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Volume 5, Issue 2
May 2009

Table of Contents:

A Message from the President
From the Editor
2009 Conference Reminder
Diversity Article
Vocal Excellence Award
Member News

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Beth McGee

There's a spring in my step as I write this President's letter-- hooray for sunshine and new growth!  And there will be plenty of that at our 2009 conference in New York City featuring Catherine Fitzmaurice, Kristin Linklater, Patsy Rodenberg, and a keynote from Arthur Lessac.  

The VASTA board and officers are in full gear getting ready for this event, as are our editors for the unveiling of our 2009 Voice and Speech Review, "The Moving Voice."   It's going to be a busy time for us, but well worth the outcome.  I am looking forward to meeting those of you who will be attending.  

AND I'm especially excited about our plans for the upcoming 2010 International conference, which I hope to be able to announce in New York City while we are there.

See you soon!
Beth McGee
president@vasta.org

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FROM THE EDITOR

Jeff Morrison

Greetings VASTANs,

“Spring has sprung…” these lines mark the beginning of the immortal poem “Spring in the Bronx,” which every dialect enthusiast should know; in my neighborhood in northern Manhattan, it seems to be literally true. It’s as if, one night last week, all the greenery just popped out, perhaps accompanied by a cartoonish non-pulmonic bilabial ejective.

In keeping with the season, this issue is the occasion of one of our most popular and optimistic publications, the Spring Member News issue. Take some time to catch up with old friends and colleagues here.

This issue is also one of our most labor-intensive, and cannot go to press without the efforts of a number of people, who I would like to thank here:

• Michael Barnes, Director of Technology and Internet Services
• Guy William Molnar, Associate Newsletter Editor
• Linda Cartwright, Regional Editor, International
• Dawn McCaugherty, Regional Editor, Canada
• Peter-Jack Tkatch, Regional Editor, Northeast (ME, VT, NH, MA, CT, PA, RI, NJ, DE, MD, D.C.)
• Tracey Moore, Regional Editor, New York
• Vivian Majkowski, Regional Editor, Southern (AL, AR, LA, MS, OK, TX, TN, KY)
• Daydrie Hague, Regional Editor, Southeast (WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL)
• Holly Rocke, Regional Editor, West Central (MN, IA, MO, ND, SD, NE, KS, MT, WY, CO, NM, ID, UT, NV, AZ)
• Evelyn Case, Regional Editor, Western (WA, OR, CA, AK, HI)

If you would like to join these august ranks, now is your chance!

I will be stepping down as editor of the VASTA Voice at the end of this academic year to give the reins into the capable hands of Guy Molnar, the current Associate Editor.  He will need an Associate Editor of his own, who will become the Editor after one year in that position.  We are also in need of a new Regional Editor for the East Central Region (OH, MI, IN, WI, IL). If you are a VASTA member from one of those states, and you are interested in helping out, or if you are interested in the Associate Editor position, please email me directly at jmorrison@mmm.edu, and I will give you more details about what the job you are interested in entails.

Happy Reading! Enjoy your News!
Jeff Morrison

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2009 VASTA Conference Announcement

Michele Cuomo

Ed.'s Note:  By the time you receive this issue VASTA Voice, mail registration will be completed for the VASTA conference (PayPal online registration extends from May 15-22), but we wanted to remind you yet once more of the specifics.  See you in New York!

The 2009 VASTA Conference is entitled “Original Voices:  Vocal Methodologies from the Source."  it will take place from August 3-7 at the Downtown Conference Center at PACE 157 William Street, New York, NY.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from the foremost voice teachers of our time.  The presenters are Catherine Fitzmaurice, Kristin Linklater and Patsy Rodenburg.  Arthur Lessac will deliver the keynote address. A technology and diversity panel will be featured as well as over 40 member presentations.

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From Your Diversity Committee

Antonio Ocampo-Guzman

Thirteen members of the Center for Voice Studies (CEUVOZ) will be joining us at the New York Conference this August. Margarita Bermejo and Luisa Huertas, a singer and an actress of great renown in Mexico, established CEUVOZ in 2006 in Mexico City. Their goal is to improve voice training and the overall use of language in Mexican theatre. Under Luisa’s indefatigable leadership, the CEUVOZ now offers workshops and classes in diverse voice methodologies as well as a comprehensive certificate program in voice studies.

