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Volume 3, Issue 2
July 2007

Table of Contents:

A Message from the President
From the Editor
2007 VASTA Conference
Ohio Regional Voice Conference
Member News

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Phil Thompson

VASTAns,

It has been a very full and, frankly, stressful couple of months since my last letter yet I don’t for a minute imagine that I’m alone in that. I know that voice teachers are paragons of exertion and the most endlessly generous people. And I’m certain that many of you could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up my soul. So I wish for you all what I wish for myself: a moment’s clarity and a cleansing breath.

I can also offer a couple of announcements that will get you to thinking about spring and sunshine and the promise of what’s to come.

Two weeks ago I was in Washington DC on a beautiful warm day, looking at cherry blossoms. I had come to select a recipient of VASTA’s Vocal Excellence Award from among the finalists of the Irene Ryan Acting competition. This is an award we give every year but this is the first time I have had the privilege of presenting it. The competition brings students from across the US to the nation’s capitol to take classes and vie for honors. I certainly heard some voices that could use our attention but I also saw a tremendous amount of talent and thirst for knowledge. This year’s recipient of the Vocal Excellence Award, was Kelli Crump of Western Illinois University. Kelli and her scene partner performed a scene from the Merry Wives of Windsor and sang a duet from the Color Purple. Her voice covered a tremendous range of qualities. She was deft, imaginative, playful and crystal clear. Her teacher, longtime VASTA member Carolyn Blackington was justly proud and I was heartened to see a talented crop of young actors, some of whom will eventually become our colleagues in VASTA.

Thinking past spring and into midsummer, I hope you’ll be able to join us for our 2007 conference in Denver Colorado, August 3-7. The focus of this conference is practical voice science and conference Planners Kate Ufema and Phil Timberlake have a very exciting, very full schedule for us. Check out the schedule at http://vasta.org/conferences/conf2007/index.html . You’re bound to come away from the conference with masses of useful information in addition to the usual pleasures of connection and reconnection with friends and colleagues.

I mentioned in my last letter, that for the next two years we won’t be coordinating our conference with ATHE. We do, however, maintain our strong association. VASTA is a focus group of ATHE and we share many members in common. Since we won’t be holding our conference in New Orleans, we’ve decided to cosponsor an ATHE preconference on July 25 entitled: Teaching Outside Your Specialty: Essential Elements of Acting, Movement and Voice for Integrated Theatre. The preconference is designed to offer help to teachers who need to expand their range of expertise to cover beginning courses in Voice, Movement, or Acting. If you plan to attend ATHE this year, you may want to start a day early and if you have colleagues who might benefit from this event, please let them know. Questions can be directed to Barbara Acker at Barbara.Acker@asu.edu.

Thanks for making VASTA what it is!

Word,
Phil Thompson

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FROM THE EDITOR

Allison Hetzel

Dear VASTA Members,

As the spring semester ends and summer begins, I hope this finds you all doing well. This issue of the VASTA Voice will be my last as Editor. My time spent working on the VASTA Voice during the past five years as both the Southern Regional Editor (2003 – 2005) and the Associate Editor position (2005 – 2006), as well as serving this past year as the Editor, has taught me that VASTA is made up of so many gracious and giving members.

These members submit enriching and interesting articles in our field of Voice and Speech; they keep us informed about regional events and workshops by sharing announcements through the VASTA Voice, as well as keeping us updated on their professional and personal endeavors in the member news feature. This collaboration is exciting and made possible by the Regional Editors. These hardworking Editors collect and edit member news for the VASTA Voice, and it is greatly appreciated as it helps VASTA members stay connected.

Clearly, the VASTA Voice would not be possible without those that serve and support the process. Mark Ingram has been valuable and instrumental during the past year as the Associate Editor in getting the issues of the VASTA Voice assembled, edited, and sent to the membership. He is positive and professional, and it has been a joy to have such a helpful collaborative Associate Editor. I know he will be an excellent Editor for the VASTA Voice as he steps into the position! As Mark becomes the Editor, Jeff Morrison will join the VASTA Voice as the new Associate Editor. Let’s give a warm welcome to Jeff! As always, articles and announcements are welcome from members, and I know Mark and Jeff will be happy to hear from you.

