Who am I?

I think of myself as a voice coach- corner person-actor and writer.  My major influences are  Kristin Linklater,  Peter Kass, Shakespeare and Company and the prairies of Canada.  (I would also say any student who has come in contact with me, quite frankly.)

I have been teaching actors for over forty years at all levels, capacities and experiences.

I believe in the individual talent of the actor and the exploration and revelation of the self through one’s  work. I suppose when one has lived for a certain amount of time one gathers enough experiences to perceive and have a sense of what needs to be done. Happily I am at a stage of being able to observe, create, and pass on processes and tools to help actors reach their potential and let their talent blossom.

I think that teaching is an art, part craft, innate ability, as well as practice.  It just so happened by seeming accident and influence  that I have become a teacher.  I am enormously indebted to

Kristin Linklater in particular who so generously shared her knowledge with me. She gave me the information and working friendship to  figure out what to do.  Working with her was always a creative event and certainly she instilled that influence upon me.  I carry on that tradition.

I trust what I do.  I simply just see what is in front of me, then work with it.  I believe in being present, this leads to  freedom in acting, embodying the work. I also have a pretty good eye and this is what we want actually…to be seen.  For me acting is a revelation, which is the influence of Peter Kass.

As far as the prairies are concerned, they created the landscape of my mind and language.  Shakespeare and Company of course was the world of life, the formation of the web of relationship and knowledge.

When I was asked to write who am I, I found this curious and impossible, as well as slightly amusing. I told JD Salinger I was a messer-arounder with sound and he accepted that, so let’s just go with that.