Spring/Summer 99 p. 2

Board of Directors

Kate Burke
President-Elect
U. of Virginia

Dudley Knight
UC - Irvine

BettyAnn Leeseberg-Lange
Past-President
Valparaiso University

Dorothy Runk Mennen
Founding President
Purdue University—Professor, Emerita

Janet Rodgers
President
Virginia Commonwealth U.

Mandy Rees
CA State U.-Bakersfield

Sandra Shotwell
University of Utah

Kate Ufema
U. of Minnesota-Duluth

Officers
Janet Rodgers
President
Virginia Commonwealth U

Philip Thompson
Secretary
The Ohio State University

Lisa Wilson
Treasurer
University of Tulsa

Barbara Acker
Conference 2000Planner
Arizona State University

Cynthia Blaise
Archivist
Wayne State University

Rocco Dal Vera
Journal Editor
U. of Cincinnati College Con. of Music

Theresa Davis
Membership Chair
U. of West Virginia

Sandra Shotwell
Newsletter Editor
U of Utah

Craig Ferre
Associate Newsletter Editor
Brigham Young U.-Hawaii

Anne Scrimger
ATHE Conference Planner
Mount Royal College

The President's Letter

Dear VASTA Members,

I am writing to you after having returned from the 50th Anniversary Southeastern Theatre Conference held in Greensboro, N.C. where I attended some wonderful workshops. These "hands-on" workshops were attended by teachers, college and high school students alike. Most of the sessions which I attended had 60 - 75 eager participants as well as more than a handful of observers. Those participating whole-heartedly threw themselves into the work, exploring all that was offered. There were three workshops in particular which dealt with voice and speech. Each was taught by a VASTA member: "Expressive Form: Integrating Voice and Movement Technique" taught by Michael Lugering (U. of Nevada Las Vegas), "Voice and Acting: Team Teaching in the Classroom" taught by Mary Coy (U. of Mississippi), and "Jaw Awareness Using the Feldenkrais Method" taught by Lesley-Ann Timlick (Florida International U.). To all of you, I give a great big thank you for creating such exciting experiences.

It is important that we members of VASTA get out there and communicate what we do to the larger theatre population which may not be so fortunate to have a voice and speech trainer on the faculty. I would like to encourage all of you to begin to think about creating workshops for next year's Thesbian Conferences or for your state or regional theatre conferences. Or, come and participate in the Southeastern Theatre Conference which next year will be held in early March in Norfork, VA! Student actors and teachers of acting are hungry to learn what we do and what we teach. They want to take home with them something which they can use in their daily warmups in class or in their personal actor preparations. We need to be stronger advocates of what we do. Let's put ourselves out there- in workshops - and let's show, to a broader student base, what we do and do so well.

If you are interested in creating a workshop for SETC, please e-mail me at jrodgers@saturn.vcu.edu and I will make sure that you get a workshop application form. The forms must be completed and returned to SETC by June 1 st. Also, if you are planning to be at SETC, please plan to attend a networking and planning meeting for Voice and Speech Trainers in the Southeast area. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the August VASTA conference in Toronto!

All my best,

Janet B. Rodgers, VASTA President

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