BREATH, IMPULSE, AND THE AUTHENTIC VOICE:

AN ACTOR’S JOURNEY THROUGH

FITZMAURICE VOICEWORK®

A Project Report

Presented to

The Faculties of the Departments of Television, Film and Media Studies

and

Music, Theatre and Dance

California State University, Los Angeles

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Fine Arts

in

Television, Film and Theatre

By

Kristin Mellian

May 2015
 © 2015

Kristin Mellian

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ii
The project report of Kristin Mellian is approved.

Tanya Kane-Parry, Committee Chair

Barry Gordon

Cynthia DeCure

Kristiina Hackel

John Ramirez, Department Chair

John M. Kennedy, Department Chair

California State University, Los Angeles

May 2015

iii
 ABSTRACT

Breath, Impulse, and the Authentic Voice: An Actor’s Journey Through Fitzmaurice

Voicework®

By

Kristin Mellian

Across the US and abroad, voice training for the actor is a mandatory study. The

actor needs to learn proper breathing, articulation, projection, and at times, develop the

tools for character dialects and regional accents. However, this training is traditionally

considered secondary to the primary focus of acting. Nonetheless, during my studies in

the MFA in Television, Film, Theatre/Performance Option at CSULA, through my initial

vocal training courses (TVFT 543ABC Voice For Performers I, II, and III), coupled with

my prior training and experience in singing (bel canto and musical theatre), I have

become intrigued by the power of the human voice and immensity of information, tools

and growth that can emerge from an in-depth study/training of the voice and its

application and relationship to the tools, and process, of acting. The voice is not a

separate entity of the actor. The voice is the physical, emotional and psychological

articulation of the moment, and likewise, when all parts of the actor come together

through breath, sound and movement, the impact on the audience is palpable.

One of the latest approaches to emerge from prior techniques and methods for

actors is the Fitzmaurice Voicework® Technique. The goal of this project report is to

document and inspect the process of immersing myself in an in-depth training of

Fitzmaurice Voicework® and apply this technique, in conjunction with newly developed

iv
acting tools, to a final performance. My thesis report will include the documentation of

this investigation and a reflection on the results of my research, process and applications.

v
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to communicate my sincerest thanks to my thesis chair, Professor

Tanya Kane-Parry, whose personal and artistic guidance was influential in the

development of my thesis. Additionally, whose mentorship has been the driving force

behind my growth as an actor and acting teacher at CSULA. I also must express my

gratitude for my Fitzmaurice Voicework® teacher and mentor, Cynthia DeCure, whose

guidance and instruction of the technique led to profound discoveries of my voice and

myself as an artist. My thanks go to Professor Barry Gordon for always offering new

challenges and insights about my acting craft and for serving on my committee. I would

like to acknowledge Dr. Kristiina Hackel for providing a helping hand in the written

portion of this project.

I want to specially thank Dr. Susan Kane for re-igniting my love for singing and

the voice by casting me as a lead in The Old Maid and the Thief. I also want to thank my

fellow acting MFA peers who have inspired, supported, and encouraged me.

Lastly, I want to thank my parents, Bill and Teri Mellian, my sister and brother-

in-law, Nicole and Chris Mackinder, and the rest of my family and friends for their

continued support throughout my challenging performance career. Most of all, I want to

thank my loving husband, Aaron Pushkar, who has been my greatest source of peace

these last eight years and has given me two wonderful step children (Chloe and Jude

Pushkar).

vi
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv

Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi

Preface.............................................................................................................................. viii

Chapter

1. Introduction to my Thesis Project ...........................................................................1

2. Research- The History of American Voice Training to the

Formation of Fitzmaurice Voicework®...........................................................10

History of Voice Training In the United States and Other Influences……….10

Introduction to Catherine Fitzmaurice .............................................................17

Fitzmaurice Voicework®: The Basics (Structuring and Impulse Theory) …. 20

Research Conclusion........................................................................................24

3. Process……….. ....................................................................................................25

The Learning Phase..........................................................................................25

The Practicing Phase ........................................................................................31

The Merging Phase…………………………………………………………..36

4. The Performance and Self-Reflections .................................................................43

Performance .....................................................................................................43

Self-Reflections........…………………………………………………………46

5. Conclusions ...........................................................................................................50

References ..........................................................................................................................55

Appendix: Performance Space Layout: Music 214 ...........................................................58

vii
 PREFACE

My final Thesis Project and subsequent report revolve around the actor, the voice,

and the deep connection that exists between the actor’s voice and his/her impulses and

emotions. Before embarking on the details of my journey, it is essential to first articulate

the mechanisms of voice production and common tensions that occur in the actor’s body

that consequently create the blocks that restrict full, immediate, and creative vocal

expression.

Before the creation of sound, there is a thought and desire to communicate created

in the brain’s motor cortex. This impulse for communication “travels via the spinal cord

to the nerve endings that govern the speech and breathing muscles” (Linklater 15). As a

reaction, the lower diaphragm (which is attached to the sternum and lower ribs) contracts

and pushes down the abdominal contents to allow for the expansion of the thoracic cavity

(Rhoades 322). This movement also causes the rib cage to expand outward – further

enlarging the breathing space. During heavier breathing, accessory muscles (including

external intercostal muscles attached to the rib cage) also cause the rib cage to expand

outward (Rhoades 322). This expansion via the diaphragm and intercostal muscles draws

air into the lungs. When a sufficient amount of air has entered the body for the

communication of the thought-impulse, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles relax back

into their resting places – “the elastic fibers in lung tissue cause the lungs to recoil to their

original volume. The pressure of the air inside the lungs then increases above the air

pressure outside the body, and air rushes out” (Bassett 254). As air passes from the lungs

up through the trachea, the vocal folds of the larynx begin to oscillate. These oscillations

create “puffs of air that are released into the vocal tract” causing resonation (vibrations

viii
off of bone and cartilage) to occur in the pharyngeal, oral and nasal passages, resulting in

sound production (Linklater 14).

Resonation (necessary for vocal expression) is diminished by chronic tightness or

tension (“Breathing in Fitzmaurice Voicework®”). The common areas actors hold

physical tension when they are feeling stage fright or experiencing strong emotions are

the jaw, neck, lips, tongue, stomach (intercostal and abdominal) muscles, torso, and

shoulders. “The voice is incredibly sensitive to any feelings of unease. In everyday life, if

you are slightly nervous or not quite on top of the situation, this condition reacts on the

voice. The basic feeling of fear puts all the defense mechanisms into action, and the result

is tension, particularly in the upper part of the body, the neck, and the shoulders” (Berry

18). This tension does not only stem from the fear and unease of everyday life, but is also

caused by years of conditioned responses via the repressing of emotions. Over time, in

attempts to meet childhood restrictions and societal expectations, emotions, instead of

being expressed, become held and locked away via tensions in the body. These tensions

become a permanent part of the person’s/actor’s habitual neurological and physiological

response to strong emotions, thus automatically restricting, even prohibiting, the

expression of these feelings. When these tensions finally release (through physical,

imaginative, or psychological exercises as part of an extensive voice training program),

the cumulative years of repressed emotions that had been squashed inside the body and

held back through mounting physical tension, can trigger a substantial torrential release

of these emotions and feelings. And with the ongoing practice of the exercises, it

becomes easier to access, express and share these emotions as they occur.

ix
 In addition to learning to repress emotional expression via physical tensions,

individuals learn to bypass reacting to their primary impulses by way of these tensions –

thus rerouting creative and life choices to be constructed around secondary thoughts and

impulses (Linklater 21). In Freeing the Natural Voice, Kristin Linklater asserts

“Defensive neuromuscular programming develops habits of mind and muscle that cut us

off from the instinctual connection between emotions and breath” (22). For actors, this

bypassing of the first instinctual impulses impairs their ability to act and react

spontaneously in their work. To mend this problem, they must find tools and exercises to

release physical tension and reconnect them to their primary impulses. My following

Thesis Project addresses how exercises in Fitzmaurice Voicework® removed physical

tensions and reconditioned my breath, body, voice and emotions so that I could react

instantly to my primary impulses.

x
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction to my Thesis Project

For the performative aspect of my thesis to complete my MFA in Television,

Film, Theatre (TVFT)/Performance Option at California State University, Los Angeles

(CSULA), I chose to pursue an in-depth study of Fitzmaurice Voicework® – an

established vocal training technique for the actor – in conjunction with the presentation of

some of the exercises of this technique and its application to a theatrical text. In this case,

I presented a demonstration of a Fitzmaurice Voicework® warm-up that led into a

monologue from the play The Most Massive Woman Wins, by Madeleine George, to my

Thesis Committee on January 15th, 2015. This report is the second part of this thesis, in

which I outline the background of Fitzmaurice Technique, my experience studying this

technique, how I applied this technique to a text-based presentation, how this technique

affected my acting process, and my final reflections on this entire process.

The journey that led me to this project and report stems back to my earliest

performance experiences singing in local church choirs and community musical theatre

productions, to professional work singing on cruise lines, then acting in films, and finally

a dream that, by entering the MFA in TVFT/Performance Option program, I would

magically learn the secret to becoming an accomplished actor. But, through my studies in

this program with Professor Tanya Kane-Parry, Barry Gordon, and Cynthia DeCure,

along with my experiences teaching young performers, both in the University and

outside, I embarked upon an in-depth journey into myself. This final passage into

Fitzmaurice Voicework® led me to uncover and finally reveal the power of my own

1
voice in my acting that has now opened up exciting new possibilities as a performing

artist.

My first performance experiences began with singing. For me, singing has always

come naturally. From a young age, I sang in school choirs, musicals, and local church

productions. Positive feedback from my family, friends and mentors (i.e. choir directors,

teachers, pastors, etc.) made me feel good about myself, which strongly compelled me to

continue singing. I often manipulated my singing to sound like others whose sound was

considered “good” like the pop-stars, musical theatre stars, and opera singers I idolized.

In my mind, singing in choirs, singing along with the radio, and taking private singing

lessons were my ways of learning how to sound like them. From ages 13 to 17, I trained

classically with an opera prodigy who taught me all about the elements of “good

singing,” stressing the importance of correct breath support (manipulating the breath for

sound production and projection) and proper “placement” of the voice so that my voice

would resonate to produce specific sounds and quality of sounds. Since I was a Soprano,

I was also concerned that I speak with a high-pitched voice, which I believed, would help

protect my high-register vocal capacity. Eventually, the art of singing became about

skillfully striving to perfect the one and only “correct” technique. As I continued training,

I resolved to attain vocal perfection.

As effective as my training was at developing a technique capable of producing

pleasing sounds with remarkable vocal dexterity, something essential was missing from

my voice – Me. It was almost as though, in effort to attain vocal perfection, I had

purposely left myself out of the equation. I feared that if I allowed myself (my thoughts,

feelings, emotions, and physical being) into my voice, my sound would become as flawed

2
and imperfect as I was. And why would anyone want to hear Kristin when they could

hear someone like the acclaimed opera singer Cecilia Bartoli? For this reason, for a very

long time, I distanced myself from my own true, or authentic, voice. I studied and

practiced singing as though my voice was outside myself and under a microscope. I felt

that if I could perfect my voice, and subsequently perform songs the “correct way,”

someday I would develop a voice so perfect it would drown out my inadequacies.

