessary Theatre in  Louisville.  She offered a “Spice up your Dialects” workshop (for actors of color and those who want a little color in their dialects) along with Kamilah Long and Be Boyd, and a “Voice for Writers” workshop, also with Kamilah Long, at the Southeast Theater Conference where Frye is the vice-chair of the Voice and Speech standing committee. 

DEBRA HALE ( Florida State University) dialect coached Bad Dates at San Diego Repertory for an October opening in the fall. At Florida State she has coached The Fifth of July, Amadeus, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean. She presented voice work in combination with Chi Nsei Tsang (Internal Organ Massage work with sound) and yoga at the international “Giving Voice” Festival in Aberstywth, Wales, using Shakespeare text to play with a visceral experience of the organs of the body while speaking.

BONNIE RAPHAEL ( University of North Carolina) is having a wonderful time coaching Cyrano de Bergerac starring Ray Dooley, featuring a talented cast of twenty-eight, and including everything from swordfights through beautiful poetry to some text in French. In June, she will present a workshop, “Intelligibility Onstage” for the Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia. Life is good.

PATRICIA RAUN ( Department of Theatre Arts, Virginia Tech) was honored to present a paper, "Poetry Play: Embodying Voice on Stage" at the VASTA conference in Glasgow, while in Scotland she performed a world-premiere one-woman piece called Eurydice at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received positive reviews from The Scotsman and Three Weeks. She recently completed dialect coaching for a world premiere musical adaptation of Dickens' Great Expectations! by Edwin Wilson, music by Doug Katsaros. Currently Patricia is performing in a world-premiere production of The Pact by Ed Falco that will be remounted at the New York Fringe Festival, summer 2006.

ERICA TOBOLSKI ( University of South Carolina) coached The CountryWife for Theatre South Carolina and worked with a private client in the insurance industry. In January, she again served as a screening auditor for the University/Resident Theatre Association's actor auditions for professional graduate training programs. Her role as Editor for the VASTA Voice concludes in May. She was recently promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and awarded tenure at the University of SC.

ELIZABETH WILEY directed Shirley Valentine in April 2006 at Williamsburg Players to critical acclaim. (Thanks to Lise Olson for help with Scouse references.) Liz also performed in Pal Joey with her students in November 2005, playing Vera Simpson ("Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"). Liz was awarded the "University Chair for Teaching Excellence” at her institution, the College of William & Mary, an honorary title for Fall 2005 -Spring 2008. The College of William and Mary will host the 2006 “Speech Methods Workshop: Dialect Embodiment” June 12-17, 2006 featuring Master Teachers Dudley Knight, Gillian Lane-Plescia and Louis Colaianni. For more information go to <www.speechmethodsworkshop.com>

SOUTHERN
OLD REGION: SOUTHERN (MS, LA, MO, AR, OK, TX) 
NEW REGION: SOUTHERN (AL, AR, LA, MS, OK, TX, TN, KY) 

Regional Editor, Darryl Thompson
Thompsonnorton@yahoo.com

DAYDRIE HAGUE ( Auburn University) recently directed The Shape ofThings by Neil La Bute and coached The Tempest. She served as a preliminary rounds judge for the Irene Ryan’s at KCACTF, offered a “Return of the Queen’s English” Standard British Dialect Workshop at SETC, and was invited to teach in the Human Odyssey program - an interdisciplinary program that teams artists and scientists to teach World History.

ALLISON HETZEL ( University of Louisiana at Lafayette) directed a production of The Boys Next Door. This past semester she was a guest at the Region I, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, where she taught the following workshops: "Voice and Body Integration for Actors" and "Creating Characters with Archetypes." She attended a Five Day Fitzmaurice workshop in San Marcos TX, in May and looks forward to VASTA 2006 this August in Chicago. Allison will also be stepping into the Editor position for VASTA Voice Newsletter as well as joining the faculty of the University of Alabama ( Tuscaloosa) this fall semester.

