There are many excellent books detailing methods to help actors develop their voices, but not much has been published about vocal coaching itself, apart from the definitive guide to Vocal Coaching Nan-Withers Wilson’s book Vocal Direction for the Theatre, and the highly informative publication How to Use a Vocal Coach: A Practical Guide for Directors prepared by Nancy Houfek, for the Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association (VASTA). This thesis documents my personal journey into the world of vocal coaching in five productions. Specifically, I explore the differences between vocal coaching in the university setting versus the professional theatre setting. I describe the steps I took to prepare for productions, the influences that guided me, and the invaluable discoveries I made along the way.

THE DOUBTFUL HERO: AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY By Heather N. Falks, MFA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015 Director: Noreen Barnes Graduate Studies Director, Department of Theatre This thesis documents my role as director of Time Tells, an ensemble based, multi-media, devised theatre piece. I address my specific responsibilities when leading an ensemble to create new work and produce it for the public. I identify the problems the ensemble faced and account how I mediated when dealing with conflict. Additionally, I include important professional influences such as, director and author, Anne Bogart and her nine Viewpoints; and the work of director and activist, Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed. I explain how exercises from Viewpoints and Theatre of the Oppressed aided my approach to team building and helped the ensemble establish a common language for communication. A shared vocabulary and sense of community allowed the ensemble to freely explore character and relationships, which led to formation of the Time Tells story.

This thesis explores and describes key factors in my process of designing the costumes for In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play by Sarah Ruhl. The document encompasses justification of decisions made through the researching and producing of period costumes for live performance and the challenges and obstacles faced to make seamless transitions during performance.

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An exploration of personal and professional acting methods during the production of Beautiful Bodies by Laura Shaine Cunningham.

The reader's theatre production of Kacy Tiller’s Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc on December 3, 2012 was the culmination of my process as an actress to portray Joan. Through character analysis, extensive research, and collaboration with fellow artists, I was able to discover and grow as an actress.

Tellers from a variety of faiths will celebrate their traditions in story, song and dance in "United We Stand," an interfaith storytelling concert to benefit the Katheleen M. Stern and Milagros M. Argueta Endowment for Storytelling at ETSU. This endowment will provide scholarships and an endowed chair in storytelling with a focus on therapeutic, homiletic and community-building story. The storytelling concert will be held Saturday, Jan. 7, from 2-5 p.m. at the McKinney Center, 103 Franklin Ave., Jonesborough. Storytellers representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Native American faiths will participate in the program. Those slated to appear include Rev. Vincent Dial and Wendolin Elrod (Christian), Dr. Joseph Sobol (Jewish), Terry Shinn (Cherokee, following the Lakota spiritual tradition) and Taneem Aziz (Islam). Master of ceremonies will be Dr. Delanna Reed, interim coordinator of the ETSU Storytelling Program.

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JOHNSON CITY (March 31, 2017) – East Tennessee State University graduate students in storytelling will present “Ridin’ the Rails,” an evening of oral history stories and songs from the heyday of the railroad in America, on Friday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. The event will be held in room 205 – the black box theater – of the university’s Campus Center Building. Admission is free, and donations toward ongoing oral history collection work will be accepted. Dr. Delanna Reed of the ETSU Storytelling Division and graduate students within that program interviewed dozens of individuals who rode, lived or worked on the Tweetsie and Clinchfield railroads. The oral histories gathered provide a glimpse of the two local railroads and the lives they affected from as early as 1915 through 1984. Established in 1882, the narrow gauge ETWNC (Tweetsie) Railroad serviced East Tennessee and Western North Carolina as a coal train and steam engine passenger train. Until highways were established and cars common, the Tweetsie was the only mechanical mode of transportation for folks in the mountains between Johnson City and Boone, North Carolina. Locals of the Tri-Cities area currently recognize the Tweetsie name for its newly established purpose as a multi-use recreation trail for biking, walking and running that follows the former tracks from Johnson City to Elizabethton. The Clinchfield Railroad, with its headquarters in Erwin, ran from the coal fields in Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina. Known as a feat of engineering, the Clinchfield wound for 262 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains and fostered inspirational characters that have been the center of many films and written works. “The oral histories the audience will hear during the production of ‘Ridin’ the Rails’ are sure to inspire the mind, body and soul,” said Reed, who is directing the current graduate students making up the cast of storytellers and musicians in the program. They include John Brooks, Paul Herrin, Charis Hickson, Betty Ann Polaha and Eutimio Talavera. These students in the ETSU Storytelling Division, which is a part of the Master of Professional Communication Program in the Department of Communication and Performance, selected stories to tell from transcripts of interviews with people from Johnson City and as far away as Roan Mountain. The original interviews were conducted from 2011 to 2014 as a collaborative project between ETSU’s George L. Carter Railroad Museum and Storytelling Program. The effort was led by Reed and Dr. Fred Alsop, director of the museum. Reed says the April 7 event is a one-time opportunity to see the concert in its entirety, although individual students plan to perform segments of the show soon in other area locations.

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