As I began performing in musical theatre productions, landing principal roles due

to my singing abilities, I yearned for a deeper understanding of acting. At age thirteen, I

read the book An Actor Prepares by Stanislavski. Unknown to me at the time, Russian

theatre director and theorist Stanislavski was a pioneer in developing a foundational

methodology for contemporary actor training that would have a profound influence on

the process of acting in the 20th Century. His method focused on creating believable

performances by addressing the psychological and emotional aspects of the actor’s work.

While many of the topics and concepts of An Actor Prepares confused me, Stanislavski’s

passion for the art of acting planted a seed in me that has continued to grow.

When I entered a BFA program for musical theater, I continued to develop my

voice, study dance and movement and was introduced to my first in-depth experiences

with the craft of acting. Unfortunately, during my undergraduate years, I struggled with

acting. I repeatedly felt lost and depleted as my acting professors kept telling me that my

work was not “connected with my intentions.” A few times, my instructors claimed there

was a “wall” in front of my face when I acted. Worst of all, due to where I was in my

personal and creative journey (unready to realize or confront the several “blocks"

3
restricting me from fully expressing myself), my professors were ineffective in their

pursuits to eliminate these problems.

Meanwhile, my singing flourished and while still a student I was getting

professional musical theatre work that continued once I graduated. Still feeling lost and

confused about “acting,” I tried to figure out what the other performers were doing in the

rehearsal process to be “connected to their intentions.” Consequently, I started cobbling

together my own approach based on theirs. This self-made acting “technique” seemed to

be working as I continued to get professional musical theater work during my studies and

immediately after graduation. Per what I observed and experienced working with

professional actors, I continued to develop my own way of acting on the stage. While I

was still highly aware that my singing abilities were getting me hired, I was finally at a

place where my acting was strong enough to secure steady employment.

During my professional work in high-budget productions on cruise lines, I

proudly sang a wide-range of styles and was commended for my ability to copy/emulate

the particular sounds/voices traditionally associated with each style – a nasal “belt” for

musical theatre, a slight “twang” for country music, a throatier “shout” for rock-n-roll,

and a perfect “coloratura” for classical music. I even copied the sounds of well-known

singers. But by focusing my skill and energy on copying others, I had no sense of my

own voice, my own sound, or my own artistic goals.

As my career unfolded, I began acting in film. As in the theatre (and cruise lines),

I relied on my own self-constructed approach for working in front of the camera. Though

I was often pleased with my acting, I observed that my performance was inconsistent and

sometimes flat. Deep down, I knew my craft was missing the richness and reliability that

4
rarely comes without further training. Desiring also to teach acting someday, I realized I

would need to learn and understand pedagogy that went beyond my own process.

I enrolled in the MFA in TV, Film and Theatre (TVFT) program at California

State University, Los Angeles (CSULA). Admitted into the “Performance Option” of the

program, I chose to focus on acting and performance. At CSULA, I hoped to acquire a

technique that would magically turn me into the phenomenal actor (and educator) I

always hoped to be. I thought that if I could only harness the "right" way of acting like I

had perceivably done for singing, I would be unstoppable. Instead, I acquired the tools

and understanding from various courses and experiences that would eventually lead me to

a final project that, ironically, tied the voice and acting together.

In my acting class with Tanya Kane-Parry (TVFT 542 Acting Studio) and the

undergraduate acting classes I assisted her with (TA 141 Acting Fundamentals, TA 142

Acting Characters and TA 142 Scene Study), I learned an effective approach to acting

that came with invaluable tools. Focused on analyzing the text to discern the character’s

objective in relationship to given circumstances of the text and the relationship(s) to the

other character(s), the actor employs tactics (“actions”) such as threatening, begging,

shaming, flattering, enticing, and more, to attain his/her objective (or “wants”). Finding

personal connections to the given circumstances of the text, the actor learns to respond

honestly to the other person (in the scene) at every moment (Hagen 187). In actor

terminology, this is referred to as being “present” and responding “truthfully.” What I

learned most of all from discovering these tools is that the actor's work does not bud from

any one technique, but a process. There is no “right” way to do a scene, nor is there any

magical ordered system for one to follow to become the “perfect actor.” All I needed

5
were simple tools, the awareness of what I was fighting for, and access to the “magic”

that was already within me. This magic is the endless reserve of limitless imagination,

memories, and life experience present in every human being. My efforts, learning, and

experiences in this class brought me to perform more creative, potent, honest, and

consistent work.

Additionally, the TVFT 543B Voice for the Actor course based on Linklater

Technique that I took with Tanya-Kane Parry provided me with more tools, as well as

more insights into myself and my performing instrument – my body, my voice and my

emotions. In tandem with readings of Linklater’s book, Freeing the Natural Voice, Tanya

led us through a series of physical exercises and visualization exercises to prompt the

release of tension from the body and thereby allow breath, vibration and emotional

expression to respond freely and uninhibitedly. I discovered that since childhood, every

person has learned to control his/her natural responses by blocking impulses and

emotional responses, which leads to a manifestation of tension in the body, including the

impediment of breath, voice and expression (Linklater 21-22). The breath, the body, and

our emotions are intertwined. Our physical habits, stemming from the mind/bodies urges

to protect, defend and hold back, compromise our breathing (and, therefore, our ability to

communicate freely) (Linklater 22). Inspired by these ideas, I began asking myself “what

is my natural/authentic voice?” I also asked, “How might my authentic voice (or inability

to channel my authentic voice through breathing) relate to my acting?”

A sequence of acting classes with Barry Gordon, which included TVFT 517

Acting for Stage, TVFT 519 Acting for Film, and TVFT 518 Acting for Television,

challenged me to apply the training from the prior courses into a workable set of tools for

6
instant application. Barry Gordon’s classes helped identify where my work was weakest

and revealed that I needed more tools to help me fully engage without censoring or

impeding my own emotions and reactions in my acting.

For the past two summers, in between my studies at CSULA, I worked as the

vocal music director at a local musical theater camp for kids and teens. While instructing

and observing these young performers, I noticed that most of their physical energy and

awareness would disappear from them the moment they began singing and acting. I saw

tension in their necks and shoulders that blocked them from including their whole bodies

that would allow them to express themselves fully. Also, I could see and hear how that

tension impeded the necessary flow of breath to produce sound (singing) and caused

them to strain in their throats. This strain and breath obstruction caused them to forcibly

“push” the notes out of their tensed bodies. I also noted how the tension directly inhibited

their acting ability as their voices, being cut-off from their bodies, were also cut-off from

the natural impulses produced in their bodies. Once again, I began questioning my own

voice in relation to my acting. However, this time my questions were specifically

regarding the voice in relation to impulse. The observations I made of my young students

invited self-reflection. Ultimately, I realized I was suffering from the same disconnect

and blockages as my students.

Coincidentally, this past fall, following my second summer teaching these young

performers, I met MFA in TVFT/Performance Option alumna, Cynthia DeCure. Cynthia

was back on campus, a certified Fitzmaurice Voicework® instructor, and teaching the

MFA Voice course. Addressing my interests in voice studies, Cynthia steered me towards

a Fitzmaurice Voicework® workshop. Developed by Catherine Fitzmaurice, Fitzmaurice

7
Voicework® is an extensive actor voice-training approach that utilizes voice practice and

exercises as a means of enhancing the actor’s speaking and performance craft. With a

heavy focus on breathing, it integrates breath, movement, and the body, with the voice

and inner creativity of the actor. Fitzmaurice Voicework® aims to create a voice that is

flexible and capable of healthy emotional release while simultaneously allowing the actor

to stay connected to his/her impulses and intent to communicate (Morgan 56). During this

workshop, I explored my voice via a series of Fitzmaurice exercises. I experienced and

witnessed some remarkable results that opened-up my acting and singing, as well as the

acting and singing of others in the workshop. The exercises connected my breath and

body to my voice in ways I had never experienced before as an actor or a vocalist. Upon,

the workshop's completion, my curiosity regarding the breath’s relationship with the

body and the voice deepened. Cynthia DeCure then graciously agreed to work with me

privately and invited me to participate in her MFA Fitzmaurice voice course, TVFT 543A

Voice for Performers.

It was this progression of both academic and life experiences that led me to

develop my Thesis Project on Fitzmaurice Voicework® and its impact on the performing

actor. In this project report, I will document and inspect my research and process of

studying and applying Fitzmaurice Voicework® to my Thesis Project, which included a

Fitzmaurice warm-up demonstration and culminating monologue performance. I will

include my observations, experiences and challenges of practicing Fitzmaurice

Voicework® in the classroom, coaching sessions, and private setting. I will disclose how

utilizing Fitzmaurice exercises brought me to the selection of my monologue and how I

blended the voice work into my previously practiced creative process. I will discuss my

8
performance experience and self-reflections, as well as my ideas of how Fitzmaurice

Voicework® connected me to my impulses and the discovery of my authentic voice. I

will conclude on what I’ve learned about this project, how it fits within the context of the

field of acting, and how it has created a pathway to my future career as an artist and

educator.

9
 CHAPTER 2

The History of American Actor Voice Training – From its Early Beginnings, Through

Social and Political Upheavals, and Influences from Abroad, Leading to the Formation of

Fitzmaurice Voicework®

Researching Fitzmaurice Voicework®, I first examined the history of actor voice

training in the Western world. I explored this history and inspected how actor training,

investigations in body-brain connections, and other factors led to the development of

Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Next, I journeyed into Catherine Fitzmaurice’s life and how it

coincided with the evolution of her method. Lastly, I researched the aspects of

Fitzmaurice Voicework®, including her most prominent exercise and the theory behind

how her work connects to the actor’s impulses.

History of Voice Training In the United States and Other Influences into

Fitzmaurice Voicework®

As previously mentioned, Fitzmaurice Voicework® is one particular technique

developed to help actors improve breathing, connect with their text, and support a healthy

vocal instrument for the physical demands of live performance. Before delving into a

specific discussion of this technique, it's useful to look at the history of voice training for

actors and the contextual elements that surrounded the development of this popular

training methodology. These contexts included actor-training, the introduction of

scientific brain-body research, the influx of Eastern practices to the United States, and

other voice practitioners.

All Western voice-training links back to the beginnings of Western theatre in

ancient Greece. In ancient Greek theatre, the author and his written word were the most

10
important element of the play and, therefore, lines were delivered to be heard and

understood. In short, the first actors were trained to speak no differently than public

speakers. Consequently, voice-training for the actor began as an oratory art of

declamatory line-reading, drastically different from the “naturalistic” speech we are

accustomed to hearing today in theatre, TV and film.

The earliest formal schools for acting in the U.S. were the St. James Theatre and

School (est. 1871, NYC), the Emerson College of Oratory (est. 1880, Boston) and the

School of The Spoken Word (circa 1900, Boston). The St. James Theatre and School

employed an oratory based voice system created by a Frenchmen named Francois

Delsarte. Delsarte’s system married the idea of Christian religious trinity with a

combination of language, thought, and gesture. The Emerson College of Oratory taught

that the author and his interpretations were the most important goal of the actor and the

School of The Spoken Word stressed the importance of “intellect over emotion” (Morgan

4). In all three of these schools, voice and speech were taught with “ear-centered

correctness of speech and delivery” (Morgan 4). The central purpose of voice training for

the actor was to improve oral pronunciation, articulation and projection (projecting one’s

voice across a large hall so that the audience in the back could hear the words). While this

training succeeded in teaching elocution, it failed to address how to connect the voice to

the actor’s emotions.

