December Updates

Two shows I coached had performances in December.

FOOD FOR THE GODS, written and directed by Nehprii Amenii, had three performances at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, December 11th & 12th. This promenade-style performance piece served as a healing ritual for black men killed by police and other self-appointed law-enforcers over the years. It’s a piece unlike any others I’ve worked on, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity. The number of performances was reduced due to issues around COVID.

A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, adapted by Adrian Mitchell and Jeremy Brooks from Dylan Thomas’s short story and directed by Bonnie J. Monte, had performances at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, December 8th-26th. It was a beautiful, heart-warming show with a lovely cast, and it was the first show produced in the Kirby Theatre in two years. It closed early due to issues around COVID.

Lastly, I co-taught the 33rd offering of the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop, Experiencing Speech, December 11th-17th. I love teaching this workshop, especially in the December slot. The workshop is always filled with interesting, curious participants who teach me so much. And I had a blast teaching with my KTS colleagues, Andrea Caban and Nathan Crocker. Here’s a screenshot of our recording thumbnails:


Fitzmaurice Voicework Workshops

I recently had the opportunity to lead a workshop on Self-Care for the Vocal Tract for Certified Teachers of Fitzmaurice Voicework. My workshop was part of a series on self-care offered by the Advanced Training Team at the Fitzmaurice Institute. We focused on softening tension around the spine (especially the cervical spine and the occipital ridge), the neck, the jaw, the lips, the tongue, and the soft palate, and we connected those openings to breath support coming from the transverse abdominal muscle.

I am also part of a team of FV teachers offering a new kind of online workshop for the Fitzmaurice Institute: a six-part workshop on Fitzmaurice Fundamentals. I am co-teaching with FV Master Teacher and Lead Trainer Jeff Morrison on the second day o…

I am also part of a team of FV teachers offering a new kind of online workshop for the Fitzmaurice Institute: a six-part workshop on Fitzmaurice Fundamentals. I am co-teaching with FV Master Teacher and Lead Trainer Jeff Morrison on the second day of the workshop. We’ll focus that day on destructuring, or release of muscular tension in order to find spontaneous breath.

Online Fitzmaurice Voicework Summit

This past weekend, the Fitzmaurice Institute offered a free, online Fitzmaurice Voicework Summit. FV Teachers from all over the world, including founder Catherine Fitzmaurice, offered insights and practical experience of the work, and over 2,000 people participated.

I recorded a 30-minute video exploring lateral release in destructuring as part of the Bonus Fourth Day.

All four days of the Summit are available for purchase here, now that the Summit has ended. I highly recommend it as an introduction to FV or as a way to deepen your experience of it!

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Online Summer Workshops

I am offering an 8-week online Introduction to Fitzmaurice Voicework this summer, starting later this month. The class will meet Mondays 1-2:30pm EDT on Zoom. The rate is a sliding scale of $5-$20. Pay what you can within that range, no questions asked.

I am also offering a series of pay-what-you-can online accent workshops. Group accent workshops will meet Tuesdays 1-2pm EDT on Zoom. Accents currently on the schedule are RP, Memphis, Dublin, So-Called General American, NYC, and Russian.

More info and instructions on how to register are here.

Catching Up on the Spring

Since going into quarantine in March, my work - like so much of life - has moved online.

In March and April, my Fitzmaurice Voicework colleague Tuuli Nilsson invited me to teach two online practical lectures on articulation for the second-year acting students at the University of the Arts Helsinki. It was delightful to introduce some Knight-Thompson Speechwork to those students and to get them curious about what they can do with their muscles of articulation to shape sound.

In April, Dr. Masi Asare included me in the second episode of her new podcast, Voicing Across Distance. Each week, she shares a reading on voice, engages in conversation with a voice scholar, and invites a voice coach to share an exercise. I was honored to be asked to share an exercise. You can listen to Episode Two here, and I highly recommend subscribing and listening to all of the episodes.

This past weekend I was invited to remotely attend the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s Forum of Theatre, Film & TV, part of Shanghai University League’s Forum for International Young Scholars. I had the honor of listening to Catherine Fitzmaurice and other theater practitioners and scholars give remarks on the current state of theatre, film, and TV and on how we move forward from here. Much gratitude to Catherine for the invitation.

Finally, I taught the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop Experiencing Speech online with KTS Master Teacher Andrea Caban at the end of May. This was the 26th offering of this workshop and only the second time it’s been taught online. We had a wonderful group of participants calling in from all over the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Italy, Czechia, and England. It was truly an enriching experience, and I had a blast teaching with Andrea for the first time!

Here’s a photo from the Shanghai Theatre Academy Forum:

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Inside Edition and Elizabeth Holmes

I had the opportunity to be on the TV show Inside Edition this week. They did a segment on Elizabeth Holmes’ voice, and I talked a bit about why and how I thought she might have altered her voice. I also patterned her voice a bit and got to work with a friend of mine, White Horse Theater Company Managing Director Vanessa Bombardieri, on finding easier access to her lower pitch range. It was a great experience, and you can watch the segment here.

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Women-Ar

On October 22nd at 4pm EDT, I’m co-facilitating a free Knight-Thompson Speechwork webinar with Andrea Caban. It’s a webinar for female-identifying members of the voice, speech, and accent world - a webinar to give us space to talk about our collective experiences operating in a male-dominated profession.

You can find more information under the Workshops tab on this website and on the Knight-Thompson Speechwork website.

Join us!

Source: https://ktspeechwork.org/event/webinar-16-...

The Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford & the O'Neill

I'm spending a few days a week in CT this summer to teach voice at both the Shakespeare Academy @ Stratford and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. It's my first year teaching at SA@S, where an ensemble of actors rehearse two Shakespeare plays simultaneously while receiving masterclasses from visiting artists. This year, the ensemble will perform PERICLES and ROMEO AND JULIET in rep on the grounds of the historic American Shakespeare Festival Theater.

It's my fifth summer teaching in the Theatermakers program at the O'Neill. Summers at the O'Neill are always transformative for me and for the student artists there. Every Monday night, the Theatermakers perform for the local community. I'm excited to be in residence for their next performance of original radio plays.

Summer is good in CT!

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Theatermakers

I'm teaching Voice in the Theatermakers training program at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, for the fourth time. Theatermakers is an ensemble that is made up of college-aged actors, directors, and playwrights. It's a 6-week immersive experience in which the students make and perform new work every week, as well as train with and observe professionals. The group is delightful this year, and we get to work here:

 

Fitzmaurice Voicework Workshop

This is a new website for me, and thus begins a new blog.

I had the privilege of teaching two days in Catherine Fitzmaurice's 6-day workshop in NYC over Memorial Day Weekend. On Saturday, I was part of the Restructuring teaching team, exploring and practicing the FV method of breath support for communication. On Monday, I was part of the Speech teaching team, exploring and practicing all possible speech actions and using them for communication. It was a wonderful group of participants and teachers.

Source: http://www.fitzmauricevoice.com/