In order to master one’s craft an actor must first manifest a level of aptitude in the parts that make up the whole: voice, mind, body. These aptitudes, once achieved individually, must then be integrated into the acting whole. Only integrated skills might then be liberated as truthful, open, and powerful communication. When useless obstructions —physical, vocal, emotional, intellectual habits and tensions— are released from the communicating path and a free flowing intuitive connection is established, the actor becomes a conduit for the words of the playwright, the vision of the director, and the uncluttered expression of themselves as creative artist.
Teaching Philosophy
I am an actor. I am a teacher.
I teach because I am passionate about the analysis and synthesis of practice and process.
I teach —and I practice as a theatre artist— both the pragmatic and the ineffable.
Teacher
Teaching Bio
Kate is the former Director of Artist Development at the Shaw Festival. She has an MA (with Distinction) in Voice Studies (2001) from the Central School of Speech and Drama.
She has taught Voice and Acting at the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival, and at the Academy Intensive at the Shaw Festival. She has been on faculty at the National Theatre School of Canada – English Section teaching both Voice and Acting. Kate has been a teacher of Voice at University of Toronto, Humber College, and Mount Royal College, along with leading workshops for the Magnetic North Festival, McGill University, and Nightwood Theatre. During her training Kate was a practice teacher for the MA programs in Musical Theatre and Advanced Theatre Practice at CSSD.
Kate teaches professional development privately as a coach and through her courses: Searching for Hana, Kate’s unique style of Voice work, and Shakespeare Text Tools, Kate’s take on text analysis.
Courses:
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Shakespeare Text Tools >
Searching for Hana
Aimed at releasing self-consciousness and intellectual control, Kate’s voice classes integrate the mind, body, and voice. Using exercises that enhance vocal presence through intuitive connections and pre-verbal communication, the actor is able to serve as a vessel for the playwright’s words. Inspired by the work of Barba, Brook, Suzuki, Oida, Hart, Chaikin, and others.
Shakespeare Text Tools
Searching for Hana >
Like a music theory course for Shakespeare, this preparatory class unearths all the information on the page and shows you how to apply it: verse/prose structure; complexities of scansion; rhythm and its uses; theories of punctuation; poetic terminology; rhetoric as both structure and action. Working with scenes and soliloquys, around the table and on your feet.