But, half-way around the world, innovative Russian theatre director, Constantin

Stanislavski, was developing a new training methodology for actors that focused on

helping the actor connect personally to the text and the given circumstances, revealing

his/her immediate emotional responses to each moment in the context of the play.

11
Stanislavski’s new approached shattered the prior style of “presentational” acting where

the actor “demonstrated” emotions through false declamations, and helped the actor

unlock his/her “inner truth.” Stanislavski’s methodology (later referred to as “the

method”) required many years of study and training.

One of Stanislavki’s prized pupils, Richard Boleslavsky, opened the American

Laboratory Theatre in New York City in 1923 where he introduced Stanislavski’s

methodology to a young generation of theatre practitioners (actors, writers, directors),

eager to incorporate these new tools into their creative work. He engaged Margaret

Prendergast McLean to teach voice for actors. McLean’s approach trained actors to

mimic particular pronunciations of the text referred to as “World English Standard,”

which she learned from its founder, William Tilly. World English blended language

sounds and pronunciations from British and American speech to produce a “cultivated”

brand of English speaking (qtd. in Morgan 3). The Sounds of World English is evidenced

in the speech of many actors who studied with McLean and performed in the Hollywood

movies of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

In the context of the 1929 Stock Exchange Crash and the ensuing Great

Depression wrought with financial and societal crisis and hardship, a group of students

from Boleslavsky’s acting school gathered to create their own new theatre company, The

Group Theatre (est. 1931). Seeking to create theatre that reflected the realities of the daily

struggles of everyday people, they worked with American playwrights like Clifford

Odets, whose new plays focused on the harsh experiences of the poor who were fighting

to survive. Unfortunately, they found that their formalized World English vocal training

was antithetical to the goals and texts they were promoting and, moving forward, they

12
rejected this declamatory vocal style. But, with no vocal training methodology to take its

place, this vital part of actor training went missing in American theatre. However, social

changes were soon to bring about new investigations and practices that would be

incorporated into formal actor training. These investigations would help the actor connect

their voice to the realities of the text while also connecting the actor’s voice to his/her

body and emotions.

As the post-WWII “baby-boomers” began entering the drama academies in

England and the U.S. in mid-1960, a major shift in popular consciousness regarding the

relationship between the body and mind was taking place. The prior perspective that the

body and mind were separate was being replaced by research in psychology and other

practices demonstrating the powerful connection between body-mind-emotions. These

included the popularity of body-psychotherapy, American cultural approval of the ideas

of Sigmund Freud and the introduction of Eastern practices into the United States.

Body-psychotherapies gained ground in the 1960’s. Rooted in the principals of

somatic psychology (the study of the interactions between our body structures and our

thoughts and actions), body-psychotherapies apply numerous techniques involving

breath, touch, and physical motion. Unlike other body therapy, body psychotherapy

“recognizes that the whole person is a result of equal contributions and facilities provided

by the mind and the body as interactive and interrelated aspects of the person as a whole”

(“Body Psychotherapy”).

For acting and voice work, the shift away from pronunciation to emotional

connection was also influenced by the popularity of Freud’s psychoanalysis. Freudian

Psychoanalysis, a method for investigating human psyche, focused greatly on how

13
emotional symptoms, and experiences with emotional trauma, defined the mind and

behaviors of the individual. The idea of the Self was not one of separation, but a

connection made between the emotions, the psyche, and the mind.

The immergence of Eastern practices were also creating mind-body-emotion

connections. Holistic therapies were being introduced to the general population and

gaining popularity as a “counter-culture” revolt against the oppressive rules and

structures of society (“What the 1960’s got Right About Health, Happiness and Well-

Being”). An influx of gurus, yogis and Eastern-based holistic practices all centered on the

body-mind connection in conjunction with an interest in alternative states of

consciousness, reflected in the culture of hallucinogenic drug experimentation and re-

discovery of native cultures and practices. Consequently, there was a shift from the

concerns of society to the concerns of the Self. Theatre artists were eager to try these new

approaches and integrate them into their exploration of the human being/actor. They were

seeking to access the inner Self, freeing the Self from the constraints imposed upon them

by repressive childhoods and society, to unlock the power of the Self that could be

channeled into their acting. The focus of acting began highlighting the power of the

individual actor and, therefore, voice training for actors moved away from concerns about

proper elocution, to instead helping the actor unlock the power of his/her own voice –

power previously stifled by childhood restrictions and societal regulations (such as class,

gender, race, and regionalisms) (Linklater 19-20).

The 1960’s also produced the first training school in New York City for the world

renowned voice-training method called the Alexander Technique. The Alexander

Technique was created by Australian actor, F. M Alexander (1869-1955). Early in

14
adulthood, Alexander struggled to overcome vocal troubles that included breathing

problems and chronic hoarseness during his performances. To remedy his voice, he

studied his own posture and physical tensions by means of a three-way mirror system.

While doing so, he observed a stiffness in his neck that led to tension in the rest of his

body (“The Complete guide to Alexander Technique”). From his observations, he

developed an approach of reordering his physical posture in order to release this habitual

tension. The results of his work included increased vocal range, resonance, and flexibility

of the performer’s vocal instrument. The Alexander Technique focuses on adjustments to

the physical body and has been coined as “a reeducation of the mind and body” as it

integrates the body with the mental awareness of the participant (“Taking the Pressure off

Your Body”). Alexander’s revolutionary idea of integrating the mind (or the person) with

the body in order to improve vocal functioning dramatically changed how the voice was

understood, studied, and practiced (“The Complete Guide to Alexander Technique”).

However, other voice practitioners (some having studied Alexander Technique)

brought their own revolutionary voice methods to the American acting scene in the

1960’s. An influx of voice practitioners, many linked together by schools and mentors,

suggested the voice be studied and practiced through the integration of the physical,

intellectual and emotional human being. Three pioneers who were to become highly

prominent and influential in voice training for actors were Arthur Lessac, Kristin

Linklater, and Catherine Fitzmaurice. Each developed their own approach (utilizing

imagery and psychological associations) that helped the actor connect to emotions within

the physical body and allowed the organic expression of those emotions to flow through

the voice.

15
 In 1960, voice practitioner, teacher, and speech therapist/pathologist Lessac

published his book, The Use and Training of the Human Voice, based on his twenty years

of work in New York City. While his method utilized musical singing elements, it also

involved the exploration of sensations in the body associated with vocal sound and

production (Lessac 5). His work also synthesized the voice with both the physical and

emotional aspects of the actor. In his book, Lessac writes, “the discipline (of the voice)

resists compartmentalization because vocal life does not, indeed cannot, exist apart from

physical and emotional life” (Lessac 10).

Kristin Linklater started as an actor, studying at the London Academy of Music

and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) where she studied voice with Iris Warren. Warren’s

approach departed drastically from the traditional declamatory/oratory style of voice

training for actors. Instead, Warren helped students address mental and physical tensions

in the body, and subsequently, their voices, by redirecting the focus onto the

psychological and physiological responses of the students. In this way, she created a

pathway from “psychological understanding to physiological knowledge” (Linklater 5).

Warren is famously quoted saying “I want to hear you, not your voice” (Linklater 6).

While Linklater studied Warren’s methodology, she also studied Alexander

Technique. Melding the two, Linklater was seeking a way to incorporate the more

emotionally-connected acting approaches, with solid tools that would give the actor an

emotionally and physiologically connected voice technique. Linklater developed her own

voice training methodology that employed imagery and the imagination with the

physical, mental and emotional. Linklater believed that physical and psychological blocks

16
impair the full expression of the voice and its relationship to the actor's impulse and

applied physical and imagery exercises to remove these blocks.

Alexander Technique, Lessac training, the Linklater Method, and Fitzmaurice

Voicework® all share commonalities in their voice training that synthesize the actor, the

body and the voice. For example, as in Linklater’s work, Fitzmaurice Voicework®

focuses on the impact of breathing for freeing tension and removing physical and neuro-

muscular blockages by integrating the body, (authentic) voice, breath and impulse via a

series of practices and exercises. In his book Constructing the Holistic Actor:

Fitzmaurice Voicework®, certified Fitzmaurice teacher Michael Keith Morgan writes,

“Any theoretical discussion of the work of the great voice and speech teachers is of

necessity reductive. All of these master teachers will claim a physical, emotional, and

intellectual synthesis although the emphasis and the entry points may shift” (7). Catherine

Fitzmaurice, the founder of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, with her own interesting entry

points, is no exception to this rule.

Introduction to Catherine Fitzmaurice

Catherine Fitzmaurice, born in India, began acting at a young age. When she was

seven, her family moved to England and then to Ireland. She trained under acclaimed

voice teacher Barbara Bunch from age 11 thru her high school years. Barbara Bunch

studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Bunch, who focused on voice, breath

and poetry, directed Catherine to Central to study with her former pupil, Cicely Berry

(whose training had also come from the Central School) (Fitzmaurice, “Re: Question

About Barbara Bunch”). Berry imparted to Fitzmaurice the connection between the

voice, breath, body, and impulse. In the forward of Berry’s book Voice and the Actor,

17
Peter Brook, initially garnered attention as the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare

Company, and has since become one of the most prominent theatre and film directors of

the 20th Century, writes, “Cicely Berry has based her work on the conviction that while

all is present in nature our natural instincts have been crippled from birth by many

processes – by the conditioning, in fact, of a warped society. So an actor needs precise

exercise and clear understanding to liberate his hidden possibilities and to learn the hard

task of being true to ‘the instinct of the moment'" (1). Brooks’ quote regarding the voice

relates to Linklater’s position that “tension” built up in the body from impeding impulses

and emotions need to be “unlocked” to “free the natural voice.”

During her time at Central, Fitzmaurice became acquainted with Reichian

therapy. According to Reichian therapy, the body develops an armoring in response to

pain as a survival defense mechanism. “Armoring refers to the total pattern of chronic

muscular tensions in the body. They are defined as armor because they serve to protect an

individual against painful and threatening emotional experiences. They shield him from

dangerous impulses within his own personality as well as from attacks by others” (Lowen

13). Reichian therapy addressed and involved the releasing of this armoring for emotional

and psychological healing through vigorous breathing and physical exercises.

While studying Reichian therapy, Fitzmaurice encountered Bioenergetics, another

mind-body connected therapy. According to the International Institute for Bioenergetic

Analysis, Bioenergetic therapy helps to release chronic muscular tensions in the body via

prescribed physical positions. By removing these muscular tensions, (often subconscious)

the therapy concurrently removes “mind-blocks” and emotional blocks locked in the

body that inhibit expression and sexual intimacy (“International Institute for Bioenergetic

18
Analysis”). After taking a workshop with Alexander Lowen, the developer of

Bioenergetics, Fitzmaurice began hypothesizing how she could specifically incorporate

elements of Bioenergetics into voice work.