I hope you have enjoyed the past issues of the VASTA Voice, and I am certain that future issues will continue to connect and inform VASTA members. Working with the VASTA Voice has been a great opportunity, and I thank VASTA and the many members and colleagues that I have gotten the opportunity to know during the process. It has been a pleasure

Thank you again and enjoy your summer!

- Allison Hetzel

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2007 VASTA Conference

Phil Timberlake

VASTA's 2007 Annual Conference, PRACTICAL VOICE SCIENCE: WATCH, LEARN, PLAY, will be held at The National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS) in Denver Colorado from August 3-7, 2007.  More than 13 presenters will present the latest in voice science and its application to voice and speech training.  Due the nature of this conference, registration will be limited to 100 participants.

Cost will be $120 for members, $80 for students, $200 for non-members.  Housing will be at brand new dorms at UC-Denver (Campus Village at Auraria).  Cost will be $45 for double occupancy, $90 for single occupancy.  

We are also planning an optional outing at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival.

The brochure and registration form are available at the VASTA website www.vasta.org .

See you in Denver!
Phil Timberlake
Kate Ufema
VASTA Co-Directors of Conferences

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OHIO REGIONAL VOICE CONFERENCE

D’Arcy Smith

Braving the threat of further snowstorms, twenty participants gathered at Wright State University for a regional voice conference on March 3, 2007. The conference offered a dynamic experience including workshops and lectures on Alba Emoting, Vocal Health and Science, Voice and Violence and Dialects. Most of the participants were from Ohio; others came from Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan. All seemed eager for the chance to share and experience vocal knowledge and techniques. Each participant attended two 1-hour sessions with each practitioner throughout the day.

The Conference got off to an excellent start, with a lecture and workshop on Alba Emoting with Rocco Dal Vera. Rocco Dal Vera is a Professor at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. His book Voice: Onstage and Off, co-authored with Robert Barton, is in use internationally by a number of College and University theatre programs.

Rocco’s workshop outlined the principles of the Alba Emoting technique and explored the connection between breath, physical tension patterns and emotion. Participants then had a chance to get up on their feet and experience a few of the emotional patterns. His clear, structured and personable teaching style facilitated a truly enlightening experience.

Following this was a presentation on voice and violence by Ian Borden. Ian Borden is an Assistant Visiting Professor at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Michigan. He teaches Acting, Directing, Introduction to Theatre and Stage Combat for the GVSU.

Ian gave participants a physical exploration of stage combat that illustrated the challenges the actor and voice coach faces first hand. His workshop focused on voice, speech and physical techniques to help the actor stay safe, yet “sell” the moment on stage. Ian’s techniques and insight were both exciting and informative.

After some lively discussion over lunch participants returned to a lecture from Chuck Richie, Professor at Kent State. He has been a professional theatre artist for twenty-five years, both as an actor on stage in New York and regionally, in on-camera and voiceover work, and as voice director/vocal coach for numerous theatrical and broadcast productions and private students. 

Participants were introduced to methods of recording, ways to interview the dialect donor and various sources for dialect samples. Chuck’s passion and clarity sparked great interest and further discussions about this area of the work.

Dr. Ronald Scherer, Professor of Communication Disorders at Bowling Green State University, took us into the world of voice science. He is a Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders and teaches voice disorders and speech science courses. His research interests include the physiology and mechanics of basic, abnormal, and performance voice production and intervention, as well as the methodologies involved in such research.

Dr. Scherer offered clear detailed information of the anatomy and function of vocal folds. Of particular interest was the section where part of his lecture was given from a recording of his vocal folds through a nasal scope. The clarity of the phonation process that he offered set us up nicely for a ‘field trip’ to the Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis.

Participants traveled to the voice clinic to meet with Dr. Wendy Le Bio, a Clinical Voice Pathologist & Singing Voice Specialist and Dr. Steve Gorman, a Voice Pathologist. Participants were introduced to the ‘tools of the trade’ for the voice pathologist. Two lucky participants had the chance to be scoped while other participants watched. This was a truly informative and interesting field trip.

