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Volume 4, Issue 3
April/May 2008
Table of Contents:
A Message from the President
From the Editor
“Voice" and the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries
VASTA Award for Vocal Excellence
Dorothy Mennen Research/Development Grant
Member News
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Vastans,
The occasion of this special “member news” edition of the VastaVoice serves as a reminder to me that I’ve been very bad at sharing my own news. I’ve been a member for the past twelve years and I think I’ve contributed news to the newsletter twice. I suppose this could be attributed to inertia or laziness but I think a big part of my reluctance has come from the completely false notion that sharing my accomplishments amounts to bragging. I suspect this in not an uncommon obstacle to submitting news items. When I see a student who makes this mistake of confusing confidence with arrogance, I resort to this little game of etymologies: Arrogance derives from the Latin roots ad “toward” and rogare “to ask” . The combination “arrogare” means, essentially, to ask for oneself. We certainly don’t want to be seen as claiming for ourselves any praise that we aren’t due. Confidence, on the other hand comes from “confidere” – con meaning “together with” and fidere “trust” or “faith”. “Confidence”, then, refers to a shared trust. We trust in our ability and in the desire of our audience to hear us. This usually works pretty well and the time has come for me to take my own advice. VASTA is an organization with which I share tremendous faith and I see that joint trust amongst the membership as perhaps our most valuable products. That is one reason out of many why member news is so important. It reminds us that there are other voice practitioners out there in the world with successes big and small, just like us.
So…my news:
Philip Thompson (Irvine, CA) just opened a university production of Measure for Measure. With the luxury of extremely talented student collaborators and a pretty darn good author, it turned out to be a wonderful show. Phil’s next project is playing Claudius and the Ghost in a workshop production of Hamlet. It’s his first role in 4 years and he’s a bit scared. This summer he’ll be teaching quite a bit in New York City, first in the Fitzmaurice Teacher Certification Program. Following that, he’ll be teaching in the Voice Methods Workshop. Finally, he’ll be doing a Speech Workshop with Dudley Knight. And, of course, he will be attending VASTA’s conference in Ashland, and having a wonderful time of it.
I look forward to reading your news!
Word,
Phil Thompson
FROM THE EDITOR
Dear VASTAns,
This is my final letter as Editor of the Newsletter, as my two-year commitment comes to an end. I want to thank Michael Barnes and Jeff Morrison for all their support and assistance in getting these issues out to you – Gentlemen, your efforts have been very much appreciated.
As I look back over these two years I have achievements I can be proud of but I also have some regrets. When I started as Associate Editor I was a guy who liked playing with graphic design programs and had only been in the voice-training world for a couple of years. The position certainly gave me more involvement in this wonderful organization and allowed me to feel like I was expanding my circle of associations with all the contacts I gained with each issue. It allowed me to actively contribute to issues that needed to be written about. It was a great first year.
My year as Editor has not been quite as fulfilling. Circumstances have not allowed me to attend conferences, where I might meet people and discuss ideas and theories, which could eventually be sounded out in the pages of the newsletter. That’s what I’d hoped to do. [Added into this was ‘having the wind taken out of my sails” shortly after my term started as I was informed that the program I’ve been running (and, in fact, the whole college I teach at) was to be shut down – that we were going to do “a teach out.” It’s been quite fascinating to see how this removed any impetus to further my research, as I have been in a truly reactive mode while ‘head office’ tries to dream up ways to keep students and faculty happy. That’s neither here nor there however the timing has been an impediment to my ability to fulfill this role to the extent I would have liked.]
I am proud of getting all the Regional Editor positions filled, which allows for better contact throughout the membership and sharing of news/activities in our Member News Editions. This is one of the important roles filled by the Voice. I want to thank all the Regional Editors for their efforts in coordinating the collection and compiling of all the news.
I still believe that VASTA Voice has an important place within this organization. It is an important forum through which to share ideas and to stimulate dialogues. My regret is that I don’t feel I was able to expand how members use this publication. My hope is by putting this out there again that some of you will rise to the challenge/opportunity and write articles for the Voice on your way to writing those more in-depth pieces for the VSR. If you have a thought/idea that you would like to test out, please send it in to voice.editor@vasta.org.
As I depart and Jeff steps into the role of Editor, we are still looking for someone to assist Jeff (and then become Editor). If you are interested, please drop us a line at voice.editor@vasta.org.
In the grand scheme of things I am glad for the experience of the last two years – especially being able to be an active part of VASTA. I am staying involved, as I now take on the position of production layout of the VSR. Thanks again, to all who have helped me in the past and to those who will help me in the future.
Cheers,
Mark
“Voice” and the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries
Beth McGee
Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University
President-Elect, VASTA
You can’t get away from racial and gender politics in this primary election, so I thought I’d “stir the pot” a bit. I have been interested in the way “voice” has been used so far in the Democratic primary. There was the moment after Senator Clinton won the New Hampshire Primary, when (in a speaking voice ravaged by fatigue and campaigning), she told the New Hampshire voters “I listened to you and in the process, I found my own voice.” At the time, I wondered exactly what she meant by that. Ever since Carol Gilligan’s ground-breaking 1982 feminist book “In a Different Voice,” (outlining the psychology of how women make important decisions and how their process differs from men’s) the word “voice” has been used as a feminist code-word, later being co-opted by Madison Avenue to sell products to women (much as the word “choice” has been). Was Senator Clinton making a feminist statement? What did it mean that the comment came on the heels of her famous moment of tearing-up on the campaign trail, which many pundits reported “softened” and/or “humanized” her and won her the New Hampshire primary? How does her “voice” reflect her gender? What does it mean when she is called “Hill the Shrill” or her laughter is dissected for its “genuine-ness?” How does her voice reflect her status as a White American? How does it reflect her ability to be President?