In July 2008 the CEUVOZ convened the 1st National Symposium on Voice & Language in Mexico City, bringing together theatre practitioners and singers from almost every state in the Mexican union, as well as a few international teachers. Plans are underway for the 2nd National Symposium to be celebrated this coming July, where Beth McGee, Micha Espinosa, and myself will be representing VASTA.

VASTA began a relationship with CEUVOZ in 2008, offering an institutional one-year membership and twelve registrations free of charge for the New York conference. In our efforts to create a more diverse membership, as well as establishing international connections that will enrich both institutions, we are discussing the possibility of combing the CEUVOZ’s 3rd National Symposium with VASTA’s annual conference in 2010. Please join me in welcoming our neighboring colleagues in New York this August.

On a personal note, I will be stepping down as Director of Membership this summer, and plan to focus more diligently on the Diversity Committee. As always, if you are interested in issues of diversity or representation, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For more information on CEUVOZ, please visit www.ceuvoz.com.mx.

Saludos,
Antonio Ocampo-Guzman

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Meet VASTA/KC-ACTF "Vocal Excllence Award" Winner Adam Navarro

As an outreach on the national stage to the academic theater community and an offer of a small award for an aspiring actor, each year VASTA sends a representative to be one of the elite presenters of grants and scholarships at the Kennedy Center to the finalists of the Irene Ryan Acting Awards for the ACTF.  The Vasta Vocal excellence award consists of a $500 grant towards further education and a 1-year membership to VASTA.  This year I had the privilege of presenting the award, and of co-presenting workshops to the Irene Ryan finalists with fellow VASTA member Rena Cook.  

And what a talented group they were.  It was difficult to make a decision, but the 2009 Vocal Excellence Award was earned by Adam Navarro from California State Fullerton, who also won the coveted Irene Ryan Scholarship.  Adam won these honors with his portray of contrasting scenes from Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adly Guirgis and In the Company of Men by Neil LaBute, and a monologue from Eric Bogoian's Sex, Drugs, Rock N Roll.

Please welcome Adam to VASTA and get to know him a little better by checking out his website

CONGRATULATIONS, ADAM NAVARRO!

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Member News

INTERNATIONAL
Linda Cartwright, Regional Editor
 
FLLOYD KENNEDY (Australia) – Flloyd’s candidature for the University of Queensland PhD (Performance and Thesis) has been confirmed.  She is teaching voice to the first year Performance Studies students at QUT this semester.  Term II (April to June) of The Acting Class (Being in Voice) will focus on Audition Monologues and Scenework.  Meantime, work continues on writing up the thesis.

VICTORIA WOODWARD (London, U.K.) achieved her Voice Studies MA from the Central School of Speech and Drama and produced a baby in the same year.  Luckily, she based her dissertation on pregnancy and voice, so that made it very relevant to practice-based research.  Victoria sends a special thank-you to all the VASTANs who responded to her posting on Vastavox and contributed to the dissertation.  She has done a little teaching at Central and Mountview and will pick up where she left off when she goes back to work in September.

CANADA
Dawn McCaugherty, Regional Editor
 
ERIC ARMSTRONG (York University) did a brief coaching gig on How to be Indie that should be airing on tv soon. The film he worked on last year, “Orphan,” will be opening in theatres this spring. (Let's hope it's not too scary!) York went on strike for 3 months this year, so he's been very busy as Acting Area Coordinator, managing the chaos and teaching far longer than usual. His article, "Taking Care of Your Voice", appeared in Dramatics Magazine this spring.

Mark Ingram (Seneca College) has been in the middle of major employment shifts. With the end of his gig at Toronto Film School Mark has been busy writing a new Acting Program for Seneca College – our first class starts in September (YEAH!). Alongside this he was creating/coordinating a six-week workshop in Mumbai in April. Unfortunately, circumstances arose that necessitated the cancellation of this workshop. Mark has also been kept busy doing the production layout for the upcoming Voice and Speech Review. So he is really looking forward to getting away from the computer and back into the studio in the fall.

BETTY MOULTON (University of Alberta) is on sabbatical this term and did a month of guest teaching and supervising in the MA in Voice Studies program at London’s Central School. She is currently coaching Catalyst Theatre’s Nevermore, a tale about Edgar Allen Poe, which will play in Edmonton, at the Magnetic North Festival in Ottawa, and the Luminato Festival in Toronto in June. She recently received the Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Teaching Award and the University of Alberta’s Rutherford Award for Teaching. Please note her new home address and phone number in VASTA website's professional index.

DAVID SMUKLER (York University) is on his way to Vancouver to begin Canada’s National Voice Intensive, for the 24th time. Participating with David in this unique research and creative opportunity will be fellow VASTA member Brad Gibson, several other faculty members and participants from across North America.  http://www.theatre.ubc.ca/vi/

NORTHEAST
Peter Jack Tkatch, Regional Editor

BARBARA WILSON ARBOLEDA (of Voicewize) released the DVD The Kid and the Singing Teacher in association with Robert Edwin. This is an instructional DVD for singing teachers learning to work with prepubescent singers. Her students are currently preparing for their studio recital, which will feature selections from Seussical.  Barbara@voicewize.com, www.voicewize.com

NANCY HOUFEK (American Repertory Theatre, Harvard University) coached the premiere of Trojan Barbie by Christine Evans dir. by Carmel O’Reilly, The Seagull dir. by Janos Szasz, Endgame dir. by Marcus Stern, and The Communist Dracula Pageant by Anne Washburn dir. by Anne Kaufman for the A.R.T. Mainstage and Seriously Funny (short plays by Mamet, Pinter & Silverstein) for the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. She continues to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses in voice, speech, text and dialects, and to present public speaking workshops at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching & Learning, the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Medical School, the Kennedy School of Government, the Radcliffe Fellows program, as well as for universities, professional organizations and private sector companies throughout the country.

NANCY KREBS (Baltimore School for the Arts, The Voiceworks) – Nancy presented a session: Workshop Empowerment: Creating Your Own at the 2009 Lessac conference in Carlsbad, CA in early January with Deb Kinghorn; served as dialect/vocal coach for I Am My Own Wife with Bruce Nelson at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore in January, and most recently coached A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Baltimore School for the Arts. She conducted an Introductory Lessac Workshop at the University of Baltimore in April, and will be traveling to London to coach Our Town, a joint production of the BSA and SongTime Theatre Arts in London in May/June. She will be co-directing the 2009 Lessac Summer Intensive with Deb Kinghorn, and the Teacher Training workshop with Barry Kur.  She is releasing her 7th CD of original Christian music entitled Moved by God in June.

DEBORAH KINGHORN (University of New Hampshire) directed Shoulders, by playwright/husband Jeffrey Kinghorn; performed Marmee in Little Women; received the first annual Leadership Award from the Membership of the Lessac Institute at the annual conference in January, 2009; at same conference co-presented with Matt Nesmith “An NRGized Approach to Musical Performance”; and with Nancy Krebs “Building and Promoting Your Own Workshop”.  deb.kinghorn@unh.edu; www.lessacinstitute.com

DUDLEY KNIGHT (guest faculty member at Temple University, January-December 2008) played the Earl of Gloucester in King Lear, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, July-August 2008, and was Voice/Text Director for 12th Night and King Lear there in May-July 2008.  He taught in Fitzmaurice Voicework teacher certification program and other Fitzmaurice workshops, 2008-2009.  With Phil Thompson he led the “Knight-Thompson Speechwork” workshop, New York, August 2008. Dudley played Ludwig von Beethoven in the radio drama Beethoven’s Letters, Coyote Repertory Theatre, January 2009, and played President Theodore Roosevelt in Forces of Nature, staged reading at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, November 2008. Voice acting and theatre history consultation, Modjeska, a documentary film biography of Helena Modjeska, March 2009. Played Sigmund Freud in Hysteria by Terry Johnson, staged reading at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, March 2009.  Upcoming: “Knight-Thompson Speechwork” workshop, New York, August 9-15, 2009. Upcoming: will play title role in Brecht’s Galileo, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, November-December 2009. (Note: Also available to play fictional characters.)

BARRY KUR (Penn State School of Theatre) was designated as a Lessac Master Teacher at the Lessac Conference in January. Will lead three Lessac Institute workshops this summer: One Week Introductory Workshop (with Kate Ingram), Lessac Dialects Workshop and The Teacher Training Workshop (with Nancy Krebs).  During the spring semester, directed a staged reading of Stray by Ruth McKee for Penn State's new play series, Cultural Conversations, and performed in a staged reading of The Red River Quilt by Richard Biever in Penn State's New Musical Festival.

