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Fitzmaurice Voicework

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"[Catherine] is a theatre artist and teacher of the very highest rank. She has provided practical help and real expressive power to so many fine actors. She is a warm, gentle, compassionate teacher with a sense of humor, devotion to her charges, and passion for her work."

-- Frank Galati, Tony Award-winning Director, Associate Director, Goodman Theatre

 

 

"I feel I was refining what I already know, but going much deeper."

-- workshop participant

FOUNDER

CATHERINE FITZMAURICE
 
New York City NY
tel/fax: 212-532-8718
e-mail: cfvoice@gmail.com
 
Catherine Fitzmaurice teaches voice and text to private clients in New York City, as well as around the United States and internationally. She has taught voice and text at Yale School of Drama, Harvard/A.R.T., the Juilliard School, NYU's Graduate Acting program, ACT, UCLA, USC, New York's Actors Center, London University, the Central School of Speech and Drama, in workshops and seminars, and in theatre and medical conference presentations for voice professionals. She is Professor of Theatre at the University of Delaware, where she teaches acting to undergraduates.

Catherine has been invited to lecture and conduct workshops for theatre and medical colleagues at international theatres, actor training establishments, universities, and conferences at: the Performance Breath conference at RADA in London; Purnati Arts Centre in Bali; Pantheatre in Paris France; the Moscow Art Theatre; the International Slavic University in Moscow; Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski in Italy; 7th Voice Symposium of the Australian Voice Association; 1st Congreso de Voz in Chile; 2nd Pan-European Voice Conference (PEVOC ll) in Germany; 6th Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) in Israel; 1st International Conference on Consciousnesss, Theatre, Literature, and the Arts in Wales; also as Chancellor's Distinguished Lecturer in Drama at the University of California-Irvine; at Sundance Theatre Lab, Esalen Institute, and Naropa University; numerous times at several colleges, universities, and actor training programs, and several times at ATHE, VASTA, and the Care of the Professional Voice Symposium of the Voice Foundation.

Catherine has been voice, speech, text, and dialect coach and consultant for award-winning directors Frank Galati, Mark Lamos, JoAnne Akalaitis, Des McAnuff, Michael Langham, Stan Wojewodski, Robert Wilson, and Ivo van Hove, at such venues as ACT, La Jolla Playhouse, Goodman Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, Stratford/Canada, Hartford Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Center Stage, Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, New York Shakespeare Festival, and New York Theatre Workshop. She coached Haing Ngor's Academy Award-winning performance in The Killing Fields. Her Teacher Certification Program is offered in New York City and Los Angeles every two years.

Catherine has acted for Robert Wilson as Goneril in Lear at Metromedia Studios in Los Angeles, on the national tour of Whose Life is it Anyway? with Brian Bedford, as a member of the company at ACT for three years, and many other venues.

Catherine's article, "Breathing is Meaning," describing the origins and methods of her approach to voice training, is published by Applause Books in THE VOCAL VISION, ed. Marian Hampton, New York, 1997; her article, "Zeami Breathing," is published in the Internet Journal, "Consciousness, Literature, and the Arts," Vol. 1, #1, March 2000, and in "The Voice and Speech Review," Vol. #1, August 2000; and her article, "Structured Breathing," is published in the VASTA Newsletter, Spring 2003,Vol. 17, #1.

MA (Theatre Studies) and BA (English Literature), University of Michigan; Graduate of Central School of Speech and Drama, London, England (3-year program); Certificate International Phonetics Association; Certificates of completion from several bodywork and healing energy trainings. Certified Somatic Therapist.


MASTER TEACHERS

Master Teachers have 20 to 25 years experience teaching Fitzmaurice Voicework after working extensively with Catherine Fitzmaurice. Each of these teachers brings a unique perspective to the work, yet maintains a clear conceptual and practical mastery of the aims and methods outlined by Catherine.

Many Master and Associate Teachers of Fitzmaurice Voicework are also members of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association, and their extended bio's may be found on VASTA's web pages at www.vasta.org.

PAUL BACKER Master teacher
 
Senior Lecturer, Co-Director of Performance
University of Southern California
School of Theatre
Drama Center DRC
Los Angeles CA 90089
tel: 213-740-9449
fax: 213-740-8888
e: pbacker@usc.edu
web: http://theatre.usc.edu/faculty/backer_000.html

Paul Backer is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Ojai Shakespeare Festival in California. He has worked there and elsewhere as actor, director, teacher, and producer. Besides voice, he has previously taught acting, movement, and theatre history at California State University-Northridge, UC-Santa Barbara, Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy, Santa Monica College, and the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts. He is an active member and past Executive Committee member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, and he has recently completed his coursework and qualifying exams towards his PhD at the University of California-Irvine. He is now ABD, working on a dissertation on Shakespeare and Daoism.

