AEA
Welcome to Professional Coaching!
We create art and express it through our bodies and voices for many different purposes,
but JOY should always be part of it!
My music education began with private piano lessons and choral singing.
Formal training includes:
BA in Arts and Education from
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
MFA in Performing Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design.
-Full tuition scholarship for
Vocal Performance
-Graduated Summa Cum Laude
Professionally, I've been on Broadway,
toured nationally and internationally,
acted on both stage and screen, and have sung on many recordings.
For Full Credentials:
For Working Professionals
The work never stops, it just evolves. As you improve your skill set, your materials will continually need updating. Unfortunately, being a good singer or actor only gets you so far. Presenting yourself in the best light possible to casting directors is essential to booking jobs. The good news is that much of this is within your control!
What can we do to present your best self?
-Format your resume clearly
-Select headshots that capture your "you-ness"
-Pick appropriate and flattering audition attire
-Develop a web presence
-Find your "type"
-Accumulate performance footage for online submissions
-Edit together reels to highlight your skills
Tackling tougher questions:
-How do I find representation?
-Is this the right agent relationship for me?
-Which expenses are tax deductible?
-How do I keep my spirits high when I'm rejected?
-Should I join the union yet?
-How do I work my way into the unions?
-What are casting directors looking for?
-How do I start making my own work?
-Am I doing anything to self-sabotage my talent?
My approach is both supportive and pragmatic, based on where each individual's skill set is right now and what your specific goals are. I've had the benefit of both formal instruction as well as a decade in the "school of hard knocks." Climbing up the ladder through open calls to earn my Equity card on a Production Contract taught me a lot. Being part of the Broadway community is something I dreamed about since I was a child. It's exciting, rewarding, and heartbreaking all at once. Welcome to the fold and here we go!
Check out this article in Theatre Nerds
with Audition Tips
from me and several other professionals!
I've worked with Tony Winners Bartlett Sher, Andy Blankenbuehler, Sharon Ott,
and Eric Schaeffer, in addition to Broadway directors Jason Moore and Patti Wilcox. I have also shared the stage with Danny Burstein, Bebe Neuwirth, Rob McClure, Christiane Noll, Anika Larsen, Jason Gotay, Amy Spanger, Allie Trimm, Joshua Henry, Ann Harada, Felicia Finley, & Rebecca Luker.
For the Aspiring Musical Theatre Professional
Whether you want to audition for a performing arts high school, a college theatre program, or to jump into professional auditions in New York City, I can help. Performing well and being good at getting the job are, in many ways, very different endeavors. We will work on both.
Improving your craft:
-Learn the mechanics of how the voice works
-Release tension in the body to free the voice through Fitzmaurice exercises
-Increase singing range
-Blend the head voice and chest voice, mitigating your "break"
-Use the lyrics as dialogue to act the song
-Get familiarized with different styles of singing, like contemporary, legit, and pop
Auditions require you to show your skill set in a short, specific way. We will "Build your Book":
-Find your "best 16 bars" which is the song that shows your range, your voice, your personality, which you love to sing
-Find your type to determine which kinds of songs casting offices will want to hear from you
-Based on your type, we will then find a variety of
16 bar cuts (Uptempo and ballads of Golden Age, Pop/ Rock, Contemporary, Comedic, 50's, 60's, etc.)
For the Aspiring Professional Actor
If singing isn't for you, I also have my Master's from an acting program and continue to audition and work in this capacity. The requirements for auditioning for stage versus on-camera acting are different, as are the skill sets themselves in many ways. While ideally they are both rooted in truth, the ability to stylize and amplify that truth and the ability to drop all amplification, take a lifetime of study. However, there is work for people at many levels on the journey and we can prepare accordingly, depending upon your goals.
For the actor interested in both stage and screen acting, we will:
-Find a contemporary dramatic and comedic monologue that suits your general feel
-Find your type to determine which kinds of roles casting offices will expect you to fill
-Prepare monologues to suit those parameters in terms of different styles, playwrights, etc.
-Learn key differences in stylization between stage and screen
-Practice acting on camera for critique
-Develop cold reading skills
-Improve memorization speed
-Prepare Shakespearean monologues, dramatic and comedic, if that is of interest