MARYA LOWRY (Brandeis U./Actors Shakespeare Project) – Winter/Spring 2009: Played Julia and Cariola in The Duchess of Malfi and Riva Hillesum in the world premiere of The Wrestling Patient, (NEA new play finalist), based on the journals of Dutch Jewish writer, Etty Hillesum. Performed with the Boston Cantata Singers as the Narrator in Britten’s The Company of Heaven. Will perform in the premier of Walking the Volcano at The Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard July-Aug. Presented a 2-day Boston workshop on voice and lamentation in Feb. Her first article about her research into ecstatic voice and ritual lamentation, “Deep Song–A Personal Journey into Ecstatic Voice and the Art of Vocal Lamentation” will appear in the 2009 Voice and Speech Review.

REBEKAH MAGGOR (Director, Program in Speaking and Learning, Derek Bok Center, Harvard University) – Dialect consulting: We Shall Remain (PBS), War of '04 (Spike T.V.), Got an Accent? (NPR). Teaching: created new course for Harvard College "Public Speaking Practicum," taught speech unit for Fitzmaurice Voicework Certification. Playwriting/Performance: performed one-woman show Shakespeare’s Actresses in America (Huntington Theatre Company), received playwriting commissions from the Foundation for Jewish Culture for Rathaus Shiva (upcoming reading at the Long Wharf Theatre), and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for Frontier Theory, co-written with Astrophysicist Dr. James Battat (readings at MIT, Central Square Theater). <Rmaggor@fas.harvard.edu

NATALIE McMANUS (George Mason University, Designated Linklater Voice Instructor, Speech-Language Pathologist, Certified Forensics Coach) continues to teach the voice and speech classes at GMU's Theater Dept., and vocal coaches their shows.  Her middle school Shakespeare workshops (Puck's Pals, LLC) is enjoying another fully booked spring season. Natalie's company, Professionally Speaking, teaches professional public speaking workshops.  A highlight this past year was a workshop in Tampa, FL at the American Heart Association's annual conference.  Natalie is looking forward to the last of her three children "leaving the nest" in the fall and is planning on directing two Dr. Seuss stories as plays through a community outreach program in her church.  Natvoice@aol.com

ANTONIO OCAMPO-GUZMAN (Northeastern University, Boston) continues to serve as Chair of the Diversity Committee for VASTA and is finishing his term as Director of Membership. He has been busy as an actor and director in the Boston area (Actors' Shakespeare Project, The Nora Theatre, Provincetown Players, Wellfleet Harbor, The Theatre Offensive). He continues to offer his Spanish adaptation of the Linklater Practice with workshops in Madrid and across Mexico, where he continues to serve as consultant to the CEUVOZ. Upcoming publications include articles in the V&S Review, the Greenwood Shakespeare Encyclopedia and the Politics of Actor Training.

RUTH ROOTBERG (in private practice) recently gave an introductory lecture to the graduating class in Communication Disorders at UMass Amherst on the topic:  The benefits of learning the Alexander Technique for people with vocal problems.

KAREN RYKER (University of Connecticut-Storrs) recently voice/speech coached Hair and an original puppet arts production of Icarus for Connecticut Repertory Theatre.  Had a wonderful time on Fulbright in Ireland last fall and am being recognized with an UConn School of Fine Arts “Special Achievement Award” for my work there.   Oh – and Sarah and I are getting married this summer – after 27 years of togetherness – thanks to the great State of Connecticut’s rulings.  If you want to see our description of the proposal, check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkV3fjrkCzg&feature=email  Cheers!

LYNN WATSON (U. Maryland, Baltimore County) presented a workshop, “Shakespeare 3 Ways,” at the VASTA conference in Ashland. She directed the world premiere of Milk and Water, a short play by Tina Howe about a postpartum water aerobics class set in the swimming pool of a New York City health club. She did dialect/vocal research and consulting for another premiere – The Heavens are Hung in Black by James Still. The play was commissioned by Ford’s Theatre to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, and for the reopening of Ford’s newly renovated theatre space. Lynn currently serves as an associate editor for the PPLD/AS section of The Voice and Speech Review

NEW YORK
Tracey Moore, Regional Editor
 
AKO  appeared in episode 303 of 30 Rock as the character “Mi Au” and is currently finishing a feature film entitled Twelve, as “Mrs. Fong.”