After graduating from Central, Fitzmaurice began teaching there. While the voice

and breath training she had received from Berry was operative for some of her students, it

was not sufficient for students with significant tension in their bodies. In efforts to solve

this dilemma, she began exploring and developing stretches (inspired by Bioenergetics)

to help release these tensions impairing the breath and voice.

In 1968, Fitzmaurice accepted a full-time teaching position at the Academy of

Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Michigan. Continuing her studies in

Bioenergetics, she noted how these exercises “released tension and sensitized the entire

body to vibrations” making the voice a physical and sensual experience (Barnes 19).

While teaching at Oakland, she experimented freely with Bioenergetics and the

Alexander Technique and observed its effects on the voice via her students. Fitzmaurice

explains this was her most “fertile time” in the development of her methodology because

“nobody was overseeing” what she did ("Brilliant Selection: The Catherine Fitzmaurice

Interview").

In 1972, Fitzmaurice began studying yoga and Japanese massage, shiatsu. She

eventually incorporated modified yoga poses, elements of shiatsu, and the fundamentals

of Alexander technique to expand upon the integration of body and breath into her voice

work. The combination of these studies (Bunch’s and Berry’s voice-training,

Bioenergetics, Reichian therapy, yoga, shiatsu) and her own experiments integrating

these studies, eventually led to the development of her formalized technique called

19
Fitzmaurice Voicework®, which has become one of the primary voice methodologies in

American actor voice training and education. Using her methodology, Fitzmaurice has

“held teaching and consulting appointments at the Royal Central School of Speech and

Drama, the Juilliard School's Drama Division, Yale School of Drama, New York

University, Harvard University, the Moscow Art Theatre, the Stratford Shakespearean

Festival, the Guthrie Theatre, Lincoln Center, among others” (Fitzmaurice,

“FitzmauriceVoicework.com”).

Fitzmaurice Voicework®: The Basics (Structuring and Impulse Theory)

Fitzmaurice’s work is centered on trying to free the actor from the control of

habitual tension that is dictated by the autonomic nervous system – the system

responsible for the body’s unconscious, automatic and involuntary functioning – while

connecting with the central nervous system (the source of conscious decision-making and

action). It’s noteworthy to consider that since breathing is a primary function of life it

should be controlled unconsciously by the autonomic nervous system. However, we are

capable of controlling and manipulating our breath, (and consequently our voices and

emotions) – which thereby moves breathing into the conscious central nervous system.

But this false control can become habitual – moving the impaired breathing into the

autonomic nervous system. This is the great cyclical paradox that Fitzmaurice’s work

attempts to undue.

The principal aspect of this approach is called “structuring.” Designed to take

away the habitual block-causing tensions we cannot consciously remove, structuring

includes a sequence of physically-based exercises in conjunction with breathing, then

vocalizing and finally incorporating text and acting. The first element of this process is

20
called “destructuring.” The goals of destructuring are to reconnect the actor to their

spontaneous “organic impulses” while also allowing for relaxation of the torso and

thoracic muscles for fuller resonance (Morgan 18). In his article Breathing in Fitzmaurice

Voicework®, Master Fitzmaurice voice-teacher Saul Kotzubei writes that destructuring

invites “your experience, your breathing, and your voice to unfold spontaneously. As you

do this, your breathing begins to open in places where it has been inflexible. At the same

time, parts of your body, feelings, imagination, and voice that have been chronically held,

for any number of reasons, also begin to open” (1). “There is a point in destructuring

where the emotions move through the body without central nervous system (conscious)

censorship. Both anger and fear figure into the survival mechanism and for the actor can

later be applied to the will to win (or get what they want) in the scene” (Morgan 52).

Moving through modified yoga positions and Reichian/Bioenergetic postures, the

limbs of the body are pushed to a hyper-extension that invokes an involuntary shaking

called “tremoring.” Fitzmaurice adapted tremoring from her work in Reichian therapy

and Bioenergetics and defines it as a “naturally occurring reflex in the body, quite

different from intentional shaking. It happens when you are cold, angry, excited, fatigued,

nervous” (Meier 39). Tremoring can occur in various locations of the body and can be

small or large based on the individual. Fitzmaurice states, “I’ve developed ways to

encourage tremors to allow spontaneous breathing and to release chronic muscle tension”

(Meier 39). Tremoring engages the autonomic nervous system by triggering a “fight-or-

flight” reaction in the body and has enormous effects on the actor’s breathing. The taxing

physical movement of tremoring causes a physiological response, causing the body to go

into “fight-or-flight” mode, which in turn, overrides the actor’s habitual breath (breath

21
impaired by muscular blocks and tensions in the body – Reich’s “armoring”), and triggers

a “survival breath” to supply the body’s immediate need for oxygen.

Survival breath, instigated by tremoring connected to the autonomic nervous

system, is prepared to respond to present impulses and also causes the actor to feel as

though his/her breath is entering and being felt within the entire body (which Fitzmaurice

refers to as “global breathing”) because chronic muscular tensions are also being released

with the shaking of the body (Morgan 48). As the actor adds phonation (sound production

via the vibration of the vocal cords), the global breathing, coupled with the release of

habitual tensions, allows the actor’s sound to resonate throughout his/her body. Later in

the destructuring phase, the actor adds text and experiments and explores volume and

pitch with that text.

Following destructuring is the restructuring phase. The goal of restructuring is to

reorder the breath in a way that produces the actor’s authentic voice that is both

connected to the actor’s impulses as well as effective in communicating content and

emotion. During the restructuring phase, the actor reorganizes breath by introducing

intercostal and abdominal breath management into speaking while still honoring his/her

physical and emotional need for replenishing his/her breath moment to moment as needed

during destructuring (Fitzmaurice 250). Intercostal muscles are small muscles located

between the ribs that stabilize the rib cage and assist in respiration by helping the ribs

expand and contract on inhalation and exhalation. On inhalation, (in normal breathing)

the ribs expand via the intercostal muscles as breath fills the lungs of the thoracic cavity

(or chest cavity, enclosed by the ribs and sternum). Simultaneously, the diaphragm (an

internal muscle at the bottom of the thoracic cavity) contracts upon inhalation, and the

22
thoracic cavity expands. It is this expansion via the intercostal muscles and diaphragm

that reduces intra-thoracic pressure and draws air into the lungs (“What Happens When

You Breathe?”). Inhalation via the use of the intercostal muscles is what connects

breathing to the central nervous system. Restructuring in Fitzmaurice Voicework® aids

the actor in learning to contract the intercostal muscles more effectively on inhalation

(what Fitzmaurice refers to as “structured inhalation”) to provide for greater lung

expansion and connection to the central nervous system. On the topic of structured

inhalation Morgan states, “In this inhalation the CNS effects the active contraction of the

external intercostals, lifting and widening the ribcage, which pulls the now mostly

passive diaphragm wider and down, thus expanding the lungs” (19). In normal (or

habitually blocked) exhalation, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles relax as air

releases. In Fitzmaurice restructuring, exhalation (what Fitzmaurice refers to as

“structured exhalation”) involves actively contracting the transversus abdominis muscle

located near the sternum. Initiated by the central nervous system, this is an “active, quick

contraction of the transversus abdominis” (Morgan 19). This release permits exhalation to

occur more freely and with less muscle tension (how babies breathe before they have

begun habitually holding the abdominal muscles). The goal for the actor is to eventually

turn structured exhalation into an automatic function.

Structuring’s integration of the unconscious impulse (autonomic nervous system)

with breath and speech functioning (central nervous system) to allow the actor to blend

speaking choices (rate, pitch, etc.) with spontaneity, is highly dependent on correctly

moving from adequately destructuring to properly restructuring. Morgan states, “The

incitement is to maintain the spontaneity of the instinct to retain a strong linkage to the

23
autonomic nervous response system – while recovering the mental prowess of the central

nervous system” (54). This linkage of the nervous systems via the body and breath is a

process that takes much time, study, and effort to master.

Structuring also utilizes the Eastern idea of the “third eye.” In yoga tradition, the

third eye is the area located in the middle of the forehead above and between the brows

and brings about imagination and focus. For communication purposes, breath “begins at

the navel, travels down to the basin of the pelvis and moves up parallel to the spine and

out through the third eye towards the listener” (Morgan 58). The point of communicating

from the body through the “third eye” (what Fitzmaurice calls the “focus line”) is so that

“the attention is not on oneself, nor on the vocal tract, but on the point(s) of

communication” (VASTA 2).

Research Conclusion

Reflecting on the research portion of my project, I attained great knowledge and

understanding of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Outlining the history of voice-training for the

actor and following the development of Fitzmaurice’s technique in relationship to other

prior/concurrent techniques, provided me the context to what inspired, conceived and

developed the method. Moreover, examining Fitzmaurice’s biographical journey into the

development of her technique provided me with indications of how her personal life and

voice practice/study interacted within this greater context. Investigating the elements and

theories behind Fitzmaurice Voicework® offered me a foundational understanding of

structuring – a vital concept to learn before delving deeply into the technique. Altogether,

this helpful combination of research established a solid groundwork for personally

exploring and experimenting with this method.

24
 CHAPTER 3

Process

My process leading to the development of my Thesis Performance/demonstration

began in September 2014 (when I began taking Cynthia DeCure’s Fitzmaurice

Voicework® class) and unfolded in three phases: the Learning Phase, the Practicing

Phase, and the Merging Phase. The Learning Phase involved learning how to correctly

execute the postures and tremoring exercises of Fitzmaurice Voicework®. It also

involved using an exercise and concept of Fitzmaurice Voicework® that ultimately aided

me in selecting powerful personally-connected materials (songs and monologues) as

options for my performance. The Practicing Phase dealt with the applications and

rehearsals of my work as well as the narrowing down of my performance options to one

monologue. Lastly, the Merging Phase (the final weeks of rehearsal), added my CSULA-

acquired acting tools/text work to my practice of Fitzmaurice Voicework®.

The three phases of this process were a combination of class work with Cynthia

DeCure, personal sessions with Cynthia, and my own investigation, exploration and

application. Below I will discuss the significant moments of this process that led me to

exciting new discoveries and break-throughs in my voice and my acting. Notably, my

studies with Cynthia DeCure went beyond what is presented in this chapter – which

covers only the most influential aspects of the work that impacted my final performance.

The Learning Phase

Arguably, my learning (informational and experiential) of Fitzmaurice

Voicework® and its impact on my acting occurred during every phase of my process.

However, for me, the Learning Phase in the classroom uniquely encapsulated my

25
physical learning of Fitzmaurice Voicework® exercises. The Learning Phase in Cynthia’s

class began with a warm-up (which included destructuring and restructuring) of the voice

in relationship to the body. Our warm-up began with an exercise called “Scrunch-Stretch-

Shake-Release.” Laying on the floor on the back, the knees bend into the chest and pull

into the upper body as the head rises to meet them. Scrunching the muscles tightly, the

body forms a ball shape. Next, the arms and legs are lifted and stretched toward the

ceiling and shaken, inducing sporadic breathing and causing the back, torso, stomach, and

shoulders to relax. The limbs are then released back to the floor. “Scrunch-Stretch-Shake-

Release” relaxed my torso and stomach muscles that allowed me to release breath more

freely. During inhalation, it felt as though the breath was dropping into lower regions of

my stomach and pelvis.