PhD (ABD) University of California- Irvine; MA California State University-Northridge; BA UCLA.


NANCY HOUFEK Master teacher
 
Head of Voice & Speech
American Repertory Theatre/
Institute for Advanced Theatre Training
Harvard University
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle St.
Cambridge MA 02138
tel: 617-495-2668
e: nancy_houfek@harvard.edu
web: http://www.amrep.org/framesets/faculty.html

Nancy Houfek trains teachers of voice, speech, text, and dialects in A.R.T.'s MFA in Voice program. She also teaches voice, speech, text, and dialects for the graduate level acting students of Harvard's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training, and coaches the A.R.T. professional company. Nancy worked at the American Conservatory Theatre as actor, teacher, director, and coach for nearly a decade. She has appeared in over 100 plays and musicals nationwide, and directed both professional and academic productions. She has served on the faculties of the University of Washington, Southern Methodist University, the Drama Studio of London, and the University of Minnesota where she was Head of Actor Training. She has served as a consultant to television journalists, talk show personalities, and other professional voice users, and gives presentations for the Kennedy School of Government and the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard, for whom she made a film, The Act of Teaching, for their educational series.

MFA American Conservatory Theatre; BA Stanford University.


LYNNE INNERST Master teacher
 
Senior Lecturer
Temple University
Department of Theatre
1301 W. Norris Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
tel: 215-204-8652
fax: 215-204-8566
e: dirtpatchranch@yahoo.com
 
Lynne Innerst has taught at CalState-Long Beach, the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park College, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, University of New Mexico, University of Akron, and Southern Illinois University. She has worked as a professional actress for over twenty years.

MFA University of Southern California; BFA University of New Mexico-Albuquerque.


DUDLEY KNIGHT Master teacher
 
Visiting Faculty
University of Connecticut-Storrs
Department of Dramatic Art
802 Bolton Rd. Unit 1127
Storrs CT 06269
tel: 860-486-4025
&
Easton PA
e: dknight@uci.edu

Dudley Knight has retired from the University of California at Irvine, where he taught for twenty years, and is pursuing his acting career again, as well as guest teaching at Yale School of Drama, the Actors Center in New York City, and currently at the University of Connecticut-Storrs. He has coached voice, text, and dialects at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, the Los Angeles Theatre Center, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, American Conservatory Theatre, LA Actors Theatre, and Theatre West. He has taught voice, speech, and acting at A.C.T., U.S.C., CalArts, Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West, and CalState-Northridge, and in London and Dublin. He has studied voice with Kristin Linklater and Catherine Fitzmaurice. His article in THE VOCAL VISION, "Standard Speech: The Ongoing Debate," offers a new paradigm for speech work based on physical flexibility and clarity rather than correctness. He offers his own workshops in his Knight Speechwork with colleague Phil Thompson. His many articles are referenced in articles. He recently performed as Creon in Antigone at Ball State University, and at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

MFA Yale School of Drama; BA Haverford College.


SAUL KOTZUBEI Master teacher
 
Los Angeles CA
tel: 323-965-8333
e: voicecoachLA@aol.com
web: www.voicecoachLA.com

Saul Kotzubei teaches workshops, ongoing voice classes, and private clients in Los Angeles. He is the lead trainer for the two-year Fitzmaurice Voicework Teacher Certification Program. A performer with a masters degree in Buddhist Studies, extensive acting training, and a year studying clown in London with Phillippe Gaullier, Saul has taught Fitzmaurice Voicework at the Actors Center in New York, for NYU's BFA program at CAP 21, and in workshops in Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, as well as in London, Paris, and Santiago Chile. In addition to his voice teaching, Saul has done a wide range of communication-related teaching and consulting: he has, for example, taught theatre games to Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, consulted for the municipal government of Prague in their transition to democracy, done conflict resolution at a U.S. Zen center, taught presentation skills for business executives in Chile, and taught creativity workshops in Russia. He performed at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood in the critically acclaimed West Coast premiere of Lanford Wilson's Sympathetic Magic. His articles on the voice are published online for the acting community in Los Angeles.

MA Columbia University; BA Wesleyan University.