PATRICIA FLETCHER is currently coaching Desire Under the Elms on Broadway, Life on Mars on ABC, teaching in the MFA Program of the New School for Drama (New School University) and at the William Esper Acting Studio, NYC.

KRISTIN LINKLATER will spend next fall teaching at Columbia University, then will be based in Orkney for the rest of the school year.  Her book, Freeing the Natural Voice, received Italian and Korean translations in 2008. The documentary Giving Voice was completed. Various international workshops, speaking, and teaching engagements: CSSD MAVS, London; Alexander Congress, Lugano; Grotowski Center, Wroclaw; Accademia di Roma; ELIA Conference, Bulgaria; Voice Symposium, Santorini; VASTA conference; School of Acting, Zurich.  Wrote a chapter: “The Alchemy of Breathing” for a book entitled Breath in Action.

KATHLEEN MULLIGAN has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to India for the spring of 2010. She will be a guest of Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in Kochi in the state of Kerala. Her project, entitled "Finding Women's Voices," will focus on the empowerment of women through voice exploration.  She teaches at Ithaca College.

LESTER THOMAS SHANE is on the faculty of The New Actors Workshop, AADA, and the New York Film Academy teaching voice, speech, dialects and Shakespeare. He recently played Pozzo in the Charnel House Theatre Company's production of Waiting for Godot in Paris. Currently coaching the Signature Theatre's production of the new musical, Giant, based on the Edna Ferber novel. His annual summer Shakespeare Workshop will begin in July in New York, and again in late summer in Brazil. In the fall he will be directing The Dybbuk at the New Yiddish Theatre in New York.

AMY STOLLER coached two cast members in German accents for Irena’s Vow on Broadway; was production dialect designer for The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd Off-B’way at the Mint; and production dialect coach for Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy at ZACH Theatre, Austin, TX. Coached actor Denny Teeson, the famous “Mr. Six,” in his first speaking commercial for Six Flags. First dialect designer/coach to join the League of Professional Theatre Women.

LUCILLE SCHUTMAAT RUBIN:  Current and former actors coached appear on Broadway in God of Carnage, Pal Joey, Hair, The American Plan, Waiting for Godot, Art, Irena’s Vow and Blithe Spirit; Off Broadway in Chasing Manet, The Third Story, Freudian Slips; Endgame in Chicago, In the Next Room at Berkley Rep; on TV in Treatment, Trust Me, and Law & Order; on film in Alien Trespass. Business clients include representatives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, American Express, law firms plus a rabbi, an MBA player, doctors, and voice over aspirants.  She is affiliated with her company, Professionally Speaking, and Circle in the Square Theatre School, NYC.

KARA TSIAPERAS did accent coaching for a one man show called Hoaxocaust, at 59 East 59 Theatre in New York City.

SOUTHEAST
Daydrie Hague, Regional Editor
 
MARY IRWIN (University of North Carolina School of the Arts) is presently doing voice and accent coaching on The Importance of Being Earnest at UNCSA, having recently also coached productions of Scapino!, Charley’s Aunt, and William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, adapted by Dakin Matthews.  Mary is going into her seventh season as Voice and Text Coach for the NC Shakespeare Festival, where she worked on Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear during 2008, and is looking forward to A Midsummer Night’s Dream this year. 

VIVIAN MAJKOWSKI  (Savannah College of Art and Design) is finishing her second year as Professor of Voice and Speech and was vocal/dialect coach on Beehive, The Shape of Things, Carousel, Intimate Apparel, All in the Timing and many MFA thesis projects. At SETC she presented two workshops, was on a panel about the director/vocal coach relationship and was elected as the Vice President of the Voice and Speech Committee.  This summer she’s teaching at the ART/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard and giving workshops at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ and the Broadway Artists Alliance.

GUY WILLIAM MOLNAR served as Distinguished Guest Artist at the University of South Carolina in fall '08, substituting for his former teacher Erica Tobolski and teaching Linklater vocal production with the first-year MFA's; he also taught speech and Shakespeare with the third-year MFA class.  While at USC he coached The Violet Hour, Fen, and Gross Indecency.  In February he taught the Director's Lab at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut, working with NTI students on Twelfth Night.  In August he will join the theatre faculty at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania as Assistant Professor of Acting and Voice.