By most reports, Senator Obama’s speaking style has been considered “Presidential.” However, he is often described by journalists as “articulate,” a code word that some in the African-American community find offensive, as it is an adjective some majority white folks use to describe Black people who don’t use traditional African-American dialects--as if you cannot be “articulate” with an African-American dialect. His oratory style has been compared to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. His March speech on Race in America has been heralded as “historic” and criticized as not distancing him enough from the voice of his pastor Jeremiah Wright. How does Senator Obama’s voice reflect his gender and his African-American roots? Some African-Americans criticize him for not being “black enough,” a code phrase that envelopes many cultural and political themes. Does his baritone make him “more presidential?” How does his use of the traditional cadences of African-American preachers in his speeches help or hinder his ability to be President?
As voice professionals, we are keenly aware of how our speaking voices reveal our interior “voice,” and how “voice” is linked to cultural, familial, and personal identity. But “voice”–—who has access to it, who does not—is also a link to power; the matter of how we sound and what we are sounding about are sometimes indistinguishable to others. VASTAns currently debate how voice training practices may not enhance the educational/workplace experiences of minorities or women, and may actively work against their ability to thrive in academic institutions and our profession. We might also ask ourselves how “voice” reflects our vision of leadership in American society, and how we might echo these thoughts within our profession.
VASTA Award for Vocal Excellence
Joe Gillette is the 2008 recipient of the VASTA Award for Vocal Excellence presented at the Irene Ryan Acting Competition as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Joe is a senior at Cal State Fullerton, where he has performed in numerous plays including A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), Mother Courage (Swiss Cheese), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (Banjo). He graduates this May with a B.A. in acting, and I plans to move to Los Angeles during the summer to pursue acting full time. He would really like to thank VASTA for this honor.
Dorothy Mennen Research/Development Grant
The VASTA Endowment Grants and Awards Committee is pleased to announce its second grant/award for 2008. VASTA's Dorothy Mennen Research/Development Grant awards of up to $1000 to fund VASTA members for research or professional development. This is the first time VASTA has been able to offer this kind of grant, thanks to the success of our VASTA Endowment. As part of the ongoing mission of the organization, VASTA is very pleased to be able to support the profession by providing an opportunity to members for greater professional development.
This award is named for Dorothy Runk Mennen, "the mother of us all," who served as the founding president of VASTA. She organized the voice and speech program for the American Theatre Association in 1968, and in 1986 helped to found VASTA. Dorothy created the voice curriculum at Purdue University where she taught until 1985, and as Professor Emerita she was involved in the classroom climate interactive theatre workshop program. Dorothy continued as a vital member of the VASTA board for a good twenty years into her retirement. Dorothy's spirit of encouragement, vision of inclusivity, professionalism, determination and generosity are at the heart of VASTA's mission.
VASTA Members are invited to apply for awards of up to $1000. Examples of the kinds of projects or professional development opportunities include (but are not limited to):
• attending a workshop with a master teacher to further your development as a trainer and/or artist,
• a small research project related to voice and/or speech,
• subvention of publication of an existing manuscript,
• a travel subsidy to support training or research to cover transportation and or subsistence,
• purchase of equipment to support teaching,
• purchase of electronic equipment to support research.
Applicants for the Mennen Research/Project Grant should submit the following:
1. A 2-page condensed C.V.
2. A 2-page project description, which must include the following:
◦ project overview and rationale,
▪ indicating the scope and objectives of the project,
▪ summarizing the significance of the project to your career;
◦ if this is a research project, a brief statement of its relationship to existing research and literature, and outline plans and methods;
◦ anticipated dates of the project.
3. A detailed budget for how the money will be spent, based on actual quotes (do not use rough estimates).
In addition, applicants must answer the following questions:
1. Do you intend to seek additional support or matching funds for this project? If so, please name other source(s) of funding.
2. If we are unable to fully fund this request, would partial funding encourage institutional support for your project? If we are unable to fund fully, would you prefer not to be funded at all?
Applicants must be VASTA members in good standing for a minimum of 2 years prior to application.
Please submit your materials in .doc or .pdf format via email to Eric Armstrong <e.r.armstrong@gmail.com> by June 15, 2008.
Member News
INTERNATIONAL
Linda Cartwright, Regional Editor
BETSY ALLEN (London, U.K.) has been teaching voice in the MA Acting program at Arts Ed London and coaching privately in Chiswick. She will teach a course at the Actors Centre in June and assist Catherine Fitzmaurice with the London 5-day workshop in July. Betsy is directing and performing in an original improvisational piece for three actors in May at The Synergy Centre.
