Original exercises based on the work of Sanford Meisner (as well as Viola Spolin, Jeffrey Agrell and others) are presented in a hypothetical voice studio to address truthfulness, point of view, and "reality of doing" on the vocal recital stage. The exercises present a way of addressing work on the "self" before work on the "role."

This thesis details my process in teaching a class I devised, entitled, "Singing for Actors and Acting for Singers," in an attempt to develop a pedagogical bridge between singing and acting. In this thesis, I discuss the need for creating this course and evaluate how effectual it was. Additionally, I detail my research, curricular development and students' responses to the material.

Theatre artists and acting teachers throughout history have sought to find and create presence. By combining modern sports science with an understanding of systems of actor training I have suggested an approach that makes presence a trainable skill. My coach Dr. Scott Sonnon, developer of the Circular Strength Training System, has refined modern sports science to emphasize the development and maintenance of flow-state. This state allows the athlete to respond openly and freely within a constantly changing situation.By combining my life long study of acting with my eight years of work with Coach Sonnon I am developing a system to teach actors the skill of cultivating flow. This work will enhance the actor's presence and ability to handle the stress of performance while developing a strong, supple, and coordinated psychophysical instrument. Video of examples of the exercises can be found in the accompanying materials.This work was created in Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac.