Deborah Kinghorn vocal coached both Long Day's Journey Into Night with Ellen Burstyn and David Selby, directed by Michael Wilson (January), and Hydriotaphia, by Tony Kushner, also directed by Michael Wilson (March) at the Alley Theatre. She is currently working on dialects for Noises Off! (at the Alley). Also, she served as vocal/text coach for Romeo and Juliet at the University of Houston in February.

Anita Jo Lenhart, University of Memphis Department of Theatre and Dance, was promoted to Associate Professor. She was also honored by the Memphis Arts Council with a Memphis Theatre Award for Excellence in Stage Dialects. The award was created to pay tribute to her coaching the University of Memphis production of Translations directed by Joanna Helming. She directed A Midsummer Night's Dream and vocal coached The Colored Museum at UM, and will direct/ vocal coach Macbeth at Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts. She has recently initiated a cross- disciplinary study with the UM School of Audiology and Speech Pathology experimenting in measuring intensity and frequency in Voice Profiles. All this, combined with

future study with Arthur Lessac, and funding for him to teach a three day residency at UM accompanied by movement teacher Yanci, leaves Anita full of "buoyancy" and happy to be reconnected with VASTA!

Western

Fran Bennett opened April 14th

in the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Gascon Center Theatre, playing Oberon/Theseus. She currently

appears in an independent film called Unbowed. Fran is still serving

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Kathy Maes will be leaving for Moscow on May 4th to teach for a month at the University of Colorado-Denver program at Moscow State University. While in Moscow, she will be offering voice and dialect workshops at the Moscow Art Theatre as well. She looks forward to having the opportunity to direct a production of As You Like It for the Theatre Department at the University of Colorado-Denver. Beginning July 1, the School of the Arts will become the College of Arts and Media. Kathy will become chair of the Department of Performing Arts, comprising Theatre and Performance Music.

Jennifer Thomas is currently on the faculty of the Denver Center Theatre Academy teaching "Take Charge of Your Voice" to adult professionals. She is also a regular visiting artist at the Denver School of the Arts, teaching Dialects and Voice to middle and high school theater majors. In addition, she teaches "Improve Your Speaking Voice" and "Speaking in Accents" at Colorado Free University and has ten clients in her private consult. In the musical arena, Jennifer recently performed a benefit concert for the Unitarian Church in Boulder, Colorado, singing a solo by John Alden Carpenter and a duet written by a local composer. In May, she will be singing in a recital at the First Congregational Church in Boulder.

Dianne J. Winslow recently completed serving as a dialect and vocal coach of the Art Productions of Blood Brothers and Much Ado About Nothing at the Arizona Repertory Theatre. Dianne also served as dialect coach for the Invisible Theatre production of Kindertransport in the Tucson area.

See you in San Antonio!

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Anne Scrimger will attend the 11th session of the International School of Theatre Anthropology (I.S.T.A.) in Portugal in September for the start of her sabbatical year. She is voice coach for Henry V and Twelfth Night this summer for Shakespeare in the Park.

Dale Genge coached an original dance theatre production called "Ice, Beyond Cool" for Judith Marcuse Dance Company, and Our Country's Good with David Latham at Studio 58 during Fall '97. Dale also coached Cabaret in January, an original piece based on ten David Mamet short plays in March, and in May will assist Richard Armstrong of the Roy Hart Theatre at the Banff Center for the Arts "Integration" program for singers.

International

Lise Olson, Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, has just finished directing Ariel Dorfman's Widows and is currently in rehearsal for Knives and Hens and LIPA's Agent Showcase, which will be at the Drill Hall in London in May.

A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS

to the past members of VASTA'S Board of Directors, who joined the present Board members in San Antonio in November for a l0-year planning session. And extra special thanks to Kate Ufema for beautifully handling the complicated logistics for this Mammoth Meeting! These members gave not only several days of their time for this project but also paid their own expenses in San Antonio. It is this kind of commitment and generosity that not only created VASTA but also has made it the successful organization that it is today! May their example spur us on to increased participation and contributions from more and more members!

© Copyright 1987-99 Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.