FLLOYD KENNEDY (Australia) teaches performance skills at QUT Creative Industries, runs weekly Being in Voice Acting Classes, and is developing a new play The Woman Who Dreamt of an Afterlife for presentation at the ADSA conference in New Zealand in July and Performing The World! in New York in October. She was part of the creative development team for Sue Rider's new play The Pink Twins, as well as working on her PhD thesis and writing a chapter for the forthcoming book Breath in Action. Her paper for the 2006 ADSA confernce, "Meta-Performativity: Being in Shakespeare's Moment" will shortly be published online.
JENNIFER RICHARDS (Sydney, Australia) has just finished coaching the Australian premiere of QED by Peter Parnell at the Ensemble Theatre. She helped Henri Szeps recreate the voice of physicist Richard Feynman. She is looking forward to a more permanent relationship with the Ensemble Theatre.
HELEN SEWELL (U.K.) is the Managing Director of Simply Speaking Ltd, which has developed an online training program for the BBC, which they are also offering to corporate clients. The program forms part of a blended learning package which includes both e-learning and face-to-face seminars in voice and presentation skills. Blended learning gives clients the option of learning the theory of successful speaking in their own time, before meeting a voice and presentation specialist for intensive training on the very practical elements of verbal communication. The BBC World Service Trust uses blended learning as an integral part of training for broadcasters around the world.
CATHY VINE (London, U.K.) has a small business called Vocal Clarity. She does accent modification and uses the Compton P-ESL method, as she was a speech pathologist back in the U.S., but she also has a theatre background (Bachelor's degree) and so taps into that to modify the Compton when needed, depending on what works best for her clients.
CANADA
Dawn McCaugherty, Regional Editor
ERIC ARMSTRONG (York University) is enjoying the second half of his sabbatical, doing theatre and film/tv coaching. He spent 3 months in Toronto and Montreal coaching the motion picture The Orphan, working with 10 year old Isabelle Fuhrman on her Estonian accent. He coached Pride and Prejudice for Geva Theatre and Alias Godot for Tarragon Theatre. Through it all, he has been writing his weekly voice training resource, <voiceguy.ca>. He has enjoyed chairing the VASTA Endowment Grants and Awards Committee, helping to choose VASTA's Clyde Vinson Scholarship winner.
PATRICIA DARBASIE (Edmonton) has spent part of this year as an arts facilitator with a program called “Voices Less Heard”, a program that brought artists and community groups into the mainstream. The rest of Pat’s year was taken up as a vocal coach: at M. E. Lazert High School on their main stage production of After Juliet; at the University of Alberta, Pat worked with the senior BA and BEd students on The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and with the BFAs, Way of the World, Chekhov or Check Out and By the Bog of the Cats.
JULIA LENARDON (The National Theatre School, Montreal) has been busy teaching and coaching Restoration, The Cherry Orchard, and Scenes from an Execution. Professionally, she has been English Coach for A New World, (Theatre de L’Oeil), Dialect/Voice Consultant on A Lie of the Mind (Fallen Angel Productions) and My Name is Rachel Corrie (Teesri Duniya Theatre/Network Theatre). As dialect coach for the films: Emotional Arithmetic, le Piege American, and tv movie, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde (for Dougray Scott). This summer in Prince Edward Island, Julia will be teaching at the PEI Conservatory, coaching for the new Montgomery Theatre Festival and acting/dialect coaching for mobisodes of the story of Anne of Green Gables.
MARK INGRAM(Toronto Film School) continues to have a busy year, teaching voice and acting, as well as coordinating the Acting Program, at TFS. This past semester he directed Norm Foster’s Office Hours and has just started Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is about to start another stint up at York University, teaching “Acting Shakespeare.” Mark recently threw his “hat back into the ring”, he got an agent and has been doing a lot of auditioning lately – scored one national spot, so far. And to keep the personal life busy too, he’s been renovating the house he moved into in December.
DAWN McCAUGHERTY (University of Calgary) played the role of Mrs. Soames in Theatre Calgary’s January production of Our Town, for which she also dialect coached. In the fall she did voice and text coaching at the University for Jeanette Lambermont’s productions of Oedipus and Antigone. This spring she will be on faculty at Canada’s National Voice Intensive in Vancouver. Much of her time has been devoted to serving as the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Drama – an administrative commitment both blessed and cursed….
NORTHEAST
(ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, PA, RI, NJ, DE, MD, D.C.)
Peter-Jack Tkatch, Regional Editor
NANCY HOUFEK (Head of Voice & Speech -- A.R.T./Harvard University) has been awarded her 3rd consecutive Certificate for Distinction in Teaching from Harvard. She teaches both undergraduates and M.F.A. actors and has accepted her 10th student into the M.F.A vocal pedagogy program. Recent coaching includes Britannicus, The Killing Game, Copenhagen, Julius Caesar, and The Lacy Project. Nancy taught with Catherine Fitmaurice in NYC for the '08/'09 Certification Program and has also given workshops to many groups within Harvard as well as to various universities, professional associations, and private sector companies throughout the U.S.
DUDLEY KNIGHT Currently I am teaching the grad actors at Temple University as a visiting faculty member. I will be playing the Earl of Gloucester in King Lear at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival this summer. With Catherine Fitzmaurice, I taught a weekend “Restructuring” workshop for Fitzmaurice Voicework Associates in March and will be teaching another five-day Fitzmaurice workshop in May. I will be guest lecturing at UNCC in April. Phil Thompson and I will be teaching our “Experiencing Speech” workshop for voice/speech teachers and actors in New York City, August 10-16. Contact Cynthia Bassham at <cbassham@uci.edu> for enrollment information.