Perhaps the most exciting part is that this conference will hopefully serve as an inspiration for further regional conferences, not just in Ohio, but in other areas as well. If you are thinking of planning one in your region, go for it!

Thank you to all VASTAns who made the journey to Dayton and many thanks to VASTA for partially sponsoring the event! Hope to see you next year!

D’Arcy Smith
Conference Planner
Wright State University

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Member News

International

Linda Cartwright
Regional Editor

LISSA TYLER RENAUD (Taiwan) Visiting Professor, Taipei National University of the Arts on a coveted National Science Foundation Grant; teaching directing, theory, acting, voice/movement. Spoke at the international conference of playwright Stan Lai; serving as English language Editor, International Association of Theatre Critics. With Ellen Margolis: editing an anthology on U.S. actor training, including several VASTA members. Over the Internet: Lissa’s California voice practice continues; she co-produced a Bay Area program for Actors Reading Writers from Asia! For worldwide 2007 Gertrude Stein/Alice Toklas events: performing in Taipei and San Francisco. Summer: presenting at ATHE, New Orleans; returning to the U.S.

Canada

ERIC ARMSTRONG (York University, Toronto) has been busy this winter/spring, working with Rosetta Stone as a reviewer, listening intently to the work of fellow VASTAns Paul Meier, Liz Wiley, Dudley Knight, Patricia Childs and Phillip Hubbard. He also arranged a grant from York University to hire two of his students to work on recording and transcribing samples for IDEA. Eric begins his first sabbatical this summer, and plans to run a daily blog and weekly podcast on voice, speech & dialects.

BRAD GIBSON (Vancouver) is currently Director of Voice and Speech at HELP University College (HUC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he is teaching a curriculum based on Linklater, Skinner and Lessac principles and researching movement theory applied to speech training. July 2007 will see a workshop at HUC combining Shakespeare and Indian Classical Dance (Bharatanatyam and Odissi). Recent research has included a paper read at and published by the Delhi School of Professional Studies and Research (DSPSR) in New Delhi. Brad also serves as ongoing web-bibliographer for the VASTA Online Bibliography and is faculty on Canada's National Voice Intensive, where he will be returning again in 2007.

Mark Ingram ( Toronto Film School, York U.) started this new year off with a BANG – he became Coordinator of the Acting Program at the Toronto Film School, where he continues to teach voice and acting. While learning the ropes of his new job, he also got back on stage in a successful production of The Seagull – the first Toronto production for his freshly-transplanted theatre company (Rogue & Peasant Theatre Co.) –­ playing Dr. Dorn. He has also been Assistant Editor for the VASTA Voice newsletter and returns to York University this summer to teach an “Acting Shakespeare” course.

DAWN MARI McCAUGHERTY (University of Calgary) directed Twelfth Night (with Valerie Campbell) at the university, dialect coached Christmas Carol for Theatre Calgary, is presenting a paper “Bringing Shakespeare’s Words to Life” at the Pacific Northwest Renaissance Conference at the end of this April and will be presenting the results of her current research in audio and video dialect collection at the VASTA conference in Denver. She is completing her first very busy year as the Graduate Coordinator for the Department of Drama and will be on faculty of Canada’s National Voice Intensive this spring.

BETTY MOULTON (University of Alberta) is proud to say that the first year of the new MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy she developed has been a great challenge to teach, and the two students have had many opportunities to teach and coach in the department and university wide. She will spend the summer organizing the major grant she received this term. With ESL and SLP colleagues, she will set up an interdisciplinary research program. The research will focus on developing the best support and training for University teachers who are non-native speakers of English.

DAVID SMUKLER (York University) played Sorin in an Equity Co-op Production of The Seagull. The cast with, one exception, were all York alumni or Mark Ingram's students. It was thrilling, challenging and he learned so much – the first time on stage in a play in seventeen years! Going from the rehearsal room or stage into the studio brought all of the senses to the fore and he’s looking forward to more challenges as an actor-teacher.