JOAN MELTON Master teacher
 
New York City
&
Professor of Theatre, Head of Voice and Movement
California State University-Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
P.O. Box 6850
Fullerton CA 92834
tel: 714-278-2164
fax: 714-278-7041
e: jmelton@exchange.fullerton.edu
web: http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/theatredance/mainframeset3.html
web: www.onevoicebook.com

Dr. Joan Melton is currently resident and working in New York City, while maintaining her appointment at CSUF and coordinating programs for Trinity College Carmarthen Wales where she has frequently guest-taught. Joan previously taught at the University of California-Irvine and Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy. She has taught workshops on "Integrating Singing Technique into Theatre Voice Training" and/or Fitzmaurice Voicework at conferences of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in San Diego, the 5th International Voice Symposium in Austria, PEVOC lV in Sweden, the Voice Symposium of Australia in Brisbane, the Voice Foundation's Symposium in Philadelphia, and at the Region Vlll Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. She has taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, at Bird College, Kent, England, at the LITES Drama Summer School in Dublin, Ireland <www.lites.fsbusiness.co.uk>, at the Academy of the Arts in Brisbane, Australia, at Western Australia Academy of the Arts, at the University of Mississippi, and Fullerton College, as well as workshops with Kevin Robison, David Nevell, and Dr. Kenneth Tom. She is a published author and composer. Her book ONE VOICE is available from Heinemann. Many of her articles can be accessed in articles.

PhD University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; MA and BA University of Mississippi; Advanced Diploma Central School of Speech and Drama.


DONNA SNOW Master teacher
 
Associate Professor, Head of Graduate and Undergraduate Acting
Temple University
Department of Theatre
1301 W. Norris Street
Philadelphia PA 19122
tel: 215-204-8652
fax: 215-204-8566
e: dsnow@unix.temple.edu
web: www.temple.edu/sct/contact/directory.html

Donna Snow has served several terms as Chair of the Theatre Department at Temple University, where she teaches and directs. She has taught at Circle in the Square, A.C.T., and the Institute for Renaissance and Baroque Studies. She worked as a professional actress for 15 years at such theatres as the Arena Stage, A.C.T., Long Wharf Theatre, Stage West, Studio Arena, Syracuse Stage, GeVa, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Walnut Street Theatre, the Folger, St. Louis Rep, Seattle Rep, and Off-Broadway.

MFA American Conservatory Theatre; BA University of Washington.


PHIL THOMPSON Master teacher
 
Associate Professor
Head of Acting
University of California-Irvine
Department of Drama
Drama 249
Irvine CA 92697
tel: 949-824-9440
fax: 949-824-3475
e: pthompso@uci.edu
web: http://drama.arts.uci.edu/faculty/thompson.html

Phil Thompson has studied with Dudley Knight, Robert Cohen, and Jerzy Grotowski, among others. He taught at the Ohio State University for nine years and served for three years as the head of the MFA in Acting program. He works as a voice/dialect coach for UCI as well as for professional productions at such theatres as South Coast Repertory, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Madison Repertory Theatre, and for the last six years at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. He has acted with the Grove and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals. He serves currently on the board of URTA, and is President of VASTA.

MFA University of California-Irvine; BA University of Iowa.


ASSOCIATE TEACHERS

All Associate Teachers of Fitzmaurice Voicework have completed the Certification Program led by Catherine Fitzmaurice and the Master Teachers, and have from 1 to 15 years experience teaching the work.

The year of certification follows the name (in parentheses).

BETSY ALLEN (03)
 
London England
e: betsytowne@gmail.com

Betsy Allen is now living in London, England. She is a voice coach for musicians, actors, and singers. Her teaching is a fusion of Fitzmaurice Voicework, extended vocal technique, and song composition. Betsy trained as an actor and singer at California Institute of the Arts and Tisch School of the Arts Experimental Theatre Wing, and has also studied at the Actors Center in NYC. She has written and produced more than five solo performance pieces, and has performed at PS 122, Makor, Playwrights Horizons, The Theatre for the New City, The Painted Bride (PA), and the Hudson Theatre (Los Angeles). She teaches and coaches voice with an interest and passion for self-scripting. An excerpt of her masters' thesis on Vocal Pedagogy was presented together with a voice workshop at the International Conference on the Arts and Humanities in O'ahu Hawaii, 2006.

MA Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University; BFA New York University.


SOHA AL-JURF (02)

 
 
 
 
 
 
San Francisco CA
e: soha.al-jurf@ucsfmedctr.org

Soha Al-Jurf is a speech pathologist specializing in the evaluation and treatment of voice disorders. Her graduate degree is from Iowa's Vocology Program, and her undergraduate degree is in Voice Performance (opera).

MA CCC-SLP University of Iowa; BFA University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign.
 