NANCY KREBS (Baltimore School for the Arts ,The Voiceworks Studio) This spring and late winter, Nancy served as dialect/vocal coach for Everyman Theatre’s production of Turn of the Screw, and the Olney Theatre Center’s production of Doubt, as well as for the Baltimore School for the Arts’ Moliere Shorts. She will be very busy this summer teaching the ‘Lessac Summer Intensive’ with Deb Kinghorn, a ‘One Week Teacher Training Workshop’ with Barry Kur, and the 6 Day ‘Voice Methods Workshop’ in New York City hosted by Marymount Manhattan College.
BARRY KUR (Penn State University School of Theatre) has been elected President of the Lessac Training and Research Institute. In January, he hosted the Lessac Institute's annual conference at Penn State. During summer 2008, he will be teaching a new Lessac Dialects Workshop at University of Mary Washington, Fredricksburg, VA and co-teaching with Nancy Krebs, the Lessac Teacher Training Workshop at DePauw University, Greeencastle, IN.
MARYA LOWRY (Brandeis U.; Actors' Shakespeare Project) Actor: Title role, all-female Macbeth, Boston (Best of Theatre 2007, The Edge Boston). Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Incarcerate Youth at Play, (w/ Department of Youth Services): co-created/directed/ adapted Macbeth for incarcerated girls. Presented: "Deep Song: Ecstatic Voice and Lamentation", DePaul U. and public workshop, Chicago. Created original laments for Brandeis Theater Company’s production of The Orphan of Zhao.
NATALIE MCMANUS (Designated Linklater Voice Teacher/ Speech-Language Pathologist/Certified Forensics Coach). Adjunct Professor at George Mason University’s Theatre Dept., teaching the introductory and advanced voice and speech classes. Teaching Shakespeare workshops in middle schools through my company, Puck’s Pals. Taught a voice and speech presentation skills workshop to doctoral students in research at University of Pittsburgh this past fall. Played God in a one act comedy festival and was Mary in The Chevy Chase Players production of The Memory of Water in December.
Contact info: <Natvoice@aol.com> Resides in Potomac, Maryland.
SALLY MORGAN (independent)<Sally@MorganixMethod.com>
Sally Morgan's Morganix Method goes to University! The University of Texas at Austin, that is. The lovely and brilliant Lyn Koenning (MTEA) is using the Morganix Method workbook and practice CD’s as required text for her Singing for the Stage class. Struggling to figure out how to teach for the “new” Broadway musical? That beltier, speech-driven pop/rock quality?
The Morganix Method workbook is a fully documented, well-organized, structured approach to learning how to Sing Like You Speak: Simply and Naturally. Just hand out assignments from the text and exercises from the practice CD’s. Research and layout is done for you.
ANTONIO OCAMPO-GUZMAN (Northeastern University) serves as VASTA’S Director of Membership. He moved back to Boston last June and has since directed Tennessee William’s The Last Exception for the 2nd Annual Williams Festival in Provincetown, and appeared as Sebastian in The Tempest with Actors’ Shakespeare Project, starring Alvin Epstein as Prospero. He also served as Voice & Text coach for ASP’s all-female production of Macbeth, which starred Marya Lowry, and will appear as Salisbury in their upcoming production of King John. He continues to offer Linklater Voice master classes exclusively in Spanish in Madrid and Mexico.
KAREN RYKER (University of Connecticut-Storrs) Great news! I have won a Fulbright Scholar’s Award and will spend next semester at the Dublin Institute of Technology where I will direct Mozart’s The Magic Flute and teach the music students acting techniques. I also won two UConn grants to research the production and to create a documentary of the process. It is a delight to have Krista Scott with us for 3 semesters. I just shared the stage with her for a staged reading of Scenes From an Execution. I’m coaching Three Penny Opera this term, and prepping for Flute.
LEIGH WILSON SMILEY (University of Maryland) has been text, voice and dialect coaching at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Two Rivers Theatre Company, John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, The Shakespeare Theatre, and Signature Theatre. Leigh will teach at Theatre of Change in Athens, Greece in July, is offering a workshop at the 2008 VASTA Conference. and is very much looking forward to seeing other Vastans again.
NEW YORK
Tracey Moore, Regional Editor
JEFF MORRISON (Marymont Manhattan College) is in his second year as full-time faculty at Marymount where he teaches voice and speech to BFA and BA students, as well as a freshman writing class on dialect and prejudice. Last September, he performed in the world premiere of Pornographic Angel, an original performance piece based on the short stories of Brazilian playwright Nelson Rodrigues, at the Ohio Theatre. He also coached dialect and acoustic soundscape creation for The Grapes of Wrath at Marymount, and in January he and his wife Morgan welcomed his first child, Virginia Genevieve Moss Morrison, into the world.
KARA TSIAPERAS After teaching at the Oxford School of Drama, Kara Tsiaperas returned to New York and is currently teaching at Marymount Manhattan and AMDA (American
Musical Dramatic Academy).
