On Monday, half of the campers attended a voice workshop taught by an American Shakespeare Center actor Allison Glenzer. Although some campers met Alli for the first time at the workshop, they have all seen her perform this season in The Merchant of Venice and The Lion in Winter. Her bio can be found here, on the ASC website. The other half of the camp will attend the same workshop next week.In a mere two hours, Alli expanded the generic definition of voice enormously by showing what elements of the body and mind we use to produce a voice, and by helping the campers to explore the full scope and range of their voices. Alli began the workshop by having the campers check in with descriptive similes of their current mental and physical conditions. They were invited to compare themselves to the weather, breakfast foods, or cars. One camper said she felt “like a glass of still water” and another like “a lightly toasted piece of bread with butter and honey”. The purpose of this exercise was to encourage the campers to avoid using vague and meaningless words like “good” and “fine,” because the last thing an actor wants to convey is vagueness.
The campers moved on to a full exploration of their bodies in relation to their voices. Alli used the Linklater Progression, affectionately known as “Zoo Woah Shah” to help the campers link body parts to potential vocal tones. Starting low in the knees and then moving upwards through hips, chest, chin, nose, eyes, and forehead, Alli guided the campers in producing distinctive vocal colors. Having an extensive range of different voices gives an actor many avenues to express his or her gender, temperament, and context more clearly and specifically.
Alli not only provided the campers with the tools to improve their vocal acting, she also boosted their confidence in their abilities to use these tools. When asked, “Have you ever had trouble hearing a baby cry?” the campers laughed and shook their heads. “We are built to be heard,” Alli replied, proving that although society teaches us to quiet down and be polite, a large voice is something we inherently possess and thus something we can rediscover. The campers were compelled to find their “I WANT A COOKIE” voice, or the voice a toddler would use to demand something. After working with the campers on volume, Alli moved on to diction and precision, reviewing the differences between voiced and unvoiced consonants, like p vs. b, f vs. v, and s vs. z. She then challenged their dexterity with a handful of tongue-twisters. The room was soon filled with the quick-paced chanting of “I slit a sheet, I sheet I slit, upon a slitted sheet I sit”!To culminate the workshop, the campers got a chance to apply what they had learned from Alli to the plays they’re currently working on. Each selected one memorized line of his/her character’s text, and then performed it as audibly and precisely as possible, making sure to aspirate the consonants. The campers proved they had learned well, shown by Alli’s jumps of excitement at one camper’s skillful execution of a tough line riddled with ‘f’s!
As a closing exercise, Alli asked the campers to reinforce something that they wanted to remember from the day’s session. One camper reinforced that thinking specifically will help you speak specifically. Another reinforced the value of doing vocal warm-ups every day. And the general consensus was that Alli’s thorough and enthusiastic instruction left us all wiser, louder, and really wanting cookies!
--Emma L.
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