MARIELA ARAGON-CHIARI (06)
 
 
 
Panama City Panama
tel: 507-317-9097
e: maragonch@cwpanama.net

Mariela Aragon-Chiari is a freelance actress and acting coach for actors and non-actors. Since 1982 she has been acting and studying and participating in theatre workshops in her native country, Panama, and all around the world: ISTA in Londrina Brazil in 1994, Odin Teatret Denmark in 1997, International School of Latin American and Caribbean Theatre (EITALC) in the USA, and Colombia in 1997 and Brazil in 2001, Aprendiendo a Aprender (Learning to Learn) sponsored by the International Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (HIVOS) in 2003, and a Fitzmaurice five-day workshop in 2004. During these formative years she had the opportunity to work with masters such as Eugenio Barba, Roberta Carreri, Julia Varley, Santiago Garcia, Augusto Boal, Tage Larsen, Richard Armstrong, and Luis De Tavira, among others. Since becoming interested in the benefits of good breathing and alternative therapies she has also taken workshops with Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks of the Hendricks Institute (Conscious Breathing and Living: The Foundation Course, and Breathwork and Movement for Professionals), and she has completed Reiki Level 2 training. She is interested in taking the theatrical experience outside the usual boundaries and has collaborated in performances with musicians, painters, and muti-media artists. In 2004, together with another Panamanian actress, she started Proyecta Proyecto La Bruja, a theatrical project for production and presentation of workshops and short plays for actors and non-actors.


MICHAEL BARNES (94)
 
Assistant Professor
Wayne State University
Department of Theatre
4841 Cass Ave. Suite 3225
Detroit MI 48202
tel: 313-577-0926
fax: 313-577-0935
e: mjbarnes@wayne.edu

Michael Barnes has taught at the University of Miami, Temple University, and the University of Delaware. In 2003 he coached at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and he has coached dialects, voice, text, and singing at such theatres as Santa Cruz Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, Wilma Theatre, Studio Theatre, Rep Stage Company, Pearl Theatre, People's Light and Theatre, Venture Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, and Colorado Shakespeare Festival. He has acted and directed in regional theatre. His article about Fitzmaurice Voicework, co-authored with Bruce Smith, is referenced in articles, and his MFA thesis, also about Fitzmaurice Voicework, is referenced at the end of Catherine's article, "Breathing is Meaning." Michael serves as VASTA's Director of Technology.

MFA National Theatre Conservatory/Denver Center for the Performing Arts; BFA University of Oklahoma.


CYNTHIA BARRETT (98)
 
Atlanta GA
tel: 404-840-1975
e: cynbarrett@gmail.com

Cynthia Barrett is currently a freelance actor and coach in Atlanta, Georgia. She was previously an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina-Greensboro teaching vocal production, speech, dialects, text, and acting, and has also taught on the performance faculties of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, University of California-Davis, University of Illinois, and Interlochen. She has worked as an actor and voice/text coach for the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Repertory Theatre, Metro Theater Company, and the Alliance Theatre Company.

MFA University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign; BA Indiana State University.


CYNTHIA BASSHAM (04)
 
Instructor
University of California-Irvine
Department of Drama
Irvine CA 92697
tel: 949-824-9440
&
Seydways Acting Studios
San Francisco CA
e: c_bassham@yahoo.com
www.cynthiabassham.com
 
Cynthia Bassham teaches ongoing weekly Fitzmaurice Voicework classes at Seydways Studios in San Francisco, and taught voice and speech at the American Conservatory Theatre's Studio program for five years. She is a professional actor with extensive credits, including originating the role of "C" in the world premiere of Edward Albee's Three Tall Women directed by the author. Cynthia's introduction to elements of Fitzmaurice Voicework started at ACT where she studied with Nancy Houfek from 1986 to 1989. She later continued her studies of the method with Saul Kotzubei.
 
MFA American Conservatory Theatre; BA University of Washington.

JOSEPH BATES (00)
 
Visiting Faculty
Auburn University
Department of Theater
211 Telfair Peet Theater
Auburn AL 36849 Auburn AL
c: 937-367-6530
e: jbates4@ix.netcom.com
www.musictheatreventures.org
 
Joseph Bates, music director and voice coach, has conducted over 25 productions including Chicago, Sweeney Todd, Candide, The Most Happy Fella, She Loves Me, and The King and I. He serves as Music Director for the Dayton Opera Artists-In-Residence Program. He has conducted The Pirates of Penzance, The Impresario, and Candide for the Dayton Opera. Joseph has directed over 20 musicals and operas that include Crazy for You, Evita, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, and Amahl and the Night Visitors. His orchestral repertoire as conductor includes music by Barber, Bernstein, Poulenc, Chausson, and Mozart. He has recently retired from twenty years at Wright State University as Music Director in the Theatre Department to pursue his burgeoning professional career.

MARIKA BECZ (04)
 
Instructor
NYU-Playwrights Horizons
New York NY
tel: 718-344-0864
e: mbecz@hotmail.com
 
Marika Becz is a professional actor, director, choreographer, teacher, and voice coach. She has served on the faculties and/or taught workshops for UC-Irvine, Cal State-Fullerton, CSU Summer Arts with the Second City Company, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, and Malashock Dance and Co. Professional credits include South Coast Rep, Connecticut Rep, Laguna Playhouse, Central Coast Shakepeare Festival, Shakespeare Festival/LA, New York Performance Works, The Old Globe, Theatre Neo, and the Mark Taper Amphitheatre. She is a founding member of The Gravity Project, and is a certified level ll Reiki practitioner. She has also taught voice at Barnard College.
 