NORTHEAST
(ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, PA, RI, NJ, DE, MD, D.C.)

DEENA BURKE (University of Delaware/PTTP)Last Spring Deena coached Tina Landau's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The McCarter Theatre and this winter Trouble in Mind and Ah Wilderness! at Center Stage. For the PTTP she coached Mark Lamos' production of Peter Pan, Cyrano de Bergerac, A Flea in Her Ear, Galileo, Misalliance, TopDog UnderDog, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tartuffe and Taming of the Shrew. In May she will be performing the narrator in A Soldier's Tale with the Delaware Symphony. Having worked at Chautauqua Theatre Company for three summers, she is taking this summer to travel to Thailand and Europe to teach, dance the tango and rejuvenate.

JANET MADELLE FEINDEL , MFA (Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon) coached--alongside Cicely Berry, OBE--The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice, starring F. Murray Abraham, produced by Theatre for a New Audience, which played in NYC; then Merchant moved to the Royal Shakespeare Company Complete Works Festival, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. Janet's chapter "Strategies for Dealing with Vocal Tension" appears in Performer’s Voice, Plural Publishing. She also led a workshop with the Alexander Alliance in Germany. She dialect coached The Real Thing, directed by Bob Miller for the Rep and Mazel for the Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh. She would like to thank Cic Berry for all her support.

NANCY KREBS served as dialect coach for The Laramie Project last Fall/Winter at the Baltimore School for the Arts, then composed the musical score and served as musical director for Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights, a professional production for the BSA, directed by Richard Pilcher.  This Spring she will be dialect consultant for Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn for the Bay Theatre Company in Annapolis, MD, and dialect coach for Pinter's Betrayal at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore.  She will be part of the faculty for the One Week Lessac Introductory Workshop at the University of Mary Washington in June, and the Lessac Summer Intensive at DePauw University in late June into July, as well as the Teacher Training Workshop.

MARYA LOWRY (Brandeis U) is currently collaborating on the development of a new play about the Armenian genocide and will travel to Athens, Greece again this summer to teach Ecstatic Voice at the International Festival of Making Theatre.  Her biggest news is that after 21 years of full-time teaching, beginning in fall of 2007, Marya will reduce her position at Brandeis to half-time allowing for greater freedom to explore and develop her creative work in the theatre, take a larger role with Actors' Shakespeare Project and deepen her volunteer work in the prisons.

NATALIE MCMANUS (George Mason University; Puck's Pals, LLC; Montgomery Co. Public Schools) Natalie, a Designated Linklater Voice Instructor, Speech-Language Pathologist, and Certified Forensics Coach, is finishing up a very busy school year.  She teaches the introductory and advanced theatre voice classes at GMU as an adjunct professor.  Her Shakespeare workshops in the Montgomery Co. middle schools are in full swing until June.  Natalie has just completed her eighth and final year as a high school Forensics (public speaking) coach and county tournament director.  Her next venture is workshops for professionals centering on public speaking skills.

SALLY MORGAN (Independent) According to a Philadelphia Inquirer article of July 8, 2006, “Striking a Cord,” there is a need in the vocal community for a new paradigm in non-classical vocal training. Finally, the need has been filled by Morganix Method © Your Key to Vocal Excellence. Developed by Sally Morgan, the Morganix Method© is available in workbook form with four accompanying practice CD’s. To quote one Morganix phrase exercise “I sing on the vowels, but I get paid for the consonants.” For a free copy of the first chapter or to book a workshop, email < sally@MorganixMethod.com>. More information is at < www.MorganixMethod.com>.

KAREN RYKER (University of Connecticut-Storrs) has recently directed The Magic Flute for UConn Opera and enjoyed it immensely. For Connecticut Repertory Theatre has recently coached Macbeth directed by Paul Barnes, Shakespeare in Hollywood directed by Nick Olcott.  Putting the Reviews section of The Voice and Speech Review to bed now.  Looking forward to seeing many of you at VASTA conference in Denver.