PAUL SCHIERHORN ( Tulane University) is directing 3 short one-act plays by Boston-based playwright William Donnelly in Tulane's one-act festival April 25-28. Tulane University is open, full of students and surging toward finals. The city of New Orleans is still badly wounded, but working hard to recover, and Tulane is in the thick of the struggle.

BETTYE ZOLLER SEITZ (Voices Voices) Bettye attended the University of Missouri 100th Anniversary Celebration in April and was honored as "An Alumnae With A Most Unusual Career" and presented a convocation assembly at which she played recorded examples of her work and took questions from students in music and theatre. Kansas City is her hometown although she's been a Dallas resident now for many years. She owns a recording studio there, is an audio engineer, audio producer, and one of the best-known voice-over / singing coaches in the Southwest. She'll present the workshop "Pedagogy of Voice Acting" in Chicago at the VASTA conference. She is a long time college educator and coaches privately in her studio.

TERRY WEBER ( University of Tennessee) will be serving at Voice/Text Coach at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival for the 2006 summer season. He recently did text coaching for Actors Co-op’s production of Romeo & Juliet. He also performed the role of Sam in Marsha Norman’s Traveler in the Dark for The WordPlayers.

EAST CENTRAL
(OH, MI, IN, WI, IL)

Regional Editor, Jill Walmsley Zager
jzager@uiuc.edu

CLAUDIA ANDERSON (The Theatre School, DePaul University) coached voice, language and dialects for The Theatre School productions this year, including Othello,The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Pentecost. In April, she joined the community of Linklater voice teachers and others touched by Kristin Linklater, who gathered to honor her in a birthday celebration and tribute. Claudia continues to study with Richard Armstrong, writing a grant to bring him to DePaul to work with the voice faculty; she also took the advanced workshop at Banff Centre for the second time. She is exploring the connections between musicianship and voice teaching, by pursuing her interest in Celtic music.

MICHAEL J. BARNES completed his first year on the faculty of Wayne State University.  He recently directed Little Shop of Horrors at the Bonstelle Theatre. He also served as the voice/speech coach for productions of Electra, The Inspector General, and Sly Fox at the Hilberry Reperatory Theatre. He also received a Dean's Creative and Research Grant from WSU's College of Fine, Performing, & Communication Arts.

KIRSTEN D'AURELIO (Voicescape) has been busy with vocational voice training at CNA, ABN AMRO, and Bank of America.  She recently  coached a County Mayo dialect for Seanachai Theater's  A Whistle in the Dark.   As an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University and Columbia College, Kirsten has continued to teach public speaking, voice and articulation for radio, and performance of literature.

WENDY DELEO LEBORGNE , has recently been promoted to the Director position (upon the clinical retirement of Joe Stemple) at The Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation, The Professional Voice Center of Greater Cincinnati, and The University of Cincinnati ENT Voice Center at University Pointe. She continues to evaluate and treat professional voice users with vocal problems. Upcoming events include a research presentation at The Voice Foundation Symposium (6/06).

LINDA GATES ( Northwestern University) Vocal/Dialect Coach for:  Pericles - Directed by Mary Zimmerman-The Goodman Theatre; Bus Stop, The Chosen - Writers Theatre; The Padlock and Dido and Aeneas – Chicago Opera Theatre

SANDRA LINDBERG ( Illinois Wesleyan University) directed The Skin of Our Teeth for IWU in Feb/March. She is now beginning work on the Fall 2006 production she will direct at IWU: Blood Wedding, translator still to be decided.

PHIL TIMBERLAKE ( Northern Illinois University) has had a busy Chicago-oriented 2006…. He dialect coached or is coaching: Private Lives (First Folio), She Stoops to Conquer (Signal Ensemble), and two new plays, Fellow Travelers (Stage Left) and Gaudy Night (Lifeline).  He’ll be playing Caliban in The Tempest this summer at First Folio.  And Phil is the Director of Conferences for VASTA in Chicago (come on down Aug. 6-10 – details on www.vasta.org).  Oh – and in his spare time, he’ll be joining the faculty at The Theatre School, DePaul University as of next fall.