After “Scrunch-Stretch-Shake-Release,” class moved into destructuring poses for

tremoring. In these positions, I was confronted with emotional releases that accompanied

the physical releases – emotions trapped in my body, which were preventing (or

"blocking") me from honest, immediate, and fully committed responses in my acting.

“Tremoring” in these positions, these “blocks” were slowly disintegrating

(“destructuring”), opening up my body and breath to a free-flowing expression of

thoughts, feelings, and sounds. My breath, freed from habitual muscular "holding" and

unconscious controlling, became sporadic and chaotic "survival breath.” These changes

in my body and breathing patterns ("fight or flight") subsequently impacted my thoughts

and emotions. Often, they provoked extreme feelings of sadness that would physically

activate my tear-ducts and cause me to cry. Some positions, for example, “Cobra” (from

laying on my stomach on the floor, pushing my upper body off the ground with my arms,

26
causing my back to arch) would elicit anger that burned in my lower stomach and chest.

In other positions, feelings of annoyance, relief, and (sometimes) happiness occurred as

well.

To break-up the intense emotional releases encountered during destructuring,

portions of the warm-up included short resting periods of lying on our sides, resting on

our stomachs, rocking back-and-forth in a ball position, and assuming Child’s pose (a

yoga resting position, setting the pelvis back on the feet while reaching the arms forward

on the floor). In all resting positions, we inhaled then exhaled a “full length of breath”

(sometimes with and sometimes without sound). Exhaling a “full length of breath”

offered release and relaxation to the breathing muscles in between bouts of tremoring.

Moving through the progression of physical shapes, we added specific sounds

with the exhalation of the breath, starting with the universally recognized primary sounds

of human speech that according to Charles Darwin (the main theorist of evolution)

“precede language, and which give individual paralinguistic meaning to speech” (Morgan

18). These sounds (or, more specifically, phonemes) follow the organic path of the

development of language in childhood and are the easiest sounds for the human mouth to

make: “mmmm” (bringing the lips together) then “mah” (sounding and letting the lips

come apart). Noteably, the “mmmm” and “mah” specifically came from Cynthia’s

Knight-Thompson Speechwork – a voice training system that deals with “the precise

physical actions that make up speech” (“Knight-Thompson Speechwork”). The re-

investigation of these primary phonemes in this physically/emotionally “open” state (a

state that is physically unimpeded by tension and emotionally expressive), often elicits

deep-seeded recollections, buried memories and feelings, which then affect the sound that

27
emerges from this body-brain connection (Sluiter 4). Fitzmaurice calls these “fluffy”

sounds or “destructured language” (American Theatre Journal 40). Then, in this

heightened physical and emotional state, complex-sounding words and densely poetic

phrases from Shakespearean sonnets were explored, provoking a new-found freedom in

the range of possible sounds while simultaneously eliciting a deeper personal connection

to the text.

Deepening our understanding of the mechanics of the body in regards to released

breath, “fight-or-flight” breath and emotionally connected breath, we began learning

more about the muscles involved and triggered (via the physical positions) by these

different types of breath. Cynthia led us through an exercise focused on “surprise breath”

– consciously structured quick inhalations (controlled by the central nervous system of

the body) that cause the sides of the rib cage to expand outwardly, engaging the

intercostal and abdominal muscles (more so than the normal inhalation explained

previously). These “surprise breaths,” happen naturally when the mind is inspired to

express a thought immediately. Conversely, in structured exhalation, the breath is

unrestrictedly released by contracting the transversus abdominis muscle, which can feel

like a trap door falling inwardly towards the center of the chest. While exploring this

inhalation/exhalation sensorial experience, Cynthia then prompted us to include

experimentation with the pitch and volume of the words and phrases. Ultimately, the goal

of these exercises was to “restructure” or introduce the “intercostal and abdominal breath

management into the act of speaking” (via the central nervous system) while also

“harmonizing that pattern with the individual’s physical and/or emotional needs for

oxygen moment to moment” (via the autonomic nervous system) (20). Eventually,

28
through repeated practice, the two main systems of the body, the conscious and the

unconscious, work together and complement one another, supporting the actor to be

actively expressive, freed from habitual blocks.

Years of singing had caused me to tighten unnecessarily the area around my

tranversus abdominis and surrounding ribcage. As a result, this holding (or muscular

blockage) inhibited me from fully engaging my transversus muscle that would synthesize

my central and autonomic nervous system and allow my voice to connect with my

emotions and impulses simultaneously. To mend my habitual muscular holding, Cynthia

laid her hand below my sternum and pressed down as I exhaled. The movement of her

hand downwards on this muscle counteracted years of muscular holding in my abdominal

area. Repeating this action over and over again, my transversus muscle began to engage

more effectively – helping the rib cage to float down to its resting position – allowing the

intercostal muscles of the ribcage to relax. As it did I felt a free release of sound and

breath.

As I continued the progression of the study of this voice work with Cynthia, I

noticed changes not only in my body and breath, but also to my relationship with my own

trapped emotions. I was finally giving myself permission to express these hidden, or

“blocked,” feelings. As I incorporated more sounds/phonemes into the physical positions

and movements, the relinquishing of habitual “blocks” gave way to an exciting new

understanding of the voice, the body, and emotional expression. As I moved through the

anger welling up in me as I slowly arched my back while on my hands and knees (called

“Healthy Cow” position) I allowed myself to fully feel and release my emotional states

via my voice. Eventually, over time and practice, I would be able to allow this same

29
emotion to be available in my text work and acting, and have the confidence to share this

part of myself with an audience.

Considering what performance material (text) I would use for my Thesis

Performance as a means to illustrate the integration of this training with the acting tools I

had acquired during my MFA program, Cynthia suggested that I consider the Fitzmaurice

idea of merging my metaphorical voice (what I have to say to the world) with my

authentic voice (the natural physical sound produced when the “armoring” has been taken

away through voice work). Cynthia assured me: “You’ll find you have something to say.

Letting the world share in what it is that has been inside of you is liberating, empowering,

and transformative.” Analyzing my own identity via famed psychologist Carl Jung’s

definition of archetypes that delineate how we perceive ourselves through our roles in

society, Cynthia helped me acknowledge my prominent roles as the Wife (lover), Step-

Mother (mother), Child and Student. She then led me through a tremoring session

wherein I free-associated with some of these labels and voiced my thoughts and feelings

uninhibitedly. Alternating physical positions while tremoring and free-associating, deeply

buried thoughts and powerful emotions emerged. Winding down from this exploration,

while I wiped the tears from my eyes, Cynthia assured me that crying is a very common

occurrence while tremoring. She added, “Tremoring is chaotic and helps you go through

a train of thought. That’s why destructuring brings out different things in the text.”

Revisiting this exploration on my own, outside of coaching, I would choose one

of my identified archetypes and then, while tremoring, review prior familiar performance

material, ranging from songs to monologues associated with my personal experiences

(linked to the chosen archetype). During this process, images, meaning, and thoughts

30
accompanying these chosen texts ignited exciting new insights into the text as more of

me was intertwining with the words and coloring the voiced emotions. In this sense,

tremoring was not only connecting my voice to my body and emotions, but was also

connecting my Self (a product of archetypes and life experiences) to the creative

subtleties of the text.

The Practicing Phase

Implementing new components to destructuring and restructuring through

expanded physical exercises, vocal exercises and partnering exercises, along with my on-

going exploration of this work outside of the classroom, this stage of my process led to a

powerful personal break-through and realization (finding my metaphorical voice), which

informed my choice of performance material for my Thesis Performance, and finally to

the overall structure of my presentation to my Thesis Committee.

In the classroom, I found my voice becoming lower, more flexible, and more

resonant with each passing week. Contracting my transversus abdominis was also

becoming less challenging. Cynthia also introduced us to a complex process that involved

overlapping restructuring the breath near the middle-to-end of the destructuring sequence.

In destructuring, the order of tremoring positions follows a general pattern. Somewhere in

the middle of the sequence the actor chooses where to begin this overlapping. While

tremoring (destructuring), we attempted simultaneously to release the breath (via the

contraction of the transversus abdominus – restructuring), voicing the words “One, by

two, by three by four, by five, by six, by seven." Overlapping the tremoring of

destructuring and the transversal contraction of restructuring is an important part of the

31
process as it unites the autonomic nervous system with the central nervous system.

Overlapping was a difficult task and, many times, I could not fully release the breath.

As my breath and voice began to open and expand, I was becoming more

available to letting my true voice (and Self) be more present in the classroom. During one

particular partnering exercise, I had a major break-through. Cynthia led us through the

warm-up, but in this case, my partner and I kept constant physical contact, touching

hands while on our backs, pushing on each other’s lower back while in the Child’s Pose

position. Cynthia pointed out that releasing this lower back area often elicits tears with

the release of physical tension, thus referring to it as “the crying spot.” Finally, moving

back to a standing position close to my partner and looking directly into my partner’s

eyes, I began speaking my text. Everything I expressed felt honest and sincere as my

voice connected deeply to my body and my intentions (my “wants” in the monologue). I

was also connected to my imagination as images and thoughts, associated with my

intentions and circumstances of the monologue, arose from my subconscious to the

present. Feelings flowed freely out of me as never before, so much so, that my partner

began crying with me. That day I didn’t need to try to "act" at all. Allowing what was

happening inside and outside was enough. The combination of released tension,

restructured breath, and the emotional connection I felt with my partner greatly impacted

my performance.

Working one-on-one with Cynthia outside of the formal class sessions, we

addressed my habitual problem of “rushing” – rushing my thoughts, rushing my words,

and thus, rushing my breath. Using “surprise breaths” as I laid on the floor, Cynthia

coached me to dedicate one full breath to each single word. One word at a time allowed

32
for the release of breath without the worry about getting through an entire phrase or

thought. Interestingly, releasing one word at a time with my eyes closed brought up some

powerful images from my memories and mind. Moving to a standing position, still

focusing on this habit of “rushing,” Cynthia guided me to keep one arm slightly raised

while I spoke the text. When I spoke an important word in the text (usually a noun or

verb) I physically threw down my arm on the voicing of the word. This motion helped to

emphasize the meaning of the text while encouraging a natural release of breath at the

same time that supported vocal volume and resonance. Cynthia reminded me that

Fitzmaurice Voicework® centers on the idea of “allowing” – allowing myself permission

to take my time helped connect me to what was happening physically and imaginatively

in the moment.

One day, while tremoring on several different texts, a thought rose into my

consciousness: “I am worthy.” At this moment, I realized what I wanted to say to the

world – I recognized my “metaphorical voice.” I realized my feelings of unworthiness

were probably not only a personal matter, but an artistic one: a block. But, now feeling

renewed freedom and excitement from this this deep, inner statement, I sought out a text

for my Thesis Performance through which I could most powerfully express this

realization that “I am worthy of loving my body; I am worthy as a wife, as a student, and

as a daughter.” Shortly thereafter, I recalled a powerful monologue from a play I had read

in my undergraduate studies called The Most Massive Woman Wins, by Madeleine

George. I chose this specific monologue because it is about a woman who realizes why

her former feelings of unworthiness were unjustified. I hoped that this piece would

effectively combine my metaphorical voice ("I am worthy") with my authentic voice (via

33
Fitzmaurice Voicework®) to inspire a creatively powerful and personally meaningful

performance.