PETER JACK TKATCH (University of Vemont) directed and vocal coached Macbeth at UVM’s Royall Tyler Theatre last fall. In the spring of 2007 he dialect coached The Importance of Being Earnest directed by Peter Harrigan at St. Michael’s College and has also acted and directed with the Vermont Young Playwrights Festival.

ELIZABETH VAN DEN BERG (Assistant Professor, Theatre Arts Department, McDaniel College) served as vocal coach for Synetic Theatre’s production of Frankenstein at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. She was also dialect coach for The Constant Wife at Olney Theatre Center for the Arts in MD, where she will be coaching Rue 13 L’Amour in May, both directed by Jack Going. At McDaniel College, she was dialect coach for Lobby Hero, directed by Clay Hopper. She is acting as Producing Artist Director for Theatre on the Hill this coming summer, in residence at McDaniel College, which is why she will miss seeing you all at the VASTA conference.

NEW YORK

ANDREA HARING (Vocal Coach, Coordinator of Linklater Teacher Training, Director) Associate Director of The Linklater Center for Voice and Language. Vocal Coach for the LAByrinth Theatre Company; Currently on faculty at Columbia Graduate School of Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre School, and Fordham University. Previous Faculty positions: Yale School of Drama, The New Actor's Workshop and CSC Rep. Has coached extensively On and Off Broadway. Trains Teachers in several Non-Profit Arts Programs for the Public Schools in NYC. Coaches professors at NYU School of LAW as well as several corporate organizations.

LISA ANNE PORTER (Associate Professor, BFA Drama Program, Syracuse University, AEA, SAG, VASTA) A designated Linklater voice teacher since 2003, Lisa has a BA in Theatre and American Studies from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre. She is a professional Equity and SAG actress with years of regional theatre and Shakespeare festival experience.  She currently teaches voice, acting and text in the BFA program at Syracuse University as well as teaching master voice and text classes at the American Conservatory Theatre, the Academy of Art University, Naropa University, California Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare & Company. Lisa is also professional director and vocal/dialect coach. 

LUCILLE SCHUTMAAT-RUBIN, Ph.D. ( Professionally Speaking, NYC). Voice & Speech coached: an actress for vocal endurance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; a lawyer for Public Speaking skills; business professionals for dismissing stage fright and executive presence; a banker for nasality reduction; business clients for neutralizing Chinese & Polish accents; a politician and executive coach for vocal styling; a country singer for avoiding vocal misuse; a TV journalist for clear tone and a Broadway musical star in Company for preventing voice loss. As voice coach at Circle in the Square Theatre School I prepared students for our annual scene night. profspeak@aol.com

KRISTA SCOTT  (Ithaca College) is pleased to be very busy as the new treasurer for VASTA.  Recent dialect coachings include Yellowman at the Kitchen Theatre, A Streetcar Named Desire at East Stroudsburg University, and Lucia Mad at Hobart & William Smith Colleges. At the Region II  KCACTF  she conducted a workshop called "Scansion, Schmansion: a physical exploration of Shakespearean Verse, " and was a preliminary judge for the Irene Ryan Scholarship competition.  She will be directing a new one-woman play (title TBD) in May at the Kitchen Theatre, and will have another book review in the upcoming VASTA Journal.

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

(Seeking a Replacement Regional Editor)

ANTONIO OCAMPO-GUZMAN (Arizona State University) directed Shakespeare’s The Comedie of Errors at the Galvin Playhouse at ASU, where last fall he played Rashid in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, directed by Erma Duricko. He continues to adapt Kristin Linklater’s Freeing the Natural Voice into Spanish, having offered master classes exclusively in Spanish in México, New York and Madrid. This summer he will be teaching at the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, presenting at the VASTA Conference in Denver, and moving to Boston, where he will join the faculty at Northeastern University. He will also take over as Director of Membership for VASTA.

ADRIANNE MOORE (Utah State University) has just finished coaching dialects for Pygmalion Theatre’s production of Frozen and Utah Contemporary Theatre’s Distant Music. Earlier she coached Pennsylvania Dutch accents for the movie The Redemption of Sarah Cain, directed by Michael Landon Jr. She goes to Tuacahn Center for the Arts this summer to coach My Fair Lady. Recent directing gigs include the premier of Miasma, for Plan B Theatre - about the devastating environmental and social effects of the beef industry. She will be presenting at ATHE and VASTA conferences this year.