BONNIE RAPHAEL( University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) will coach Hay Fever and will consult on Long Day’s Journey into Night at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green Wisconsin this summer. She is thrilled to be able to work with Susan Sweeney and Jan Gist there.

JANET B. RODGERS (Virginia Commonwealth University) – Acting and Singing with Archetypes, co-authored by Janet Rodgers & Frankie Armstrong is due for release, January 2010, Hal Leonard Publishing.  2009 Southeastern Theatre Conference Workshops: “Shakespeare’s First Folio Clues” and  “Voices of the Archetypes” Women in Science, Dentistry & Medicine: Pathways to Leadership Conference: “Podium Pizzazz- Express Yourself Publically.”  Janet continues to direct the Voice and Speech Pedagogy program at Virginia Commonwealth University.  If you know of any mature, interested students, please contact her at jrodgers@vcu.edu.

Erica Tobolski (University of South Carolina) has spent her sabbatical year teaching at the Universiti Teknologi, Fakulti Kreatif dan Artistik in Shah Alam, Malaysia.  While there, she co-taught a course on Malay traditional theatre styles, was vocal coach/assistant director on a Malay version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and taught acting, voice & speech. In February, Erica was elected to the position of treasurer to U/RTA, the University/Resident Theatre Association.  At the NYC VASTA Conference, she will present her paper entitled:  “Cultural Crossover:  Teaching  From a Western Perspective in an Islamic Environment.”

WEST CENTRAL
Holly Rocke, Regional Editor

Shelly Gaza is Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Minnesota State University Moorhead where she teaches Voice, Dialects, and Acting.  She directed Compleat Female Stage Beauty for MSUM in February and will direct Back to the 80s for Straw Hat Players in June.  Shelly is also a member of Actors Equity Association.

JOHN GRAHAM (Utah Valley University). John is finishing up his second year of teaching and coaching here in Utah. This past year he directed A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Sundance Summer Theatre, anda University production of Twelfth Night. Recent coaching includes: Flies in the Snuffbox, an Evening of Chekhov One-Acts, Chess, As You Like It, Little Women, and Electra. He also staged fights for Little Women, and As You Like It. He was also seen onstage in the Plan-B Theatre Company's SLAM, and in Provo in Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
SUE KLEMP (University of Nevada, Reno) had a grand time coaching Irish dialect for a production of The Weir for a Reno community theatre. She is looking forward to participating in Paul Meier’s master class this summer.

Kristen Loree has been travelling all over the US this year performing Ursonate (with visualization by Jack Ox) in Seattle and presenting her one person a cappela opera VIXIN in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. She directed Frankenstein at the University of New Mexico to sold out houses and The ABQ Home School Opera - Slugs on Mars for the Santa Fe Opera.

WESTERN
Evelyn Case, Regional Editor

MARY BAIRD (Freelance Designated Linklater Voice Teacher) recently covered voice classes at Sarah Lawrence, and Hunter College in NY. In July working for NYSSA at Adelphi College in Long Island. Continues to split time between the East and West Coasts. Had a successful run playing Sister Aloysius in Doubt at the Cape May Stage in NJ.

JAN GIST (on sabbatical, University of San Diego/ Old Globe Theatre) is developing a book from her 2001 VASTA conference handout "Shakespeare's Shapely Language".  Old Globe: The Women, Six Degrees of Separation, American Plan.   USD/MFA program: Uncle Vanya, Midsummer. American Players Theatre ’08: Midsummer. A.P.T. ’09: Comedy of Errors, Old Times.  Currently: Mo'olelo Theatre/KPBS Radio: One Book One San Diego--The Zookeeper's Wife. VASTA conference ’08: "Inhaling Shakespeare" and "Training the Four Components of Voice through Shakespeare". VASTA ’09: she'll introduce DREW BIRNS (announcer for Jon Stewart's The Daily Show) in a workshop on New York Voiceovers.

JOEL GOLDES (Freelance) coached Julia Ormond on-set in a Shreveport, Louisiana dialect for “The Wronged Man,” a Lifetime movie shot in Georgia; coached The Little Foxes at the Pasadena Playhouse with Kelly McGillis, Marc Singer and Julia Duffy; is coaching Chuy Bravo, Chelsea Handler's sidekick on E!'s “Chelsea Lately” in the American accent so that his jokes land better; prepped Kevin Costner in a Boston accent for “The Company Men”; prepped an American actor in South Africa via skype in a Burmese accent for the TV series “The Philanthropist”; and coached a young actor in a Jamaican accent for the film “Snowmen.”