AMY STOLLER (Freelance) 2007-08 season: Dialect Design/Coaching for premiere of Anna Deavere Smith’s, Let Me Down Easy, at the Long Wharf; premiere of Ernest Hemingway’s The Fifth Column at the Mint; US premiere of The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion at Urban Stages; Dracula starring Lorenzo Lamas; At The Hand of My Mother at Ward Acting Studio. Regular Dialect Coaching for Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer. Classes in Major Stage Dialects at NYU Tisch/ETW and HB Studio. Workshops at Back Stage Actorfest and SAG NY Conservatory. Interview published in Mari Lyn Henry’s How to be a Working Actor.
KRISTA SCOTT is now at the University of Connecticut teaching courses in voice/speech and acting. At Connecticut Repertory Theatre she recently served as the voice & text director on Love's Labour's Lost and performed the role of Galactia in a staged reading of Scenes from an Execution. She joins the Illinois Shakespeare festival in May as this season's voice/text director.
ERNEST WIGGINS has directed Hamlet, also a Sleeping Beauty by Rufus Norris and a one women poetry word production entitled TV Daddy: A representation of the poet: Susanna Rich.
KATE WILSON recently coached Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway, Gint and Uncle Vanya at Juilliard, and the films Notorious and The Rebound.
SOUTHERN
AL, AR, LA, MS, OK, TX, TN, KY
Vivian Majkowski, Regional Editor
ROBIN CARR, Assistant Professor of Voice and Acting, recently won an Innovation in Creative Activities Award from the University of Southern Mississippi titled: “Integrating Arthur Lessac’s Vocal System and Tadashi Suzuki’s Movement Training.”
RENA COOK co-directed Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout by Tomson Highway which was invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, April 16, 2008. The book she is co-editing with Jane Boston, entitled Breath In Action, will be published by Jessica Kinsley Publishers in Spring 09.
RINDA FRYE was acting chair of the Theatre Arts Dept at the University of Louisville for the past year. She was dialect coach for Dracula and A Christmas Carol at Actors Theatre of Louisville and The Secret Garden at Stage One Children's Theatre last fall. She directed Angels in America part 1 at the U of L theatre in the fall and played Titus in Titus Andronicus, directed by Dennis Krausnick at U of L in March.
DAYDRIE HAGUE (Auburn University) most recently coached A Shayna Maidel and Little Shop of Horrors and will be directing Women And Love this summer in collaboration with Joseph Bates. In the fall, she will be directing Lady Windermere’s Fan. She has been collaborating with the university’s voice and speech clinic to serve transgender/transsexual clients.
ALLISON HETZEL (University of Alabama) This past September Allison directed The Miss Firecracker Contest and in February she coached The Playboy of the Western World at the University of Alabama. This May Allison will be getting married and this June she will return to New York City for the 2007/2008 Fitzmaurice Teachers certification workshop. Things are good and busy!
JIM JOHNSON is an Associate Professor at the University of Houston. This spring he coached Translations, The Unseen, and Mary's Wedding, and consulted on dialects for a number of other projects. He also performed monologues from Goethe's Egmont with the Houston Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's score, and he appeared as the dentist in a series of regional commercials for Southern Dental. Over the past two years, he has developed www.AccentHelp.com, a website that offers downloads teaching a variety of dialects, working with fellow VASTAns Kate DeVore and Michelle Lopez.
TRACEY MOORE recently moved from Miami to become the new Head of the musical theatre BFA program at Western Kentucky University. Her book,entitled Acting the Song: Performance Skills for the Music Theatre Artist was published by Allworth Press in February, and she continuesto offer “Acting the Song” workshops in the US. The third article of her series on teaching musical theatre will appear in EDTA's journal, "Teaching Theatre" this summer
BETTYE ZOLLER SEITZ (www.voicesvoices.com) was the Feagin Guest Artist Professor at Tulsa University in January and will return in July. In June, she presents a workshop in Nashville for the Natl. Assoc. of Teachers of Singing conference (NATS) on studio singing techniques. She is in Denver presenting a workshop for ATHE (Association Theatre in Higher Education) on August 2 (Making Money with Your Voice). In September, she teaches in Hartford Connecticut (Voiceovers). She was the voice/speech coach for Miss Missouri in the 2008 Miss USA contest and also coached participants in the BRAVO TV network show, "Top Chef." Recent voiceovers include being the voice of "Lionel Trains toys" and Simon and Schuster audio books. Her new audio book, The Voice of Experience, is being released Fall 2008.
SALLY VAHLE has had a busy year performing, coaching and teaching. She is gearing up for the upcoming political season and the voice over work that comes with it, and is doing some preliminary candidate speech coaching. This autumn, Sally is looking forward to directing an Ibsen’s Ghosts at Wingspan Theatre in Dallas and serving as voice and dialect coach at the Dallas Theater Center’s production of A Christmas Carol. She will begin formal study of the Fitzmaurice Technique later this year and continues her research of effective training methodologies for 21st Century actors.
EAST CENTRAL
OH, MI, IN, WI, IL
Mandy Fox, Regional Editor
CLAUDIA ANDERSON (The Theatre School, DePaul University) received a DePaul research grant to create a concert of Irish/Scots music, singing and playing guitar, tin whistle and bodhran with three Chicago musicians. In May, collaborated with four Theatre School faculty members to develop a vocal performance of songs, vocal improvisation and texts, directed by Richard Armstrong. In December, collaborated with long-time friend Hope Nunnery, and brother DC Anderson to present a folk/cabaret/bluegrass concert, presented at Theatre Building Chicago. Coached Defiance at Next Theatre Company, directed by Jason Loewith.