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

Jill Walmsley Zager
Regional Editor

CLAUDIA ANDERSON (The Theatre School, DePaul University) received a University Research Council grant to support a new direction in her performance. Collaborating with musicians Mike Austin (bodhran), Kat Eggleston (singer/guitarist) and Jim Conway (tin whistles and harmonica) she developed a program of Irish songs, stories and tunes—singing, playing guitar, bodhran and tin whistle. The performance, First in Our Hearts, played at The Theatre Building, Chicago in April. In December, Richard Armstrong directed her and four Theatre School voice/movement colleagues in an original vocal performance piece, Scapes, Frags and Ngs, which will be performed in May.

MICHAEL J. BARNES (Wayne State University) has coached The Elephant Man, On the Verge, and Amadeus, at the Hilberry Theatre, and The Women at the Bonstelle Theatre. He also is just finishing directing Into the Woods at the Bonstelle Theatre.

LINDA GATES (Northwestern University) served as the English Diction Coach for the Metropolitan Opera, coaching Placido Domingo in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor and the new English language Christmas production of The Magic Flute directed by Julie Taymor. She is currently the dialect coach for the Chicago production and national tour of The Color Purple, and the Vocal Director of Oedipus Complex written and directed by Frank Galati at The Goodman Theatre. She is directing Shakespeare’s spoken dialogue in the opera Beatrice and Benedick for Chicago Opera Theatre in May.

DIANE TIMMERMAN (Professor of Theatre at Butler University and Designated Linklater Voice Teacher) directed The Ice-Breaker by TV’s CSI writer David Rambo at the Phoenix Theatre as part of the National New Plays Network rolling world premiere. This spring, Diane and her advanced voice students performed Voicescape: Pandora’s Box, a 30-minute soundscape in the dark based on the Pandora’s Box myth and inspired by Linklater and Roy Hart techniques. Next up, Diane heads to the Moscow Art Theatre School and the St Petersburg Academie to continue artistic exchanges with Russian theatre faculty. This summer, Diane will direct Carousel for the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan.

JILL WALMSLEY ZAGER (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign) coached dialects for Dancing at Lughnasa and Gint and appeared as Nancy Gordon in Wendy Wasserstein’s final play THIRD directed by Nagle Jackson.

SOUTHEAST
(WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL)

Daydrie Hague
Regional Editor

Robin ARONSON ( University of Southern Mississippi) Lessac Voice Practitioner (passed orals in January 2007) Presented at the Southeastern Theatre Conference: “Lessac with a Twist of Suzuki”and “Fuggedaboudit”a Brooklyn dialect workshop.

Rafael Lopez-Barrantes (Duke University) is very excited to announce that he will be leaving Duke in order to join the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts, School of Theater in Valencia, CA, where he will be teaching "Voice and Gesture", to BFA and MFA students, as a full time faculty professor.

Amanda Durst (Virginia Commonwealth University) Amanda has been serving as Vocal/Dialect Director for Barksdale Theatre and Firehouse Theatre Project seasons, between her own acting and directing endeavors. Favorite dialect shows this year include The Full Monty (Buffalo, NY – fun!) and I Am My OwnWife (you name it!). Also this year, Amanda has done dialect coaching for The History Channel and The Discovery Channel projects. She continues to teach at Virginia Commonwealth University.

ALLISON HETZEL (University of Alabama) was the voice and dialect coach for Blithe Spirit and Co- Directed the Senior New York City Showcase at UA. She presented a workshop for actors with Janet Rodgers and was a panel member of “Transitions between Praxis and Theory: From Grad Student to Teacher” at SETC 2007. Allison will also be stepping down as the VASTA Voice Editor this year.

DAYDRIE HAGUE (Auburn University) most recently performed in and vocal directed Metamorphoses . She presented “Brian Friel and the Dialects of Northern Ireland” at SETC in Atlanta, and served as a respondent at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Ellensburg, Washington. This summer, she will be developing a theatrical project funded by the National Science Foundation which explores the challenges faced by women in the Math, Science and Engineering disciplines.