MARIAN HAMPTON ( Illinois State University) directed the Johann Strauss opera, Die Fledermaus, with a double cast of Theatre and Music students and full orchestra, for ISU's Center for the Performing Arts in April, 2006.  She still serves on the university's Academic Senate and the Executive Committee of that body, and is rehearsing to tour Italy with Bloomington's Second Presbyterian Church choir in June, 2006.  Vocal coaching credits this year have included Arcadia and As You Like It.

BETH MCGEE (Case Western Reserve University) voice and dialect coached Necessary Targets at the Fine Arts Center in Cleveland and Little Foxes for the Case/Cleveland Play House Professional Actor Training Program at the Cleveland Play House.

RAELEEN MCMILLION (UW-Milwaukee and Renaissance Theaterworks) has served as vocal and/or dialect coach at UWM this season for Nickle & Dimed; A Raisin In The Sun; Milwaukee Stories; Philadelphia, Here I Come! and From These Green Heights. In Milwaukee, the year has included Tin Types at Skylight Opera Theatre, The Glass Menagerie at Nevermore Theatre, Boswell’s Dreams at Renaissance Theaterworks, and working with students on singing dialect for Oliver! Raeleen also directed Balm In Gilead for Dramatists Theatre and the re-mount of Milwaukee Stories in Ballymun, Ireland, and continues to teach voice/speech/dialect for First Stage Theatre Academy and workshops on “Talking Funny” at ComedySportz.

JILL WALMSLEY ZAGER (University of Illinois- Urbana/Champaign) has had a busy Spring 2006 recruiting for a new grad class and teaching four classes. She coached the dialects for UIUC productions A Flea in Her Ear and Intimate Apparel and is looking forward to going out to the Utah Shakespearean Festival this summer to coach dialects for On Golden Pond, HMS Pinafore and Room Service.

WEST CENTRAL
OLD REGION: WEST CENTRAL (MN, IA, ND, SD, NE, KS) 
 NEW REGION: WEST CENTRAL (MN, IA, MO, ND, SD, NE, KS, MT, WY, CO, NM, ID, UT, NV, AZ) 

Regional Editor, Matt Nesmit
Matthew.Nesmith@usd.edu

PAUL MEIER ( University of Kansas) continues his work as director of the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA), on-line at < www.ku.edu/~idea>; and as founder of Paul Meier Dialect Services, on-line at < www.paulmeier.com>. The tenth edition of “Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen” is now available. Through his show-specific dialect CD lease program, he continues to provide dialect support to theatres around the world; recent shows include My Fair Lady , Dancing at Lughnasa, The King and I, The Waiting Room, and Guys and Dolls . As Associate Editor for Pedagogy and Coaching for the Voice and Speech Review, he invites VASTA members to submit ideas for articles, or short outlines, in preparation for the 2007 issue.  

SCOTT NICE ( University of Northern Iowa) has recently been named as the resident voice & movement instructor for the Gately/Poole Actor Intensive Training Program. < www.thesummerintensive.com>.  

ANTONIO OCAMPO-GUZMAN ( Arizona State University) coordinates the MFA in Performance. At ASU, he recently directed La Vida Loca for the 2005 Festival of New Works and he will play Jerry in Pinter’s Betrayal. In March, Antonio taught at the Theatrestudio in Stockholm, Sweden, and in May he will direct his own translation/adaptation of Michel Tremblay’s Les Belles Soeurs for the Theatro Libre in Bogotá. In August, he will conduct master classes at the Centro de Estudio para el Uso de la Voz in Mexico City. He conducted a bilingual training workshop with Micha Espinosa in Phoenix this past February sponsored by Teatro Bravo. He serves as Associate Director of Membership for VASTA and will present at the upcoming Chicago conference.  

MATT NESMITH (Student Member) will graduate with his MFA in Theatre from the University of South Dakota this May. He has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Theatre at Central Michigan University, where he will teach in the BFA Musical Theatre program. This past December he was stage/musical director for the USD production of The Secret Garden. He recently performed the role of the Old Man in Shepherd’s Fool For Love, and is currently directing a production of The VaginaMonologues. This summer Matt will attend the Lessac Summer Intensive at Depauw University. He currently serves as the West Central editor for the VASTA Voice newsletter.