The Most Massive Woman Wins takes place in a waiting room of a liposuction

clinic where four women describe their painful and haunting struggles with their weight

and self-image via monologues, rhymes, and short scenes. From this play, I chose an

eight-minute monologue voiced by a character named Rennie, a young woman just out of

high school. In Rennie’s monologue, she describes old photos and their significance to

her long agonizing history of personal struggles regarding her body image and self-worth.

It is clear that Rennie was once an overweight little girl who engaged in overeating to

assuage her unexpressed/repressed emotions and fulfill her need for love. She explains

that, as she grew older, her toxic relationship with food resulted in weight gain that

prevented her mother (embarrassed by Rennie’s figure that was “no longer little girl

cute”) from including her in the family photo album. Feeling excluded and rejected by

her mother caused Rennie to become self-conscious about her body and feel unworthy of

her mother’s love. Next, Rennie describes how her mother forced her to rigorously diet

(disallowing Rennie from eating what she desired) for years. Rennie refers to these years

of dieting as “long years of wanting, of wanting and wanting and being denied.” Later,

Rennie tells us that photos of herself reappeared in the album once she became

unhealthily skinny (it is my understanding that she means “anorexic”). Later, Rennie

explains that by the time she was a teenager, she was so physically weak from starving

herself – in hopes of regaining her mother’s love – that she could not muster up the

strength to prevent her prom date from raping her. Recalling the event, Rennie says, “I

am saying, No, I am saying, Stop, but he does not hear me, I am not loud enough. I am so

34
– weak. I am just…too…weak.” At the end of the monologue, Rennie proclaims that she

devoured a “three-foot-tall wedding cake meant to serve one hundred and eighty guests”

at her mother’s wedding. While she does not come out and explain why, it is assumed

this is an act of revenge upon her mother, a reclamation of her right to eat, and another

attempt to fulfill her need for self-love. Rennie says, “…I held that whole cake inside my

body, I had it all to myself.” As Rennie holds the massive cake inside her body, she

realizes that, despite being thin and beautiful, she still equates love with the fullness

provided by food. At the end of the monologue, Rennie says that she then threw-up the

cake and walked out “into the night.” For me, Rennie’s expulsion of the cake from her

body – and immediate exit (unremorsefully leaving the mess behind) – signified her

movement away from her old feelings of unworthiness towards a healthier way of living.

While my metaphorical voice in the form of the phrase “I am worthy” inspired me

to choose Rennie’s monologue for my performance, I also felt other personal connections

to the text. In my life, I have experienced the pain of not feeling “good enough” or

“worthy enough” to receive love and affection from someone I loved. I have felt the

struggles of copious rejection at times when I have needed validation, reassurance and

acceptance. As an actor, I have felt the pangs of hunger when losing weight for a role and

can, therefore, relate to Rennie’s rigorous dieting. Rennie removes the emotional “armor”

she has created to protect herself from being further hurt by her mother by voicing her

memories of unworthiness and rejection. Ironically, Rennie’s removal of emotional armor

corresponded with the removal of my own physical/emotional blocks (or Reichian

“armoring”) via Fitzmaurice Voicework®.

35
 Focusing my work solely on this monologue, I destructured/restructured it

frequently, sometimes destructuring just the vowels, nouns or verbs. Sometimes, after

destructuring (per Cynthia), I remained lying on the floor and took surprise breaths –

attempting to restructure/release words alone and in phrases. I noticed that certain words

came with emotional responses and images, while others did not.

I noticed that going through the process of destructuring and restructuring and

then directly into saying the words of the monologue led to a richer connection to my

breath, body, voice and the words. This very process of warming-up

(destructuring/restructuring) into my monologue presentation would be my Thesis

Presentation, thus illustrating how this warm-up affects my voice and my acting.

However, I decided that my audience would consist of only my Thesis Committee. I was

not ready to share my intimate emotions and newfound authentic voice with an audience

who was not familiar with this voice process. My Thesis Committee, comprised of my

most supportive professors, would allow me to perform my most uninhibited version of

the warm-up and the text.

The Merging Phase

The final weeks of rehearsal included merging the acting tools/exercises I

acquired at CSULA along with Fitzmaurice Voicework®, that eventually inspired the

blocking (movement and stage direction) of my performance. It also involved making

final preparations for my performance that included booking the venue and choosing a

set, props, costume and deciding on an overall aesthetic. Unlike the other phases, most of

the work was done on my own. I met only one time with Cynthia for coaching, but my

Fitzmaurice voice classes had ended.

36
 Before delving into the particulars of the acting tools/exercises I incorporated into

my rehearsals, it is useful to understand the overall goals of these exercises (i.e. what they

strive to illicit from the actor). Each tool/exercise does one or more of the following:

familiarizes the actor with the text (memorization), connects the actor to his/her

intentions (or “wants”) in the scene/monologue, encourages freedom, creativity, and

flexibility in physical, emotional, and vocal expression, and fuses the actor personally

with the wants, circumstances, and other specifics of the text. Notably, not all acting

tools/exercises are effective for every actor. The acting tools/exercises I chose to

incorporate in my work are ones that have had a great impact on my craft during my

studies at CSULA.

The first acting tool added to my rehearsal period was the memorization process I

learned in Tanya’s class. A common problem when an actor focuses on memorizing a

text is that he/she can fall into a singular understanding of how the text “should” be

spoken, which in, through repeating the text as a means to memorize it, leads to a rigid

“line-reading” – meaning, the actor has unconsciously rehearsed the words of the text

over and over again in the same pitch, tone and rhythmic pattern, such that he/she can no

longer allow the immediacy of any real-time thoughts or emotions to alter how the text is

expressed. In order to counter this tendency, these series of exercises offer the actor the

opportunity to continually explore the text via a wide-range of approaches, so that, after a

short period of time, the actor has memorized the text, but not set the words in a “line-

reading.”

Initially, the sounds of the words are explored, isolating first the vowels, and then

the consonants. These sounds are then re-merged and explored slowly via volume, then

37
speed, then tone. The text is then sung, with appropriate physical gestures and

movements, from exaggerated, melodramatic “bad opera” to Hip-Hop. Reading the text

aloud via a variety of “styles” of theatre, from the condescending attitude of cliché

Children’s Theatre, to the pretentiousness of the Bad Shakespearean Actor, the very

meaning of the words in the text begin to alter and communicate a variety of possibilities

and ideas. With each new exploration, more possibilities are discovered. By the end of

the 45-minute exploration, the text is memorized and the actor can use the words in

response to any impulse in the moment, unrestricted by any singular interpretation or

understanding of the words.

I also revisited an exercise called “Statues” that involves putting the body into

various positions after every spoken thought of the text (there may be multiple thoughts

in one sentence, or only one). Exploring the text in combination with the body primes me

to be more readily physically responsive to the given circumstances of the performance,

without forgetting my text.

In acting class with Tanya, I learned that my “objective” (or wants) can be broken

down into a simple question: what do I want the other person in the scene (or the person I

imagine I’m talking to in the monologue) to say or do? Then, based on identifying the

exact response I want from the other person, I can begin to explore how to get that person

to say or do what I want. The how is explored via a multitude of “tactics” or “actions” –

things I can do – to get what I want. “Tactics” are verbs, like “beg,” “appease,”

“threaten,” “guilt,” or “cajole” that I do to the other person to convince the person to say

or do what I want. In my process, I integrated this “Tactics” acting exercise to my

monologue. I employed several tactics/actions to get what I wanted from my imagined

38
person (in my case, a close friend). As I experimented with these tactics/actions, I noticed

deeper emotional connections to the text as well as changes in my physical and vocal

expression. Each tactic opened up new possibilities for expressing my wants and

intentions. Additionally, the more I explored and practiced these tactics in conjunction

with my monologue, the easier it became to perform them as a means of obtaining my

objective.

I also explored the monologue via an exercise I learned in Tanya’s class called

“vocalizing the intention” (where the actors vocalizes what they want from their scene

partner – or imaginary person in a monologue). Before every line of my monologue, I

told my imaginary person what I wanted her to say or do. For example, I spoke the words

“Apologize,” or “Hug me,” before every sentence. “Vocalizing the intention” helped me

further understand my wants of my monologue and stay more connected to them.

Next, I rehearsed with an exercise called “gestures.” “Gestures” requires the actor

to accompany each spoken line with multiple gestures expressing intention and feeling.

For example, on the line from the monologue, “wanting and wanting and being denied,” I

would physically gesture what “wanting” meant to me. For me, wanting was extending

my arms and hands out and bringing them into my chest on the word “wanting.” On

“denied,” I threw my arms open and outwards as though expelling what I could not have.

I spent much time experimenting with gestures and, consequently, my conscious playing

of “gestures” offered me new ways of interpreting and performing the text. I took

gestures to the next level at the end of this exercise by physically acting out every word

of the text. Soon enough, I became more physically flexible and mobile in expressing my

wants and feelings.

39
 As an actor, discovering and using private personalizations in my work has

brought about richness and believability in my acting. Personalization (or substitution) is

a step in the creative process where the actor discovers and ties the wants, circumstances,

and other elements of the play with personal ones from his/her life. Personalization helps

actors believe in what is going on around them and, therefore, helps them to act truthfully

in the moment (Hagen 35). Throughout the final weeks of rehearsal, I went for several

walks with my monologue at the park and began personalizing the text. Walking, and

allowing the text to speak to me, I began to associate the people, circumstances, and

wants of the monologue, with similar people, circumstances and wants from my own life.

These associations served as wonderful substitutions for me to personalize and integrate

into my performance.

My experimentations with these different exercises inspired the blocking for my

monologue (where and when I was to move physically in the monologue). They also

motivated me to implement chairs in the performance and scatter squares of paper on the

floor to represent the photos referenced in Rennie’s monologue. My blocking from

standing to sitting and back-and-forth between chairs was driven by my intentions and

where I chose to routinely place the photos (squares of paper) on the floor. My blocking

was very loose, with only a handful of preset “crosses” (moving from one area of the

acting space to another) to allow for spontaneous movement in every performance.

During the final weeks of rehearsal, I finalized the performance space, the set, the

props, and my costume. One of my goals was to create a natural look and feel that would

thematically complement my newly found authentic – or natural – voice. I wanted the

performance, like my voice, to be undistracted, unhindered, and unblocked from

40
superfluous elements. The bareness of my set (my yoga mat, two chairs, and my zafu- a

small round Zen meditation cushion used for Fitzmaurice postures), my few props (five

small squares of blank paper to represent photos), helped achieve this aesthetic. For my

performance space, I chose room 214 of the CSULA music building (MUS 214). Music

214 is a larger room with a wooden floor and a row of windows in the back. Other than a

piano and a small cabinet, the room is usually bare. I also wanted the lighting to match

the natural aesthetic. Fortunately, my performance was booked for 4:30pm, a time when

the sun provides enough natural light in MUS 214 to leave the lights off. For my personal

natural “look,” I chose a long-sleeve neutrally-colored greenish shirt with gray yoga

pants, my hair pulled off my face and no makeup. Unencumbered by the distractions of

the external “armor” of aesthetically “pleasing” clothing, styled hair and the distancing

“mask” of make-up that I frequently “hide” behind, instead I wanted to present myself

metaphorically “naked” and share Me with my audience.

