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You are here: Home / Archives for teaching

Day Four Hundred Two

April 19, 2021 at 9:52 am by Claudia

The forsythia that grows in the woods. On our property, thankfully. We used to think it was on our neighbor’s property. This photo doesn’t do it justice; this year the yellow is quite vivid and gorgeous.

A longtime reader of the blog, Suzanne, sent me a message a while back with some ideas for blog posts:

“If you find a day when you can think of nothing to write about, I’d love to hear stories from your time in the theater. I’d love to know how you learned dialects and how you teach them. What does a dialogue coach actually do?  What is it like (thinking of Don in M’ville) performing the same show so many times?  Did he have any famous visitors backstage?  Well, I could think of a zillion questions I could ask and I bet your readers would be fascinated by your theater knowledge and memories.”

I wrote about some of this before, but I forget sometimes that the blog is over 13 years old and many of you weren’t around here back then. I so appreciate your suggestions, Suzanne, and I’ll try to write about these things on occasion.

First up: How did I end up doing what I do? Part One.

I was an actress for many, many years and moved to Philadelphia to get my MFA in Acting from Temple University in the early eighties. It was a three-year program. That move changed my life. It saved me. (Side note: I’ve always had a good ear and could mimic dialects at a young age. I take no credit for my ear. I do take credit for developing it over the years.) In the course of the three years, one of my classes was Voice and Speech and I started to learn more about the actor’s voice, articulation, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and dialects. I discovered that you can learn and coach any dialect if you a) have a good ear and b) know how to transcribe sounds and sound changes using IPA, so that anyone who is familiar with IPA can look at a transcription of the phonetic changes in speech from, let’s say, standard American speech to Italian and begin to figure out how to make those sounds. Of course, there’s also musicality, tempo, placement as well. That’s why having a good ear is terribly important. And having a good coach, as well.

During the last year of the program, we had to teach a class to undergraduates. We were assigned those classes and my friend Cynthia and I were assigned Voice & Speech. I really enjoyed it and I began to rediscover my love of teaching. After graduation, I stuck around Philly because I was acting at the Wilma Theater there and supporting myself by temping in an office. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted to teach – at the age of 33, I no longer found the idea of competing for acting roles and living in a closet in NYC attractive. But I did want to teach. So I started the long process of applying for a teaching position in a university. In those days there was no internet. The only way to see job listings was through a publication called ArtSearch. I was poor at the time and was just getting by, and my good friend Richard, who studied costume design at the same time I was studying acting, gave me a subscription for Christmas. I thank him daily for that generous gift.

I started to apply – I had no experience except my time teaching in grad school and a class I taught at the Wilma – so I was prepared to accept any job, anywhere. In most cases, I heard nothing back. But I did hear from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, a very well known professional training program. For some reason, they wanted to interview me. (I would have been happy in a drama program, but a professional training program? That was a dream!) I flew down to Winston-Salem, went through the insanity that is an interview; meeting tons of people, smiling so much my face ached, teaching a short class, watching other classes, and being interviewed by the Search Committee. It was a wonderful program. I am not a Pollyanna by any means, but conversations that I had, and in particular, one I had with a member of the voice faculty as he drove me to the airport, left me feeling that I had the job. I mean, it was so overwhelmingly positive and in so many words, I was definitely led to believe the job was mine.

I returned to Philadelphia and a couple of weeks later, Meredith came to visit me for Memorial Day weekend. When I picked up the mail that Saturday, there was a thin envelope from North Carolina. Too thin. I opened it up and found I didn’t get the job. The message was that they loved me and had wanted me but someone else got it. Most likely it was someone they’d already decided to appoint, even though they were required to do a search. That happens. They said if there ever was another opening, they would strongly consider me.

I was devastated. Searches happen in the spring and this meant that I would have to go through another year of working in an office before I could apply again. I cried all weekend long. Thank heavens, Meredith was there.

Fast forward to about a week or two later (I can’t quite remember how much time had gone by but it wasn’t much.) I was walking home from work and I was pretty low. I stopped on the street and said out loud, “God, I don’t know what to do. I give up. I surrender.” And I truly did. I let go. I was powerless.

I walked in the door of my third floor walk-up and there was a message light blinking on my answering machine. It was from someone I didn’t know: William Lacy, the acting head of the BFA Theater Training Program at Boston University. He said he’d like to talk to me about a job opening that came up suddenly – after the official search season. When the opening came up, he had called his colleagues around the country and North Carolina School of the Arts had highly recommended me. BU was going to do a shortened search with about three candidates. Would I be willing to fly up for an interview? Of course!

A few days later, I flew to Boston, met Bill and some students who were still in town, as well as two other members of the Voice & Speech faculty, Bob Chapline and Rick Winter. I taught a short class in learning a Spanish dialect to the students, Bob, Rick, and Bill. I had my interview and then I flew back home the same day.

I got the job. A month or so later, I moved to Boston and started to teach Speech and Dialects.

And my life changed forever. Everything that has happened to me professionally in the years to come would never have happened without that job. Never. I met Rick there. I met the new chair of the program, Bob Morgan, who I remain close to to this day. (Both of them had ties to Jack O’Brien and the Old Globe, but that’s another story for another day.) I learned so much at BU. It remains my favorite job ever.

You never know what will happen. I thought things were hopeless. But the job that I didn’t get led directly to the job I did get. A job that ended up being far, far better for me.