JOANNA CAZDEN taught in the Fitzmaurice Teacher Certification class in January 09, and helped a small caucus of SLP-trems begin to form. In February and April she gave local seminars for pediatric speech pathologists, on voice disorders and prevention issues for kids and classroom teachers. She joined Themodernvocalist.com, a dynamic online community of singers, producers,  teachers, and voice researchers, and has been featured there as a "subject matter expert" in vocal health. Private clients include film and TV actors, several folks rehabilitating after thyroid surgery, and a singer recovering from 2 years on tour. Twitter: JoannaC.

SOUTHERN
Vivian Majkowski, Regional Editor

ROBIN CARR (University of Southern Mississippi) is currently directing Urinetown: The Musical. This Spring Robin became the President of the Voice and Speech Committee for the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Ms. Carr earned her Lessac Certification and is also the recipient of the Innovation Award for Creative Activities at the University of Southern Mississippi for her research Integrating Arthur Lessac's work with Tadashi Suzuki's actor training.

TRISH CAUSEY, (Performer, Composer, Vocal Coach - AGMA, ASCAP, ACF, VASTA, ATHE; SCL [Assoc. Mem.]) is a soloist and composer on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  Her new online show is “Musical Theatre Talk with Trish Causey”.  The show features Broadway stars, award-winning Producers, Directors, and Composers, performers and technicians who work around the country, plus instructors who offer tips on technique.  The American musical is explored as it redefines itself in the 21st century.  For updates on Guests plus information on how to listen LIVE and call in to ask questions, go to the website: http://www.MusicalTheatreTalk.com

RENA COOK (University of Oklahoma) co-edited a book with Jane Boston entitled Breath in Action: The Art of Breath in Vocal and Holistic Practice, available this summer through Jessica Kingsley Publishers.  She presented a workshop entitled “Play Your Way to a Freer Voice” for the Educational Theatre Association’s national conference in Chicago in September.  She will serve as voice and text coach for the Oklahoma City’s Shakespeare in the Park this summer.

RINDA FRYE (University of Louisville) directed Hamlet, fall 2008, at U of Louisville. At the Actors Theatre of Louisville she was the dialect coach for Dracula, A Christmas Carol, and Slasher.  At U of L she coached dialects for Uncle Tom and Lincoln in the White House for the African American Theatre Program.  At SETC this spring she presented two workshops: “Spice Up Your Dialects – Arabic” and “Shakespeare and Breath”.

DAYDRIE HAGUE ( Auburn University) most recently directed Lady Windermere’s Fan, and served as a voice consultant on The America Play. She is working with AU’s Advance Team on a National Science Foundation project writing interactive scripts designed to promote discussion related to gender bias in the STEM disciplines. In March, she co-led a workshop at SETC “Breath in Action” with colleague Chris Qualls.  Her article “ A New Role – A  Team Approach to Supporting the Transgendered Client in Transition” will be published in the Voice and Speech Review this year.

ALLISON HETZEL (University of Alabama) recently coached Henry V at UA and she coaches the on-air voices for her local NPR station. She is currently working on a one-woman show titled Considering Georgia O’Keeffe that she will perform at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Sadly, this conflicts with the upcoming VASTA conference in NYC and she will miss seeing other VASTAns and being able to take part in working with the impressive line-up of Master Voice teachers this summer. Meanwhile, she is enjoying spring in the south and the completion of another busy semester!

JIM JOHNSON (U of Houston) This spring, Jim appeared as Howie in Rabbit Hole at Stages Repertory and coached Mrs. Warren's Profession and Maritius at the Alley Theatre.  He continues to develop dialect training materials for <www.AccentHelp.com> along with Kate DeVore and Michelle Lopez-Rios.  The site now has over 20 dialect training downloads with written materials, recordings of the coach teaching the dialect, as well as recordings of native speakers.