Cynthia and I met for one last coaching session before my Thesis Presentation. It

was the most creatively illuminating session I had during my entire process. During a

tremoring position called “Open Book,” where the actor lays on his/her back and extends

the legs upward and outward – flexing the feet, Cynthia told me to release my breath and

speak “one, by two by three by four by five by six by seven.” I repeated this over and

over again with and without tremoring until I was exhausted! Finally, a loud, low, rich,

and resounding voice boomed out of my body. The sound was as shocking in its power as

it was in its vibration through my body. Cynthia looked at me and said “Kristin, we’ve

found your authentic voice!” I couldn’t believe I had found my authentic voice. How

41
could it be? The sound was certainly different than anything I had ever heard or

experienced emanate from my body.

Next, Cynthia asked me to perform my monologue with my newly discovered

voice. While performing, I was so perplexed by my new sound that I had trouble acting.

Cynthia reassured me that she could tell why I was struggling and had me sit down and

speak the monologue to her. As soon as I sat down and began speaking my voice became

subdued again. I took a moment, reconnected to my (restructured) authentic voice, and

restarted the monologue. This time it was loud and resounding. I stopped the monologue

again and said, “I can’t, Cynthia, I’m too loud.”

Cynthia and I realized that I had been diminishing the true sound and true power

of my voice for a long time. Naturally, having a loud and low voice is not always socially

acceptable for a woman in our culture. Moreover, I began to recall the many instances I

had heard in my childhood (and adult life) that I was singing or speaking “too loud.” I

realized that subduing the power of my voice began with conscious effort that had

somehow evolved into an unconscious habit. Coupling these understandings with the

recognition that I had, for years, kept my speaking voice high to preserve my Soprano

notes, I realized that these “blocks” had ultimately hindered me from finding and freely

expressing myself with my authentic voice. Upon making this momentous discovery,

Cynthia encouraged me to love and accept my powerful voice and apply it to my

performance. As I left, I realized I had achieved what I sought at the beginning of my

journey into Fitzmaurice Voicework® – my authentic voice. But would my newly

identified authentic voice connect to my impulses during my final performance?

42
 CHAPTER 4

The Performance and Self-Reflections

The day of my Thesis Presentation, on January 15th, 2015, was exciting and nerve

racking. Besides Cynthia, no one else had witnessed or given feedback on any of my

practical or creative work. I greatly desired to exhibit a powerful Fitzmaurice

Voicework® warm-up that would restructure into an honest performance, connecting me

to my impulses and authentic voice. Likewise, I hoped that my audience (my committee)

would observe the growth and improvements made to my voice and my acting. My

performance day included my performance, faculty feedback, and self-reflections/self-

evaluations of my overall project.

Performance

I began my presentation with an introduction sharing what inspired me toward my

final project in Fitzmaurice Voicework® and a little about Fitzmaurice Voicework®

tremoring, destructuring and restructuring. Then, I explained the structure of this

presentation (a warm-up into a monologue from The Most Massive Woman Wins, by

Madeleine George) and alerted them that if I stopped for a moment in the middle of the

monologue, it would be to destructure quickly again, or catch my breath if I was feeling

lightheaded.

Laying on the mat, I allowed myself to breathe. In this fifteen seconds or so, I

silently reminded myself to take my time. With an audience, and with nerves, I

anticipated my tendency would be to rush thru the sequence. With each breath on my

mat, I thought to myself. “Take your time and allow it to happen.”

43
 Unfortunately, I do not remember all the details of the next ten minutes of

destructuring and restructuring. My body had become so accustomed to the sequence that

I felt a little like I was on auto-pilot. I moved from pose to pose adding the progression of

language (fluffy sounds, words, and phrases). My body fully engaged in the tremor,

initiating quick survival breaths. I remember that my voice was low and resonating,

buzzing in my stomach, chest and pelvic region. Cobra, as in rehearsals, caused me to

feel and voice anger and sadness. However, the moment I recall most was when I began

to restructure by engaging my transversus muscle and voicing, “One, by two, by three, by

four, by five, by six, by seven.” During this release, my low (or natural) voice was rich,

full, and resonant. It was the same release I felt with Cynthia in my last session with her.

Rolling up, I felt restructured and ready for my monologue.

When I began my monologue, I allowed my breath to release the way I had

trained it. I did not dwell on my breathing anymore but opened my imagination and

turned my entire concentration on my wants, given circumstances and personalizations of

the piece. My voice, emotions, and entire being felt connected and activated as I fought

for what I wanted in the monologue. Every once in a while, I quickly allowed a small

amount of focus to check in on my breath-release.

Toward the end of the piece, I felt my body and breath connecting differently with

my voice. I stopped for a moment. What is going on?” I thought. I briefly paused and

went into a “Drop Down” pose/tremor and quickly restructured. During “Drop Down,”

the actor turns his/her toes inwards and bends over with the arms and head completely

released (a slight bend in the knees creates a tremor in the legs). After restructuring, I

44
rose back to standing (one vertebrae at a time), completed the monologue, paused for a

few moments, and thanked my audience.

After the performance, I sat down to receive notes and feedback from my

audience. Each committee member had their own reactions to share with me. Dr.

Kristiina Hackel called my performance very “raw.” By “raw” she meant real and

visceral. She added that my voice was very expressive and resonant. My committee

member Barry Gordon, also observed that my voice was deeper, resonant and expressive.

However, he wasn’t sure whether I was connected more to my impulses though and said

that he would have had to have seen the performance without the Fitzmaurice

Voicework® warm-up to compare and contrast performances. My teacher and mentor,

Tanya Kane-Parry, shared that she liked the performance and noticed a deeper connection

between my voice, my body, and my acting (and acting on impulse). She said that she

was aware, during my training at CSULA, that I needed to work on my voice and was

glad that I challenged myself with something above and beyond performing in a show.

Cynthia DeCure felt that my performance, after the warm-up, integrated about 95% of

my instrument (my full vocal capacity), which was a large improvement from where I

began with her months back. Additionally, she observed that my acting contained

stronger connections to my impulses and emotions. My voice, she added, was my rich

authentic voice that was uninhibited by the habitual singer’s breath I came to her with at

the beginning of our coaching. Her most interesting comment, however, involved my

stop at the end of the performance to tremor and restructure. She expressed that there was

no reason for me to question myself. Cynthia claimed the reason I felt that my voice

wasn’t as connected to my body at the end was because my body was beginning to

45
release the breath naturally (without conscious effort). She claimed that I arrived at a

place where I no longer had to “think” about releasing my voice.

I also answered a few questions from my audience. One of the questions came

from Barry and was “How do you apply this warm-up to real life when you only have a

couple minutes before an audition or a scene?” Cynthia helped me answer his question

with what Cynthia calls her “Two Minute-In.” A Two Minute-In is a miniature

destructure/restructure warm-up that is done only in the drop down position with or

without a miniature tremor. It is a way to quickly restructure, center the spine, and

remove tensions, connecting the voice with the body and its impulses.

Self-Reflections

On my drive home from CSULA, I began to reflect and evaluate my performance

and process leading up to this performance. I assessed my role in the production's

successes and failures, deliberated on whether the project met my initial expectations,

assessed if my performance and process went as planned, evaluated what didn’t work (or

could have been improved) and decided what I could have potentially done differently.

Assessing my role in the execution of the performances successes and failures

filled me with a sense of pride. This presentation was the first time I made most of all my

artistic choices as an actor and had the final say in all the major aspects of a prolonged

performance. While, in the past, I had performed three-to-five minute monologues, I had

never attempted a 25-minute performance where I had chosen the material as well as all

my acting choices, stage directions, props, sets, and costuming. While Tanya offered

wonderful personal support and creative counsel and Cynthia was an excellent

Fitzmaurice Voicework® coach, neither told me what to perform, how to perform, or

46
attempted to direct my work. Instead, they both provided invaluable advice and guidance

throughout my journey when the work I did alone (and most of it was alone), became

lonely, physically difficult or creatively challenging.

I certainly felt that the project met my initial expectations in my proposal that

were to connect better with my impulses as an actor and find/perform with my authentic

voice. Dr. Hackel’s statement that my acting was “raw” (or visceral) implied, to me, that

my performance was genuinely connected to my impulses as I fought for what I wanted

in my monologue. Her acknowledgement that my voice was expressive and resonant

during this performance meant that I was able to connect these impulses while also freely

releasing unblocked sound. Both Cynthia and Tanya noticed I was more connected to my

wants and impulses in my performance. Likewise, they agreed that my voice during the

performance sounded less impeded and closer to the sound of my authentic voice. Barry,

who was uncertain whether the voice connected to my impulses, still observed a deeper,

more expressive and more resonant voice. To me, this comment proved that Fitzmaurice

Voicework® honed my ability to express more freely my emotions through a voice that

was more expressive and resonant (and, therefore, less inhibited by tension). Aside from

the comments made by my committee regarding the improvements to my voice and

impulse-connections in my acting, I had my own evaluations.

From a place of self-observation, I trusted that I effectively connected to my

impulses in this performance because I did not recall self-censoring (questioning whether

or not I was making the right choices in my acting) but, rather, remember allowing

myself to act and react based on what I wanted and felt in the moment. When feeling

great emotion, my voice flowed and resonated freely – in a way I never experienced

47
before practicing Fitzmaurice Voicework®. I can only assume this was because I was

speaking with my authentic/emotionally connected voice – uninhibited by muscular

blockages/tension.

Almost everything went as planned in my process and performance (mostly

because it included not planning some of the process at all!). While my process allowed

my plans to continue developing and evolving as I practiced the voice work, once I

finalized a plan, I committed to it. These finalizations notably took place in the final

stages of the Merging Phase where I solidified a final rehearsal schedule and took care of

the final details.

Critically, if I could have changed or improved any part of my performance, it

would have been trusting my competence of the work: particularly when I paused the

performance to restructure and begin again. As previously mentioned, Cynthia felt that I

questioned myself because I had arrived at a place of voice-body-connection where I no

longer had to “think” about releasing my voice. This idea reminded me of a conversation

I had with Cynthia about Noel Burch’s “Four Stages of Competence” (used in

Fitzmaurice Voicework®). The Four Stages of Competence, the stages of which someone

learns a skill, are Unconscious Incompetence, (“We don’t know what we don’t know”),

Conscious Incompetence (“We know what we don’t know”), Conscious Competence

(“we now know how to do the skill the right way, but need to think and work hard to do

it”) and Unconscious Competence (the skill becomes natural and we know longer need to

think about it) (“Learning a New Skill is Easier Said Than Done”). Based on Cynthia’s

comments, during my performance I arrived at the Unconscious Competence stage of my

work. However, instead of trusting what was happening, I questioned myself.