LAURA HITT (Associate Professor, West Virginia University) Dialect Coach, Oliver Twist, adapted and directed by Neil Bartlett – co-production of American Repertory Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, February-June 2007. Dialect/Voice Coach, Flea in her Ear, Blood Relations ,and The Philadelphia Story. Dept. of Theatre and Dance, West Virginia University. Fall 2006-Spring 2007.

BONNIE RAPHAEL (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) is finishing up her tenth season at the University of North Carolina and with PlayMakers Repertory Company. Last month, she enjoyed reading from the autobiography of Isadora Duncan for a tribute dance recital at UNC. For PRC, she coached Stones in His Pockets, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Corneille's The Illusion. This summer, she will spend eleven weeks at the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival, coaching Distracted and Tartuffe. Life is good.

JANET B RODGERS (Head of Performance/Voice and Speech at Virginia Commonwealth University) continues to accept one or two mature graduate students into the Voice and Speech Pedagogy program every year.  If you know of a highly motivated future voice and speech trainer please send them her way.   This spring Ms. Rodgers dialect coached When you Comin Back, Red Rider? and in May and June will be taking 10 students to Serbia to work for 12 days with the DAH Theatre on voice and physical acting while creating a performance piece.  This spring she and VASTA member, Allison Hetzel, presented a workshop on relaxation techniques, for the Southeastern Theatre Conference.  

ERICA TOBOLSKI(University of South Carolina) vocal coached The Pillowman and played the role of Alice in Standing on My Knees at Theatre South Carolina. Her article “Opposite Gender Monologue: Expanding Vocal Range” will appear in the upcoming Voice Journal.

Elizabeth Wiley (College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA) was delighted to join Paul Meier and other VASTAns early in 2007 to be one of the "voicers" for the US English project for Rosetta Stone's language learning software. She will spend the summer 2007 with the Virginia Shakespeare Festival, performing in R&J and Love's Labour's Lost, and dialect coaching What the Butler Saw.

WESTERN
(WA, OR, CA, AK, HI)

Evelyn Case
Regional Editor

JOANNA CAZDEN (Cedars Sinai Medical Center) will offer a workshop at the Voice Foundation Symposium, Philadelphia, on “The Appoggio Variations: A Clinical Guide to Artists’ Breath Support;” thence to NYC to teach in the Fitzmaurice Voicework Teacher Certification program, early June. She co-authored an article about adaptive music studio technologies for blind, paraplegic, and hearing-impaired composers and engineers, for the May 07 issue of Electronic Musician magazine, and is updating her health booklet for arts students, titled How To Take Care of Your Voice –The Common Sense LifestyleGuide, which will be available online in June 07.

JAN GIST ( The Old Globe Theatre and University of San Diego) In January 2007 Tara McAllister-Viel arranged for me to be a guest at Central School in London, where I taught workshops on “Shakespeare's Shapely Language”, based on the materials I'd put together for the VASTA conference of 2001. It was so satisfying to see this material work for students from all sorts of backgrounds and levels of experience. And I'm still reeling from the trip to the Moscow Art Theatre that Jeff Morrison arranged in October of 2006 where we exchanged teaching skills with voice teachers from theatres all over Moscow. What inspirations!

SCOTT KAISER (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) is currently serving his fifteenth season as Head of Voice and Text at OSF. In April, his second book, Shakespeare’s Wordcraft, published by Limelight Editions, went on sale in bookstores and online. His play, Splittin’ the Raft, a retelling of the Huck Finn story through the eyes of the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, was produced in May at the People’s Light and Theatre Company near Philadelphia.

CRYSTAL ROBBINS wrote and directed the cabaret show With So Little To Be Sure Of in Hollywood and is slated to run the show in June at Burbank's Theatre Banshee. She is doing a salon performance of Much Ado About Nothing with the NYU Collective in late April.

We have attempted to get all the updates possible – our apologies to anyone that feels left out.

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