MARLENE JOHNSON (Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham) directed God of Hell and played the role of Aunt Kate in Cripple of Innishman for City Equity Theatre of Birmingham. She coached Scenes from an Execution, The Rivals, Beauty Queen of Leenane and Rhinoceros for UAB. She received two Certificates for Merit at the Kennedy Center for the American College Theatre Festival-Vocal Direction and Direction. She has presented workshops at ATHE in Denver, The KCACTF Region IV Conference, the Southeastern Theatre Conference and AATE. She had an article published in Southern Theatre and has submitted an article and review for VSR. She also completed one year towards her Alexander Technique Certification.

CHRISTINA KEEFE (Rice University) took over as Director of the Theatre Program at Rice in the spring of '08.  She is teaching Voice and Speech, as well as upper level acting classes.  This past year she has vocal coached Private Eyes, Stop Kiss and Wyrd Sisters for Rice University.  Christina was also the vocal director for the Texas Shakespeare Festival where she coached Julius Caesar, 1776, Twelfth Night and Royal Hunt of the Sun. mailto:ck1@rice.edu, arts.rice.edu

RORY LEDBETTER(University of Mississippi) is pursuing certification in Fitzmaurice Voicework. This year he vocal coached UM’s production of Cyrano de Bergerac and directed To Kill a Mockingbird. He also presented a workshop at the Southeastern Theatre Conference entitled “Voicing It Off the Page”. rledbett@olemiss.edu

DR. ROBIN BETH LEVENSON (Hunter College, City University of New York) – Robin’s book Acting in Translation is “in proposal” at Routledge Publishers. It is about the nature of translation for the stage from the Actor's point of view.  It highlights the notion of “action” on the stage, differences in language and syntax among the many (125!) translations of Chekhov's last four plays, and the views of translators and theatre practitioners on translation for the stage and the actor's contribution to the text. She presented “Structures of Action – What Moves you in the World?” at the NYU Theatre Pedagogy Conference in April. robin.levenson@nyu.edu

LYNN METRIK directed Neil Simon's Rumors and a TYA production, Sharing Shakespeare, this past year.  In addition, she served as the accent/dialect coach for Brigadoon and for The Cemetery Club.

KATE NELSON (Corporate Speech Trainer) works as an accent modification specialist for a global conferencing company with call centers in Bangalore, Mumbai, Brazil, Singapore, Canada, various cities throughout the US, and offices in Mexico.  She is based in West Point, GA and organizes web-based accent modification training programs for individuals at the new hire level up to the executive level.  She also works with private clients within the community (Auburn/Opelika, AL) who are interested in personal accent modification.  She was recently interviewed by Politico magazine for an article about accent modification specialists who work with clients who are trying to modify a Southern accent. knelson@intercall.com

ASHLEY SMITH (SMU-Meadows School of the Arts)recently served as Text and Dialect Coach on The Good Negro, a co-production of Dallas Theatre Center and New York's Public Theatre. www.smithvox.com  ahsmith@smu.edu

MATTHEW TOMLANOVICH (Oklahoma State University) was certified this past year as an associate teacher in Fitzmaurice Voicework® and this summer will be coaching at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare festival and then for the Dallas Shakespeare Festival in the fall.  Currently he is teaching, directing and coaching at OSU.  Matthew has a peer reviewed article “An Investigation of Vocal Pedagogy for Performers with Chronic Pain” and a Book Review “Breathing, Movement, Exploration by Barbara Sellers-Young” being published in the 2009 VSR.  He is also presenting a paper on vocal pedagogy at the VASTA 2009 conference.

SALLY NYSTUEN VAHLE, (Assistant Professor of Acting and Voice at the University of North Texas) looks forward to another busy year performing, coaching, and teaching. She is one of nine members of the newly established Acting Company at the Dallas Theater Center and will perform in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Death of a Salesman this season. She has voice/text/dialect coached four professional productions in the past year and will continue to coach productions and individuals in theater and media in 2009-2010. Sally is continuing her research on identifying and defining the most effective approaches for actor training in the 21st century and will present a paper on her research at the NYC VASTA Conference.

BETTYE ZOLLER SEITZ (VASTA, ATHE, AFTRA, SAG, NATS) – recent Audio Book titles include: The Voice of Experience: Studio Singing and Voiceovers Narrating Audio Books. She will present the following workshops in Texas this spring and summer: "Voicing Projects on the Internet: The Audition Olympics", "The Business of Voiceovers” and "Audio Book Narration Techniques”. At both VASTA and ATHE this summer she will present voiceover workshops. http://www.voicesvoices.com btzol@aol.com

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