Oh, puzzle done:

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: Boston, teaching 48 Comments

Having an Impact

August 12, 2018 at 8:54 am by Claudia

For those of you who are newer readers, I was a professor/teacher in two actor training programs for a total of 13 years; first at Boston University’s BFA program, then at the University of San Diego/Old Globe Graduate Actor Training Program. My focus was on Voice and Speech. I have mentored hundreds  of students over the years, many of whom I’m still in contact with (yay for social media!) and who have gone on to do wonderful things with their lives. There’s a whole contingent that lives out in Los Angeles, acting, directing, and producing shows like Modern Family, The Fosters, and Grey’s Anatomy. There are many who are based in New York City, and there are lots sprinkled throughout the country; teaching, acting, parenting, living good lives.

I met Rick at Boston University and we moved west when we were hired at USD. Together, we auditioned prospective students every year, traveling to New York, Chicago and San Francisco. We worked well together. We didn’t try to intimidate the actors like many programs did in those days; instead, we were warm and welcoming, quick to put the auditionee at ease. I like to think that warmth and our reputation for kindness helped to draw some of the best actors to our school.

Two days ago, I was tagged in an Instagram post by Brian Hutchison, one of the graduates of the MFA program. I clicked over to see it and this is what I saw:

On the left, Jim Parsons. Next to him is Jack O’Brien, who was the Artistic Director of the Old Globe when I was working there and a big supporter of the MFA program. Next to Jack is Brian Hutchison. And next to Brian is Aaron Krohn, also a graduate of the MFA program.

Up until yesterday when it closed, Jim and Brian were on Broadway in The Boys in the Band. Jack directed the current revival of Carousel. And Aaron is in The Donna Summer Musical. Three graduates of the program on Broadway – indeed, working just a block or two from each other – at the same time.

This little conversation ensued.

“…You chose us all!”

That’s right. I picked each of those guys out of hundreds of prospective students for the MFA program. Rick and I did that. We saw their talent, their creativity, and their good hearts and knew they would be the perfect fit for our small and intimate program.

I chose them all.

Now, I’m not one to talk about my career all that much and I definitely don’t toot my own horn. But I was so moved by Brian’s comment that I stopped for a moment and patted myself on the back. It’s easy for me to forget the impact that Rick and I have had on our former students, especially since I’ve been away from teaching for so long. And Broadway isn’t the be-all and end-all of a career – I’m very clear on that. But this? This is nice. This little moment in time, captured on Instagram, fills me with happiness. I love those guys and I’ve seen them all fairly recently. We keep in touch.

That Brian gets it, that he applauded us for choosing them and training them – well, I can’t imagine anything more satisfying.

Each of them was in a different year of the program but they were consecutive years, so they all know each other. I’m so proud of them. In addition to being talented actors, they are good people.

I haven’t taught for 17 years, but I see the impact of my work every day. And that’s not only as a teacher, but also as a mentor, as someone to talk to, someone who is always there to listen. Much of what I fondly remember is not the actual teaching, but the one-on-one time that I had with all of my students.

What a blessing. I’m feeling very grateful to have been a teacher – to see my ‘kids’ thrive in their careers. What more could I ask for?

Happy Sunday.

 

 

 

Filed Under: friends, teaching, theater 39 Comments

Wednesday

June 7, 2017 at 9:06 am by Claudia

After three days of rain, darned if I didn’t just look outside to see the sun shining. Huzzah!

I’m still on a bit of a high from Monday night’s celebration of my friend Rick. I’ve been away from San Diego and the MFA program for 16 years now. And though I am friends on Facebook with most of my former students and am usually aware of what is happening in their lives, seeing so many of them in one place so many years later was incredibly powerful. So powerful that I was a bit shaken by the experience – in a good way.

There was such love in that room. And joy.

I forget sometimes what teaching meant to me. When we left San Diego, I was more than ready to move on. I love my coaching work. But teaching? Knowing that I’ve had an impact on the lives of my students and hearing them say that very thing so many years later reminded me that though I tend to compartmentalize the various stages of my career, that part of my life is still alive and kicking, living on in my students.

Don reminded me of all that when I called him Monday night. He knows most of those former students and knows, he says, the impact I made on them. I tend to underplay that kind of thing and deflect any compliments. But I’m going to bask in the glow of those relationships and the affirmation of the work we did there.

This peony, which is on the bush that didn’t bloom last year, is about to fully open.

This one, on the other bush, isn’t far behind.

And, now that the sun is out, I may see this rosebud open today.

Some of you have written me, sending me links about the announcement that Escape to Margaritaville  is going to open on Broadway next year. I’ve known that since January, though the official press release just came through, which is why you’re reading about it now.

Don’t get too excited. We aren’t. Because we know, as veterans of the theater, television and film, that nothing is guaranteed. A lot can happen between a pre-Broadway tryout and the eventual Broadway run. Scripts can and will be rewritten, characters might change, actors can be replaced. I’ve seen it happen. Don has seen it happen even more than me and he has certainly – as has every actor – had roles promised to him only to see them taken away.

No one in the cast knows anything about a life in this musical beyond the run in La Jolla. And the producers and director won’t be making any decisions until after that run has ended.

Yes, it would be wonderful. But…we’ll see.

Even Anastasia, which was a rare transfer to Broadway where most of the cast remained intact, replaced one lead actor and several ensemble members. It’s just the way of the world.

But thanks for caring!

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: Don, flowers, teaching, theater 20 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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