Teachers open the door.
You enter by yourself.
Chinese Proverb

Students already know how to breathe and how to speak. The work is to provide a new experience unencumbered by tension, habits or bad information; to allow a voice that thrills the student physically, emotionally and spiritually to emerge. The excited student is challenged to deepen the experience and learn a technique to repeat it.

I strive to find the physical actions, the language, the images so that each student may find the unique key to experience breath and voice in the body, hear and produce the life of a dialect, or find joy in the expression of Shakespeare and other text.

In-spire. Breathe in. If the body is open and ready, breath drops in deeply as needed and supports the demands of the moment. I want students to discover a sensation of being breathed – allowing breath – rather than taking it.

I believe the study of speech is not a rigid adherence to proscriptions, although I do believe there are standards. The International Phonetic Alphabet is a powerful tool. In the process of learning speech discipline, a sensitivity to sound grows. The subtle shifts of phonetic differences are experienced. The aesthetics of language are appreciated. And the musical expression of language is enriched. The actor becomes more responsive to the full range of expressing thought and emotion through voice and speech.

If the student discovers the unencumbered voice–speech that is free of regional baggage or limiting idiosyncrasy–, and acquires a sensitivity to the sounds of the language, that student becomes an actor ready to freely reveal the truth of any text or dialect with authenticity.

Balancing a demanding and precise technique while nurturing individual artistry is at the core of my teaching. I set high standards and hold students to them but I constantly seek ways to help them discover their own full, rich, unique expression. Demonstrating my own deep passion for the theatre I seek to arouse my students’ commitment to the art through their own trained skills and personal expression.

My experience goes beyond the classroom into professional productions as an actor, director, writer, speech and dialect coach.

Together we share inspiration.