This class will explore how our voices can express the vibrancy of our human emotional experience, the complexity of our thought process, and the power of our intention to enliven the communication of our text. We are training to develop our creative artistry as storytellers, and to freely bring our unique personal perspective through our voices and bodies into our work. Students will learn to free and strengthen their voice in a progression of exercises using the Linklater Voice Method - which focuses on releasing tensions that inhibit expression, developing vocal resonance, and building the actor’s range of expressive choices, as well as finding a clear, economical articulation of text. Each class will begin with a physical and vocal warm-up meant to find personal connection and vocal freedom. The class will include exercises designed to awaken greater responsiveness to imagery in order to build language skills and to support the ability to speak with greater presence, sensitivity, and vocal flexibility. Added to this are storytelling exercises, use of emphasis, and rhetorical devices to honor the structure of the text and to bring the impulses of the moment into an articulated action. Along with the group work, there will be opportunities for individual coaching to support the actors’ projects and help them identify their areas for vocal development. The goal is to hear the person through their voice in an authentic, connected, free and expressive way while at the same time honoring the clarity of thought and intention of the character within the world of the play.