48
 Overall, I was pleased with the outcome of my performance and the challenging

process that led to it. While my performance did not employ the entire extent of my voice

and was interrupted by a moment of questioning on my part, it accomplished its main

goals. Starting with my initial interactions with Fitzmaurice Voicework® all the way to

my demonstration/performance, I met my project's goals of finding my authentic voice

and connecting better to my impulses in my acting. I also arrived at some profound

conclusions described in the next chapter.

49
 CHAPTER 5

Conclusions

My final Thesis Project on the impact of Fitzmaurice Voicework® on connecting

the actor to his/her impulses and leading to the discovery of the actor’s authentic voice,

began with choosing to study Fitzmaurice Voicework®. It then led to my process of

researching, learning, and applying the voice work to reorganize my breath and voice in

order to connect more deeply with my body and impulses (while freely expressing strong

emotions through my voice). Next, Fitzmaurice's idea of identifying archetypes in

conjunction with free-association tremoring, aided me in discovering my metaphorical

voice and selecting performance material. I then rehearsed for weeks – mixing in acting

tools acquired at CSULA into my process – and finalized the technical details of my

performance. My last coaching session in Fitzmaurice Voicework® brought me to

discover my authentic voice. Finally, I performed and reflected on my entire process and

performance. This remarkable journey brought me to some insightful conclusions – what

I have learned about myself, my craft, and Fitzmaurice Voicework®. These conclusions

have also informed my trajectory as an actor and acting teacher. Lastly, the overall

conclusions of my journey through Fitzmaurice Voicework® involve my new

understanding of how voice work connects to the field of acting as a whole.

First and foremost, I conclude that Fitzmaurice Voicework® works. Not only did

I experience, first-hand, a deep connection between my voice, emotions, impulses and

freed authentic voice, but I also witnessed similar results from other students – observing

their growth and final performances in Cynthia's class. In my opinion, every student in

this acting class significantly improved in terms of their acting and vocal expression.

50
Michael Barnes, an associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, reports the following

in his MFA thesis, Exploring Breath and Relaxation in the Performer's Phonatory

Process Through the Linklater and Fitzmaurice Approaches:

Through this author’s observation of classes and direct work with students, a

realization has come about that the bioenergetics vibratory approach to freeing

tensions and increasing the breathing will eventually work for all students.

Because of the nature of the physical stress imparted on the body, a participant’s

body ultimately will become fatigued so that the vibratory energy will occur.

This often will take some time, but if the participant can be encouraged to

continue through any slight physical discomfort, eventually the body will yield to

the vibratory response. Therefore, the Fitzmaurice Method could ultimately help

the majority of voice students. (39-40)

Agreeing with Barnes, Cynthia DeCure believes that while other voice methodologies,

like Linklater’s, rely heavily on visualization and the imagination (factors that can lead to

a loss of translation between teacher and pupil), most students of Fitzmaurice

Voicework® will experience great results. The reasoning behind this claim stems from

the idea that the immediate physical/breathing changes and relaxation that occurs while

tremoring affects all students regardless of their background or ability to identify with the

imagery/visualization of any given method.

I also learned why Fitzmaurice Voicework® is an in-depth study. During my

process phase, I studied only the tip of the iceberg of this method, and, (speaking with

Cynthia) became acquainted with the process of becoming a certified Fitzmaurice

Voicework® teacher. Considering the length of time it took for me to learn how to

51
restructure my breath, I can easily comprehend why Fitzmaurice's certification process

takes years of study and commitment (retraining habits that have been active for

decades). According to Cynthia, even the certified teachers of Fitzmaurice Voicework®

occasionally return to master teachers to brush up and retrain.

Another valuable conclusion gained from my project is that sometimes the best

way to better myself as an artist is to fix what is ineffectual or missing by going in

another direction. For years, I followed the academic maps provided by my classes and

creative formulas prescribed to me by my professors and universities. For my final

project, I reflected on my flaws as an actor and resolved to try something new. My

courage to delve into an unchartered territory (without the recommendation of my acting

program), brought me invaluable rewards as an actor and voice practitioner. This lesson

has encouraged me to continue cultivating new creative aspects of my work (like the

voice) and to always look for alternative methods and practices when what I’m doing

(practically or creatively) isn’t working.

Learning to allow and trust myself and my abilities as an artist was another

integral part of my project. Much of Fitzmaurice Voicework® is about allowing the

breath to release as the emotions and imagination to unfold. Learning to trust “I am

worthy” and know that I am capable of unconscious competence was a big lesson.

While I came to CSULA with a basic understanding of the powerful connections

between the mind, body, voice, and emotions, I did not have a true grasp of the gravity of

these connections until this project. I initially entered the program committed to

forgetting about my voice in order to concentrate on acting. I now understand that voice

work itself can be a tremendous vehicle for improving my acting. Everything is

52
connected. My Self, my voice, my body, and my emotions can never be separated from

one another or from my work.

Studying Fitzmaurice Voicework® has informed my trajectory as an

artist/teacher. As the work has empowered me as an artist, it has also inspired me to

empower others by helping them to discover and free their own authentic and

metaphorical voices. I am excited to continue to understand more about the voice-body-

impulse connection as I (in the future) work with my students.

Moving forward, I would like to learn more about Fitzmaurice Voicework® and

maybe even become a certified teacher. Furthermore, I would like to present the research

findings and experiences contained within this project report at voice-training

conferences like the internationally recognized VASTA (Voice and Speech Trainers

Association). If possible, I desire to find additional literary platforms for publishing my

material. Outside of certifications, conferences, and publications regarding Fitzmaurice

Voicework® I would also like to examine other voice methodologies (like the Roy Hart

Method) and how they relate to acting, the authentic voice, and impulse. Coming from a

musical theatre background I aspire to learn how singers and dancers (whose techniques

require abdominal tightening and muscular holding to promote “breath-control”) can

incorporate Fitzmaurice Voicework® into their craft. Joan Melton, a Master Teacher of

Fitzmaurice Voicework®, holds workshops that integrate singing with theatre voice

techniques. On her website she states, “Too often performers are conditioned to think

they have a ‘speaking voice’ and a ‘singing voice.’ Yet in fact, the voice we use to speak,

laugh, cry, shout, scream, yawn, and call out is the same voice we use to sing”

("Speaking and Singing with the Same Voice").

53
 Examining my project within the context of the field of acting, I have concluded

that studying voice-work is not only helpful for the actor, it is essential. Our job as actors

hinge on the ability to express ourselves and our emotions unimpeded by the strains

created by mental, emotional, and physical blocks. Moreover, reacting truthfully in the

moment requires strong connections to our impulses. Connecting to these impulses

requires a healthy release of breath that unites the body, emotions, and voice in a way that

allows for immediate and spontaneous actions and reactions during performances.

54
 REFERENCES

Barnes, Michael. Exploring Breath and Relaxation in the Performer's Phonatory

Process through the Linklater and Fitzmaurice Approaches. Thesis. The National

Theatre Conservatory of the Denver Center of Performing Arts, 1993. Print.

"Body Psychotherapy." GoodTherapy.org. GoodTherapy, n.p. 30 Sept. 2014. Web. 10

May 2015.

"Breathing in Fitzmaurice Voicework." Communicate What Matters with a Free and

Flexible Voice. Saul Kotzubei, Saul Kotzubei Coaching, 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015.

http://www.voicecoachla.com/s/Breathing-in-Fitzmaurice-Voicework-kdem.pdf.

"Brilliant Selection: The Catherine Fitzmaurice Interview,"Actingnow.com. Eugene

Douglas, n.p. April 2004. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

http://www.fitzmauricevoice.com/writings/pdfs/douglasinterview.pdf.

Bassett, Steven E. "Chapter 17: The Respiratory System." Anatomy & Physiology Quick

Review. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. 254. Print.

Brook, Peter. Forward. Voice and the Actor. By Berry. New York, NY: Macmillan

Publishing Co., 1974. Print.

Fitzmaurice, Catherine. "Breathing Is Meaning." The Vocal Vision: Views on Voice by 24

Leading Teachers, Coaches & Directors. Ed. Barbara Acker and Marion

Hampton. New York: Applause, 1997. 247 - 252. Print.

Fitzmaurice, Catherine. FitzmauriceVoice.com. n.p. 2015. Web. 12 Sept. 2014.

Fitzmaurice, Catherine. "Re: Question about Barbara Bunch" Message to Kristin Mellian.

30 Apr. 2015. E-mail.

55
George, Madeleine. The Most Massive Woman Wins: A Short Play. New York:

Playscripts, 2009. Print.

Hagen, Uta, and Haskel Frankel. Respect for Acting. New York, NY: MacMillan

Publishing Co., 1973. Print.

International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis. IIBA. n.p. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

http://www.bioenergetic-therapy.com/.

“Knight-Thompson Speechwork.” Knight-Thompson Speechwork, n.p., 2011. Web. 18

May 2015.

"Learning a New Skill Is Easier Said Than Done." Gordon Training International. Linda

Adams, Gordon Training International. n.d. Web. 5 May 2015.

http://www.gordontraining.com/free-workplace-articles/learning-a-new-skill-is-

easier-said-than-done/.

Lessac, Arthur. The Use and Training of the Human Voice: A Bio-dynamic Approach to

Vocal Life. 3rd ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub., 1997. Print.

Linklater, Kristin. Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice

and Language. Rev. and Expanded ed. Hollywood, CA: Drama Pub., 2006. Print.

Lowen, Alexander, MD. Bioenergetics. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan Inc.,

1975. Print.

Meier, Paul. “Tremor into Action: An Interview.” American Theatre. 27.1 January

(2010): 30-40. Print.

Morgan, Michael Keith. Constructing the Holistic Actor: Fitzmaurice Voicework®.

Lightning Source, 2012. Print.

56
Rhoades, Rodney, and David Bell. "Ventilation and the Mechanics of Breathing."

Medical Physiology: Principles for Clinical Medicine. 3rd ed. Philadelphia:

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009. Print.

"Speaking and Singing with the Same Voice." www.JoanMelton.com. Joan Melton, n.p.,

n.d. Web. 9 May 2015. http://www.joanmelton.com/weekend-workshop-

speaking-and-singing-same-voice-feb-mar-2014.

Sluiter, Susan. Looking Through the Trauma Lens: Powerful Permanent Change with

Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR). Loving Healing Press, 2013. Print

"Taking the Pressure Off Your Body." Towards Freedom. Robert Rickover, n.p., n.d.

Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

http://www.towardsfreedom.com/wdh/towardsfreedom/RTTakingthePressureOff.

html.

"The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique." Alexander Technique of Lincoln,

Nebraska and Toronto, Canada, n.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.

http://alexandertechnique.com.

Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc. “Structured Breathing.” VASTA Newsletter.

Spring. 2003: 1-7. Vol. 17, Number 1. VASTA. Web. 5 Nov. 2014.

"What Happens When You Breathe?" National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Department of Health and Human Services, 17 July 2012. Web. 10 May 2015.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hlw/whathappens.

"What The 1960s Got Right About Health, Happiness And Well-Being." The Huffington

Post. Carolyn Gregoire, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr.

2015.

57
 APPENDIX

Performance Space Layout: MUS 214

A B

G G
C
E F

Figure 1. Performance Space

Key
A = Audience seating
B = Door/Entrance
C = Poster with posturing sequence
D = Windows
E = Yoga Mat
F = Zafu
G = Chairs

58