WESTERN
 OLD REGION: WESTERN (MT, WY, ID, UT, CO, NV, AZ, NM, WA, OR, CA, AK, HI) 
NEW REGION: WESTERN (WA, OR, CA, AK, HI) 

Regional Editor, Evelyn Cas
ecase@fullerton.edu

JOANNA CAZDEN ( Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, & private studio Burbank CA) and several of her patients were featured at Cedars’ World Voice Day program on April 6. About 75 doctors, voice teachers, and speech pathologists gathered to discuss voice care and celebrate their cross-disciplinary work. The program closed with performances by “graduates” of the Voice and Speech Rehabilitation program including a theater student and an internationally-known classical tenor. Joanna also completed Fitzmaurice Voicework teaching certification, in January.

JAN GIST (The Old Globe Theatre and University of San Diego) At The Old Globe: Body of Water with Sandy Duncan, Constant Wife, Trying -- with Saskatchewan help from Betty Moulton. We are about to begin our summer Shakespeare festival of Othello, Titus Andronicus, and Midsummer. USD, MFA Actor Training Program: Richard III, Feydeau's AbsoluteTturkey, 5th o f July. My thanks to Jeff Morrison of San Diego State University for arranging the "Bilateral Teaching Exchange of Russian and American Teachers of Voice for the Theatre". The first phase, held in San Diego in February, was amazingly inspirational, and I look forward to the second phase to be held at the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia, in May.

JOEL GOLDES <www.thedialectcoach.com> was seen dialect coaching on Black. White. and also on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He prepped English actor Samantha Morton in her American accent for Expired, Tyler Hoechlin in a Cajun accent for Solstice and helped Concetta Tomei land an Argentinian role in Lincoln Center’s The Clean House. He coached Caryn West to sound like noted autistic Temple Grandin for Temple at Seattle Rep and Zack and Jeremy Shada in Manchester accents for ABC’s Lost. His English client, Mark Aiken, recently booked his first American role, on CSI: Miami. Joel will offer several workshops in Louisiana this June.

DIANNE HOLLY , M.S., SLP graduated in December, 2005 with a master’s degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences (with Distinction) from California State University, Northridge. She is presently utilizing her formidable skills during a mandatory fellowship year in the Alhambra, California school system. Here she treats students (grades K-8) in speech and language issues such as cleft-palate, developmental apraxia of speech, stuttering, language disabilities and auditory processing disorders. Much to her chagrin, no children have yet appeared with either transgendered or professional voice issues. Additionally, Ms Holly maintains a private accent reduction practice in Burbank, CA.

ARTHUR LESSAC (The Lessac Institute, Professor Emeritus, SUNY-Binghamton) presented “Bauhausing Sessions with Arthur” at the First Annual Lessac Conference in Denver, CO this past January. He was also honored there with a Lifetime Achievement award for his body of work.

CRYSTAL ROBBINS ( Santa Monica College, The Lessac Institute) voice coached Romeo & Juliet at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Los Feliz.  Using applications of the Lessac Body Energies, she created movement workshops and choreography for Basho and the River Stones at Bret Harte Elementary in Burbank, a 9-week theatre workshop program for 75 children.   Also at Bret Harte, for Earth Month (April) she is currently presenting workshops for all grades on "The Life Cycles of Paper and Plastic" using the medium of theatre and dance!  In January, she was thrilled to be able to attend the First Annual Lessac Conference in Denver.  

LINDA DE VRIES (CSU, Northridge, the Road Theatre, Los Angeles) is the chair of the new VASTA Fellows Committee. You will be hearing more about the VASTA Fellows program shortly. This year Linda has coached the award-winning Ouroboros and "String of Pearls" at the Road Theatre and Nickel and Dimed and Hair at CSU, Northridge. She is currently coaching the premier of Backwards in High Heels at the Road Theatre, to open in May.

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