MFA University of California-Irvine; BFA University of Connecticut.

ANDREW BELSER (04)
 
Artistic Director, The Gravity Project
Head, Juniata Theatre
Associate Professor
Juniata College
Huntingdon PA 16652
tel: 814-641-3494
fax: 814-641-3155
e: belser@juniata.edu
 
Andrew Belser is a director and theatre-maker. He founded The Gravity Project at Juniata in 2004. A sampling of his original theatrical creations includes Nine Gates, a theatrical voyage into desire inspired by poet Jane Hirshfeld's book of essays NINE GATES: ENTERING THE MIND OF POETRY; He, a Butoh/Tango movement melange and an erotic look at clowning; Exit The King, a radical, sacred, and irreverent reworking of Ionesco's classic play; The Body of Mystery, a movement investigation of Judeo-Christian mythology; Songs and Lives, a music/performance piece featuring the Audubon Quartet; The Sympathetic Weight of Bones, a meditation on love co-conceived with Whit Maclaughlin; and The French Farce Session, a theatrical pondering using farce as a tool for psychotherapy. Among his directing work on scripts are the premieres of Russell Davis' The Second Death of Priscilla and The Wild Goose Circus, Leslie Lee's The Ninth Wave, and John Mighton's The Little Years. Other recent productions have included adaptations of Spring's Awakening and The Firebugs. Andy was honored as Pennsylvania Professor of the Year for 2003. Recent formative theatrical experiences have been his training in Fitzmaurice Voicework and Skinner Releasing, a directing residency with Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis, and clown work with Avner the Eccentric. At the very center of Andy's life are his wife Virginia and two sons Noah and Avery.
 
MFA Virginia Tech University; MA Villanova University; BA Grove City College.

KIM BEY (04)
 
Assistant Professor
Howard University
Department of Theatre Arts
2455 6th Street, NW
Washington DC 20059
tel: 202-806-7050
e: kbey@howard.edu
 
Kim James Bey is a faculty member and Co-Coordinator of the Acting Program at Howard University. Kim has acting credits that include Off-Broadway, regional productions, television, and voiceovers for ESL. She is a vocal and acting coach for university productions, as well as at the Studio Theatre and the American Century, and recently as the vocal assistant to Lynn Watson for the Arena Stage production of Orpheus Descending directed by Molly Smith. She has studied with Maggie Flanigin, Mai Loughran, and Hal Scott; and with John Barton and Fiona Shaw at the British American Academy in Oxford, England.
 
MFA Mason Gross School of the Arts/Rutgers University; BFA Howard University.

CYNTHIA BLAISE (00)
 
Los Angeles CA
e: cynthialblaise@yahoo.com

Cynthia Blaise is a voice, speech, and dialect coach for theatre and film as well as an actor and director. She taught speech and dialects at Temple University for four years and was the voice, speech, dialect, and text coach for the Hilberry and Bonstelle Theatres and the MFA program at Wayne State University for six years, and most recently the voice and speech instructor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Her film credits include Spitfire Grill, Polish Wedding, Tecumseh, The Affair of the Necklace and the independent features Get the Hell Out of Hamtown, and Nobody Knows. Cynthia coached voice at Second City in Detroit and dialects for MeadowBrook Theatre. She has taught workshops for ACTF at the University of New Hampshire, Southern Birmingham College, and Western Kentucky University.

MFA University of California-Irvine; BA University of Oregon.


KENNEDY BROWN (04)
 
Adjunct Faculty
California State University-Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
P.O. Box 6850
Fullerton CA 92834
&
Stella Adler Academy of Acting
6773 Hollywood Blvd. 2nd floor
Los Angeles CA 90028
tel: 310-795-5795
e: kennedy.brown@hotmail.com

Kennedy Brown is an actor/teacher living in Santa Monica California. In addition to pursuing a career in acting, Kennedy is Head of Speech and Dialects at the Stella Adler Studio LA, and an Instructor of Voice and Movement at Cal State University-Fullerton. Kennedy trained at the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York City. He went on to perform in classical theatre as a core member of the Jean Cocteau Repertory which at the time was New York City's oldest rotating repertory company. While there, he performed in notable productions of The First Lulu, Enrico lV, The Brothers Karamazov, Iphigenaia at Aulis, The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, Tartuffe, Waiting for Godot, Major Barbara, Orpheus, What the Butler Saw, and Mother Courage. Kennedy began teaching Voice, Speech, and Shakespeare at the Stella Adler School where he trained undergraduates from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He also certified as a yoga instructor and began training in movement with Fay Simpson, creator of the Lucid Body technique, for whom he later became an assistant instructor. While in New York, Kennedy also held faculty posions at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Currently, Kennedy performs with The Gravity Project, a movement-based theatre company that is developing unique ways for exploring the Voice, Movement, and Text in performance.