MICHAEL J. BARNES (Wayne State University, Hilberry Theatre jCompany) coached production of Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Master Builder, and As You Like It (directed by Dean Gabourie) for the Hilberry Theatre Company and coached the undergraduate actors in The Rimers of Eldritch and Taming of the Shrew (directed by Kathleen Brant). He presented, alongside Micha Espinosa, a workshop entitled "Diction: Exploration and Refinement of Challenges Presented in the Midwest" for the Ohio Regional VASTA Workshop. He made it through his first year as the Head of the BFA Acting program as well as his third-year review for tenure. He is still working as the Director of Technology for VASTA, will be teaching a Five-Day introductory Fitzmaurice workshop and a Teacher Certification workshop in Fitzmaurice Voicework this summer.
KATE DeVORE has launched a website with VASTA member Jim Johnson offering accent/dialect acquisition and Neutral American speech/Accent Modification materials via instant download (www.AccentHelp.com). She recently presented a talk and workshop on dialect coaching and accent modification at the UCLA Voice Conference. Her book on protecting and improving the speaking voice (with Starr Cookman) is expected in stores by summer, 2009. This summer Kate will be teaching voice at the School at Steppenwolf.
MANDY FOX (Ohio State University) will be presenting a workshop titled, “Exploring Pause Behavior” at the International University “Global Theatre Experience” Theatre Methods Conference in Malpils, Latvia (www.iugte.com). She received a Research Grant to include this workshop as part of a larger project examining pause behaviors and their usefulness in creating and performing modern play texts. This spring, as part of a Special Research Leave, Mandy performed the role of Sister Aloysius in Doubt at the Contemporary American Theatre Company and continues work on a manuscript detailing her play creation research.
SANDRA LINDBERG (Illinois Wesleyan University), wrote and work-shopped her one-woman show, Passing for an American: A Poem with Movement Intended for Dreamers, directed an IWU production of Love’s Labors Lost, and coached dialects for Scrooge!, all in the fall 2007 semester. Since the New Year she’s coached dialects for Working, and is currently collaborating with her students on a radio version of Pirandello’s The Other Son, which they hope to air on IWU’s WESN radio this spring. She’s slated to direct Naomi Wallace’s In the Heart of American in the Fall 2008 semester at IWU.
TANERA MARSHALL (University of Illinois at Chicago) is currently doing dialect work with Marion Cotillard for Public Enemies, shooting in Chicago this spring and summer. Other dialect, voice, and text work includes the indie film The Lioness, which just finished shooting in Trinidad, and stage productions of The Misanthrope, and Macbeth (both with Greasy Joan & Co.) She’ll be in NYC this June working toward certification in Fitzmaurice Voicework. She contributed two new audio files to the IDEA website, where she is an Associate Editor.
HOLLY ROCKE (Eureka College) has been teaching acting, movement, and voice for the actor this semester. In addition she is the coordinator for the 4th annual Central Illinois Stage Combat Workshop. This workshop sectioned by the Society of American Fight Directors, marries movement and voice and is geared for all skill levels. More information about the workshop can be found at http://www.eureka.edu/arts/theatre/stagecombat.htm
D”ARCY SMITH (Wright State University) continues his journey towards tenure as the Voice and Speech Professor in Wright State's Acting and Musical Theatre Department. He recently finished coaching The Country Wife, Boston Marriage, and Fiddler On The Roof and is now coaching Angels in America and Lady, Be Good! D'Arcy returned to York University in Toronto to coach the department's production of Cymbeline back in December. He looks forward to hosting the upcoming VASTA Workshop at Wright State University on May 17th and 18th 2008. This summer he will be presenting at the VASTA Conference in Ashland Oregon.
PHIL TIMBERLAKE (DePaul University) Phil is the dialect coach for Gas for Less, Brett Neveu’s new play at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. He will also assist Catherine Fitzmaurice in the Fitzmaurice Voicework Certification program in New York City this summer. Phil, fellow VASTA member Claudia Anderson, and their DePaul colleagues have been pleased to host voice workshops with Roy Hart Theatre teachers Richard Armstrong, Saule Ryan & Carol Mendelsohn, as well as VASTA member Marya Lowry’s lamentation work this year. Last fall, Phil appeared as Prendick in Lifeline Theatre’s adaptation of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Phil is the newest member of VASTA’s Board of Directors.
SOUTHEAST
WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL
Daydrie Hague, Regional Editor
KATE INGRAM (University of Central Florida) recently directed a production of Parade, the musical by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown. A historical re-telling of the trial of Leo Frank in 1913 Atlanta, with a cast of 31 and a 9-piece orchestra off-stage, the entire project was huge and compelling and played to sold-out houses every night. Kate looks forward to teaching a one-week “Lessac Intensive Workshop” at Mary Washington again this June, and will perform the role of Florence in UCF's SummerStage Leading Ladies.
BONNIE RAPHAEL (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) spent a busy spring coaching Doubt and Top Dog/Underdog (rehearsed and performed in rotating repertory) followed by Amadeus for Playmakers Repertory Company. After presenting a workshop at the Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia in May, she will serve as voice, speech and dialects coach for Widowers’ Houses at American Players Theater in Wisconsin this summer.
