Acting Mindfully, is a form of embodiment pedagogy that investigates the ways in which actors can explore their craft through a lens that connects them closer to their mind, body, and voice. The document draws content from a wide variety of theatrical movement and vocal practitioners in combination with mindfulness techniques including yoga, meditation, and energy work. Embodiment pedagogy allows the acting student to approach and perform scenes and monologues with truth and authenticity; while allowing them the ability to tell their own stories. In order to explore this work, a course, Acting and Mindfulness, was introduced at Virginia Commonwealth University as an experimental way to begin to connect students to their artistic work in a mindful way. This document includes research, as well as a mindful acting curriculum, that make connections to embodiment pedagogy.

The vocal demands placed on actors are higher than those of the typical speaker. Actors' livelihood is predicated on their ability to consistently perform at peak levels, many times in conditions that are not optimal for vocal efficiency (e.g. theaters with poor acoustics). Further, many actors perform after spending the day at a second job to ensure they have a sufficient income to support themselves. Despite challenges, the hallmark of the strong actor is to strive for peak performance. To do so, many actors implement some form of theatre voice training. One popular method is Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Fitzmaurice Voicework® is comprised of two phases: Destructuring and Restructuring. Destructuring is based in decreasing tension through relaxation and tremoring. Restructuring focuses on maximizing voice function with the least amount of effort needed. This study specifically looked at the effect of Fitzmaurice Voicework® training on the voice, as it has little more than anecdotal evidence to support its effect. Six graduate student actors enrolled in a theatre voice course based on Fitzmaurice Voicework® completed pre and post training measures examining the changes in maximum phonation time, average loudness and loudness range, fundamental frequency and frequency range, jitter, shimmer, and noise to harmonic ratio, and perceptual measures of vocal quality (e.g. strain, breathiness, and roughness) on the CAPE-V. Despite no statistically significant findings due to the small sample size and noted variability between individual subjects, trends of more efficient performance post training were present for individuals without a history of voice problems.