BA Santa Clara University; Graduate National Shakespeare Conservatory.

ANNE BURK (05)
 
Instructor
University of Southern California
School of Theatre
Drama Center DRC
Los Angeles CA 90089
&
Voice and Speech Coach
Tom Todoroff Studio
Los Angeles CA
e: voiceandspeech@anneburk.com
 
Anne Burk also teaches at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Hollywood, has worked as a performer, director, and teacher in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and has worked as a dialect and movement coach for theatrical productions in California and Nevada. She also teaches privately in the Los Angeles area.

MFA UCLA; BA San Jose State University; Graduate East 15 Drama School.


TOM BURKE (05)
 
 
Speech Pathologist
Metropolitan Speech Pathology
New York NY 10165
tel: 212-598-0600
e: tomburke3@prodigy.net
www.tomburkevoice.com
 
Tom Burke is a speech pathologist and singer, specializing in the performer's voice and in consulting with children. He also consults with business executives for Google.

MS CCC-SLP and BA Loyola College-Maryland.


DEBORA CAHN (99)
 
 
New York City NY
&
Los Angeles CA
 
Debora Cahn has taught at California State University-Long Beach, University of California-Irvine, American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard, the Actors Center in New York, the Moscow Art Theatre Institute, and the Slavic Institute in Moscow. Coaching credits include productions at South Coast Repertory Theatre, the Arden Theatre Company, and Freedom Theatre. She was a writer for the award-winning television series West Wing and now is a producer writer for Grey's Anatomy.

MFA American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard/Moscow Art Theatre; BA Barnard College/Columbia University.


 
EVELYN CASE (06)
 
Lecturer
California State University-Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
P.O. Box 6850
Fullerton CA 92834
tel: 714-278-2029
e: ecase@fullerton.edu
 
Evelyn Case currently teaches voice and movement, acting and Shakespeare at CSUF. She has taught workshops and intensives at universities across the southeast, and has performed extensively in regional theatres. Her Fitzmaurice workshop at the 2007 KCACTF conference in Cedar City Utah had over sixty participants and was photographed for an hour and featured on the front page in the Cedar City Daily News. Evelyn was a member of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's resident company for eleven seasons where her tenure included seasons of rotating repertory as well as major American tours of Romeo and Juliet, Arms and the Man, and Comedy of Errors. She has appeared in leading roles at the Laguna Playhouse, Shakespeare Orange County and Theatre on the Green, the American Stage Company, Pennsylvania Stage Company, and Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Areas of interest include Viewpoints, continuing her certification in Alba Emoting, and association with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox Massachusetts. She is co-editor of the Shakespeare Collection, SNIPPETS FROM SHAKESPEARE, published by Watermark Press in 1990 and SHAKESPEARE: A LOVER'S TALE, also commissioned by Watermark. Evelyn serves as the Western region Editor for the VASTA newsletter and is a member of the Shakespeare Association of America.

MFA University of Alabama/Alabama Shakespeare Festival; BFA Wright State University.


JOANNA CAZDEN (06)
 
 
Los Angeles CA
tel: 818-845-6654
e: joanna@voiceofyourlife.com
www.voiceofyourlife.com

Joanna Cazden is a speech pathologist, singer, and cross-disciplinary educator interested in the neuro-cognitive foundations of voice pedagogy and healing. Currently a Senior Staff Speech Pathologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 's Outpatient Voice program, half of her patients are performing artists and she has modified Fitzmaurice methods to help treat a variety of voice disorders. She has presented at ATHE, VASTA, ASHA, and NATS national conferences, the Voice Foundation Symposium, and the UCSF Voice Conference, and has written on vocal health and technique for publications as diverse as Onstage and Electronic Musician magazines, Sing Out!, Folkworks, Whole Life Times, and the Voice and Speech Review. Joanna toured extensively as a singer/songwriter in the 1970s-80s, released 6 solo albums, and was considered a pioneer in the women's music movement of that era. Her stage credits include the Seattle Lyric Theater, Boston's Om Theater Workshop, and a season as music director for the Caravan Theater in Cambridge MA. She is also a longtime student of chakra-based meditation and somatic therapies, practices Reiki lll, and is pleased to serve on VASTA's Board of Directors. She maintains a private practice in Burbank CA and welcomes queries about pedagogy and therapy techniques.