JANET B.RODGERS (Virginia Commonwealth University): During the spring 2008 semester Janet has been in Greece working on a book that she is co-authoring with Frankie Armstrong, Acting with Archetypes. At The Giving Voice Festival in Aberystwyth, Wales in late March and early April, she and Frankie co-taught a two day workshop, “Breath, Voice, Character and Song”. For Festival attendees, Janet also presented the OxyRhythms, a daily practice that combines physical movement with rhythmic breathing, percussion, imagination and internationality to cultivate increased physical core strength, flexibility and breath expansion.
ERICA TOBOLSKI (University of South Carolina) presented a paper “iPods: Teaching Voice with Technology” at the Lessac Conference held at Penn State in January 2008. At the University of South Carolina she served as voice and text coach for Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest. On sabbatical for the 2008-09 academic year, she and her partner, Jim O’Connor, have been appointed as Distinguished Visting Professors at the Universiti Teknologi Creative and Performance outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Erica will teach western-style voice/speech and acting and study the traditional Southeast Asia art forms of mask and shadow puppets. Selamat Datang!
ELIZABETH WILEY (College of William and Mary):
Directed The Scams of Scapin in February 2008 and is Dialect Coach for Virginia Shakespeare Festival for Summer 2008.
WEST CENTRAL
MN, IA, MO, ND, SD, NE, KS, MT, WY, CO, NM, ID, UT, NV, AZ
Holly Rocke, Regional Editor
ELISA CARLSON is in her 6th season of coaching for the Guthrie and teaching in the Guthrie's BFA acting program at University of Minnesota. Recently she directed Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare on the Cape, a theater comprised of Guthrie BFA grads, at Provincetown Theater, MA. This season she's coached the Guthrie's Pen, A Christmas Carol and The Secret Fall of Constance Wilde, and directed an evening of Shaw scenes with Guthrie BFA seniors. She has been working part-time, so she can care for her 12 year old daughter who has had five hip and leg surgeries since November.
MICHAEL COBB continued as Chair of Voice and Speech at the National Theatre Conservatory and resident Vocal Coach for the Denver Center Theatre Company where he coached Pride and Prejudice and Plainsong. He appeared in a rare production of John Marston’s Antonio’s Revenge as the comic sadistic Duke, Piero (Denver Post Ovation Award nomination), as Osric, Player Queen, and Reynaldo in Hamlet, and as Egyptian Islamist writer/activist Sayyid Qutb in the world premiere of Dar Al Harb, all at TheatreWorks in Colorado Springs. Michael will assay his certification in Fitzmaurice Voicework this June.
NANCY E. HARRIS, M.H. (vocologist, performer, teacher) taught a full load (42 private students) while performing in Opera Colorado’s choruses for A Masked Ball (puppeteer) and La Traviata (next 2 productions are Flying Dutchman and Nixon in China); presented a voice science workshop for Colorado State MTA’s Conference and a master class, funneling students through Classical Singer and NATS competitions (2 finalists going to NY in May), judging for NATS, and being G’ma Tzeitel/Shaindel in professional run of The Fiddler on the Roof. Nancy helps her husband with new coffee/wine house that opened in February, singing twice a month there.
HARDY KOENING has been teaching Acting, Voice and Dialects at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Directed and performed voice and dialects coaching on Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at MSUM Hansen Theatre. Will open Performance Studio in Greensboro, NC in the Fall of 2008 where I will be teaching at The University of North Carolina Greensboro and Catawba College.
KRISTEN LOREE, University of New Mexico, has been recording Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters (come to the conference to hear!) She will be mounting her one woman musical VIXIN in June, a combination of dance and song, sound scape and gesture with a monk, an alien, a drag queen, and a fetus all looking for love. VIXIN is the culmination of 8 years of process!
BETTY LOUGARIS (Executive Director and Coach) reports MGI’S VEGAS VOICE-ACTORS SPEAK OUT FOR “GOOD MORNING AMERICA.” Video Taped under the Las Vegas, Nevada Welcome sign, members of Media Guilds International’s Vegas Voice Actors spoke out their “Good Morning America” hello for ABC’s Good Morning America Website. Members are Voice-Actors and Voice-Over Talent that also give their time to mentor youth, and record PSA messages for other worthy charities. Members just completed recording short comedies for “Laugh Break”, on KUNV Public Radio at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas Campus, according to President John Duck. For pictures go to www.mediaguilds.com
SANDRA McKNIGHT reports Voice Power Studios has specialized in teaching executives world wise to develop a leadership voice and speak with charisma and power for over 15 years. To read more on the leadership voice, please visit our blog, www.voicepowerstudios.com/blog/ Owner of VPS, Sandra McKnight, voice/communications coach, professional actress and singer is debuting her new one woman show, Oops! That's Life, I'm 50 and Fabulous! http://www.voicepowerstudios.com/oops.html
PAUL MEIER (University of Kansas) continues his work with the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA), at http://web.ku.edu/idea/; apply to become an associate editor. The latest edition of his Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen (350-page textbook with 12 CDs), is available in stores and through Paul Meier Dialect Services at http://www.paulmeier.com/index.html. Recent dialect/text coaching includes Blood Brothers, Translations, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Twelfth Night, An Inspector Calls, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The Full Monty, in venues around the world, through his show-specific dialect CD leasing service at http://www.paulmeier.com/cds.html
URSULA MEYER is currently finishing her 12th year in the graduate training program at the University of California San Diego. She is leaving shortly to coach two productions for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A View from the Bridge and Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner - by Luis Alfaro. Her husband, James Newcomb, is off to play Iago for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Hope to see you all at the conference!