MS-CCC California State University-Northridge; MFA California Institute for the Arts; BA University of Washington
RUTH CHILDS (02)
 
Assistant Professor
State University of New York-Brockport
Theatre Department
SUNY Brockport NY 14420
tel: 585-395-5261
e: rchilds@brockport.edu
 
Ruth Childs previously taught at Grinnell College and the University of Minnesota, and has worked as voice and dialect coach for professional and university productions. She works as an actress and spent a year as a company member at the Guthrie Theatre.

MFA University of Minnesota; BA Grinnell College.


JESSICA CLAIRE (04)
 
Adjunct Faculty
California State University-Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
P.O. Box 6850
Fullerton CA 92834
&
Los Angeles CA
tel: 917-501-0666
e: jessclaire@gmail.com
 
Jessica Claire recently moved to Los Angeles from New York City where she taught voice and speech at Barnard College, NYU, and Marymount Manhattan College. In Los Angeles she has taught at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the New York Film Academy, and other private acting studios. She also works with private students on voice and dialects and enjoys an ongoing teaching collaboration with Master Teacher Saul Kotzubei. As an actress, Jessica has performed regionally and in New York: at the American Conservatory Theatre, Shakespeare Sedona, and the Ohio Theater in SoHo New York City, among others. She is a member of AEA, AFTRA, and VASTA.

MFA American Conservatory Theatre; BA Barnard College.


MARIA COMINIS (04)
 
Lecturer
California State University-Fullerton
Department of Theatre and Dance
P.O. Box 6850
Fullerton CA 92834
tel: 714-278-7164
e: mcominis@exchange.fullerton.edu
 
Maria Cominis has also taught student film directors at the University of Southern California School for Film and Television, and Cal State University-Long Beach, Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Azusa Pacific University, American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, the University of Bowling Green, Ohio, and the University of California-Irvine. She studied acting under the tutelage of Uta Hagen as her key student in her master classes, and has taught at HB Studio in New York since 1996, continuing there now in the summers. She has also studied musical theatre in the Manhattan School of Music Professional Workshop, and classical voice. Her professional theatre credits include Threepenny Opera, West Side Story, Into The Woods, and Music Man, and for television One Life to Live, All My Children, and Comedy Central: 2003 Political Satire, and most recently played Mona on Desperate Housewives.

MFA University of California-Irvine; BFA California State University-Long Beach.


DEBORAH COONEY (99)
 
Lecturer
Tufts University
Department of Drama and Dance
Boston MA
tel: 646-765-7135
e: deborahcooney@earthlink.net

Deborah Cooney, voice and dialect coach, was an award-winning member of the BBC Repertory Company. She has also studied voice with Arthur Lessac, Michael McCallion, Sue Ann Park, and Patsy Rodenburg, and completed a voice teaching internship with Nancy Houfek at the American Repertory Theatre, Institute for Advanced Actor Training at Harvard University, prior to completing her MFA in Voice there. She has previously taught at the Academy for Classical Acting/Shakespeare Theatre, NYU/CAP 21, and the School for Film & Television, and has coached at the Public Theatre and several off-Broadway shows in New York City, at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, and at Hartford Stage.

MFA (Voice) American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard/Moscow Art Theatre; Graduate Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.


MICHELE CUOMO (03)
 
Assistant Professor
City University of New York
Queensborough College
Department of Speech Communications and Theatre
Humanities Building H-125
Bayside NY 11364
tel: 718-631-6284
e: michelecuomo@hotmail.com

Michele Cuomo is also teaching at Marymount Manhattan College. Her previous voice teachers include Bobby Troka, Mary Coy, Phil Thompson, and Krista Scott. She previously taught acting, voice, and movement at the University of Georgia-Athens, and the University of Mississippi. She is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor and a registered teacher of the Yoga Alliance. She is a core company member of Genesis Shakespeare Festival in Illinois, and Associate Director of Miss Elsie Productions at Oxford Mississippi (www.misselsieproductions.org). Michele performed at the Centre for Performance Research's Past Masters Series in London in Witch Dance, her original recreation of the life and work of Mary Wigman.

MFA Ohio State University; BA College of New Rochelle.


STANTON DAVIS (00)
 
Assistant Professor
Northern Illinois University
School of Theatre and Dance
DeKalb IL
tel: 815-753-1334
e: stantondavis@hotmail.com

Stanton Davis is from Tucson Arizona. He previously served as speech and dialect coach for Temple Theatre Department's graduate and undergraduate actors. Stanton previously taught voice, acting, Shakespeare, dramatic literature, and stage combat at SUNY-New Paltz. He has worked as an actor (stage, film, and TV commercials), fight director, stage hand, director, voice coach, and education director at professional theatres throughout the country. He works with private students in accent reduction, voice, and speech. Credits include work at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Lab Arizona, Courtyard Players Touring Company, Arizona Jewish Theatre, AKA Theatre, Tucson Actors Studio, Candlelight Theatre Company (NYC), New Paltz Summer Rep, York Little Theatre, and the Arizona, Tucson, Southwest, Baltimore, Wisconsin, Park City, and Utah Shakespeare Festivals. Stanton is a member of the Society of American Fight Directors.

MFA University of Delaware; BA University of Utah.


PATRICIA DELOREY (01)
 
Assistant Professor
Asolo Conservatory
Florida State University
Center for Performing Arts
Sarasota FL
e: pdel62@hotmail.com

Patricia Delorey spent summer 2003 in Costa Rica teaching voice. She is the voice and speech specialist with Asolo Conservatory, and previously worked in Moscow and Italy where she taught and coached MFA students at the American Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre. She has taught at Southwest Texas State University, Salem State College, and at ART's Institute in Cambridge MA.

MFA (Voice) American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard/Moscow Art Theatre; MA Harvard University; BA Salem State College.

MICHAEL ELLIS-TOLAYDO (02)
 
Professor of Dramatic Arts
St. Mary's College
Arts and Letters
18952 East Fisher Road
St. Mary's City MD 20686
tel: 240-895-4244
fax: 240-895-4958
e: mellistolaydo@smcm.edu
www.smcm.edu/users/mellistolaydo/  
 
Michael Ellis-Tolaydo is the Steven Muller Distinguished Professor in the Arts Chair, the first to receive this award. As an actor and director he has worked in every state in the USA, especially extensively at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. He is originally from Kenya, East Africa.
 
MFA Catholic University; MA American University; Graduate Diploma Academy of Dramatic Art, Oakland University.

MICHA ESPINOSA (98)
 
Assistant Professor
Western Michigan University
Director of Voice and Speech
Department of Theatre Arts
Kalamazoo MI 49008
e: micha.espinosa@wmich.edu
web: www.yogaforactors.com
 
Micha Espinosa taught previously at the University of Miami and the Coconut Street Playhouse as voice and speech coach, and she still maintains her freelance work as actor and coach in the Miami area. She has also taught at Texas State University-San Marcos, New World School of the Arts, Florida International University, University of California-San Diego, and every year since 1996 to premier actors at Shioya (The Actors Studio) in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan. She introduced Fitzmaurice Voicework at the Texas Educational Theatre Association Conference in January, 2001. She has worked as a private coach specializing in accent reduction for the past seven years. She is a professional actress/singer who has worked in films, television, commercials, and regional theatres for over ten years. Micha is an associate editor for the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA) www.ukans.edu/~idea, has served as the Membership Chair for VASTA, is a certified yoga instructor, and has also studied Feldenkrais work. She recently presented in Guadalajara Mexico and Santiago Chile, and in summer 2004 at both VASTA and ATHE she presented her current research project examining how Latino/a actors are perceived in America, especially with regard to their voice and speech. She also presented at the 2005 VASTA conference in Scotland. She travels extensively with her husband, a sculptor and painter.

MFA University of California-San Diego; BFA Stephens College.


BRIAN EVANS (06)
 
Assistant Professor
Ohio University
Athens OH
e: evansb1@ohio.edu

Brian Evans teaches acting, voice, speech, and stage combat. He has worked as a professional actor for the Colorado and Illinois Shakespeare Festivals, South Coast Repertory, Porthouse Theatre, and, most recently, the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Television credits include Chapelle's Show and Judging Amy. His voice-over work includes the audio book of The Virginian. He produced award-winning theatre while working in Los Angeles, including the world premieres of several new playwrights. He has worked as a voice and dialect coach for professional productions in Los Angeles and Mississippi. As a member of the Society of American Fight Directors he has studied stage combat with SAFD teachers in Las Vegas and at Los Angeles Fight Academy.

MFA University of California-Irvine; BFA Kent State University.
NANCY EYERMANN (03)
 
 
Austin TX
e: nancyeyermann@yahoo.com

Nancy Eyermann has been acting professionally around the country since 2002, and has performed Lady Macbeth and Annie Sullivan at the Texas Shakespeare Festival and many roles with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. She was an active participant in CSF's educational programs, introducing Acting Interns and High School Workshop students to Fitzmaurice Voicework and Shakespeare text. She previously taught voice classes to undergraduates at Temple while she was completing her MFA and later as adjunct faculty there. In the summer of 2005 Nancy toured TSF's production of The Miracle Worker to Beijing as part of China's second American Drama Society Conference. Nancy is now resident in Austin Texas.

MFA Temple University; BFA Texas State University-San Marcos.
 
AMY SUE FALL (07)