GAIL SPRINGER directed The Apple Tree and was musical director for Happy End, both productions at the Greer Garson Theatre on the campus of College of Santa Fe. Performances included “Clara” in Ron Strauss’ opera, Queen of the Night, and Spring Essence, songs with composer and double bassist, Peter Askim, presented by Serenata of Santa Fe. This winter, Gail presented Sondheim Problems, Estill Solutions…Or how does an artist negotiate the dark and hidden woods of the human voice? at the symposium, “Sagacious Stephen Sondheim” at William Paterson University, with co-writers, Kimberly Steinhauer, PhD, and Mary McDonald Klimek, MS-CCC/SLP.
TOMMIE St CYR (University of Utah) reports her students are intent on Public Relations, TV on-camera work, or are simply there to expand their personal horizons in terms of self-expression. She is passionate about teaching non-actors who want to live their lives fully. Without the ability to communicate clearly, how is that possible? Her classes consist of Berry/Roy Hart/Linklater warmups, Diction work tailored to each individual’s needs, and poetry from Dr. Seuss to Gilbert and Sullivan. During the Feldenkrais training she began to create collages. All her images lately are of chaps singing in their party hats.
JOHN STANIUNAS (University of Kansas, Chair of Theatre and Film) Guys and Dolls, Choreographer; Wild Goat, Director Staged Reading, Theatre League Festival of New Musicals; Starting Here, Starting Now, Director, Choreographer, Costume Design; The Music Man, Director. Wild Goat with music and lyrics by Tony Winner Mark Hollmann (Urinetown! the Musical) will have its premiere at the University of Kansas this summer, which I will be choreographing and directing.
WESTERN
WA, OR, CA, AK, HI
Evelyn Case, Regional Editor
JAN GIST (Voice, Speech, Dialects for The Old Globe Theatre and University of San Diego's MFA Graduate Actor Training Program) Old Globe, coached: Two Trains Running, Hayfever, Hamlet, 2 Gents, Measure, Sea of Tranquility, In This Corner, Glass Menagerie. USD MFA, coached: Marat/Sade, Periclese, Uncle Vanya, Stuff Happens Workshops: Thomas Jefferson School of Law--"Professional Presentation--Body and Voice.” This summer will coach Midsummer at American Players Theatre in Wisconsin. January - April of 2009 will be on sabbatical, hoping to focus on preparing "Shakespeare's Shapely Language" for publication.
JOEL GOLDES recently coached Orson's Shadow and the world premiere of Mask, the Musical, at the Pasadena Playhouse; Saturday Night at the Palace at Furious Theatre; My Antonia and Bus Stop at Rubicon; and The Mad 7 for the McCarter. He taught NICOLAS CAGE a New Jersey accent, JULIA ORMOND an American accent, coached a German accent for the new voice of Volkswagen and a Brooklyn accent for General Hospital. He was also interviewed for a Slate.com column about WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR.’S accent and taught two workshops to actors through the SAG Foundation: on Standard English and General American accents.
ARTHUR LESSAC (The Lessac Institute)has been involved with his son, MICHAEL LESSAC's, production of an original musical Truth in Translation, currently on the road to Zimbabwe. Truth in Translation recently played in various cities in the United States as part of its world tour, which has included top awards at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival and Belfast's Festival and wide acclaim in South Africa, Rwanda, and Sweden. Esteemed African musician HUGH MASEKELA wrote the music.
SCOTT KAISER (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) was recently named Director Of Company Development at OSF. His new duties will include serving as a liaison to actor training programs, overseeing in-house actor development, and advising on casting of the eleven show season. Scott will continue to serve as a voice on text director on Festival productions. He has been with OSF for eighteen seasons.
DAVID NEVELL (Head of Voice/Movement, California State University, Fullerton) is currently directing Mountain Language at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, recently served as Voice/Dialect Coach on Taking Steps at South Coast Repertory, The Constant Wife at Pasadena Playhouse; Our Country’s Good at Juniata College; and with colleague Anne James, has begun work toward instituting a Vocal Health Program at Disney Resorts Entertainment. David continues to serve as Associate Editor of the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA), performs and teaches as a founding member of The Gravity Project, and works as an actor, teacher, facilitator and producer. For more info: www.davidnevell.com
JESSE MERZ (MFA candidate, MAT, BFA, AEA, AFTRA, DG, SSDC, VASTA)
Jesse spent last fall teaching at Western Oregon University. In December, he produced three readings at Manhattan Theatre Club Studio, including the new musical The Gospel According to Tammy Faye, directed by Mindy Cooper and starring Tony-Nominee Sally Mayes. He is about to finish his MFA in Acting from UC Davis where he attended a one-day workshop with Catherine Fitzmaurice (assisted by Melanie Julian). This summer will be his 12th as Artistic Director of the Columbia Gorge School of Theatre. This fall, he will join the faculty of Wayne State University / Hilberry Repertory Theatre as Assistant Professor of Acting.
We have attempted to get all the updates possible – our apologies to anyone that feels left out.
©2008, Voice and Speech Trainers Association
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