MEET YOUR TRAINERS

Katelyn is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati: College Conservatory of Music's (CCM) Dramatic Performance Program. During her time as an undergraduate student she developed a deep interest and passion for all things voice and speech.

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Upon graduation, she was offered a position as Adjunct Faculty teaching Voice and Speech for CCM’s Nationally Ranked Musical Theater Program, where she discovered not only a passion for teaching in general, but an aptitude for vocal and dialect coaching as well.

Noting the unique challenges faced by performers, singers and public speakers, Katelyn enrolled in a Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology with a focus in Voice Disorders.

At present Katelyn practices as a Voice Pathologist for UC Health’s nationally ranked ENT department, as well continuing to teach as Adjunct Faculty at CCM - often working to help students overcome vocal impediments in the process. Katelyn also works as a Freelance Vocal Coach specializing in accents, dialects and vocal projection. Her combined experience as performer, pathologist and teacher allows her to not only understand the intricacies of vocal issues on an anatomical level, but to passionately appreciate the uniqueness and importance of the voice as an art.

D’Arcy Smith is a Professor of Voice and Acting at The University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. He brings over 20 years of experience as a professional director, coach, and teacher of performers. As a voice director and coach he has worked for Ubisoft, Digital Extremes, Riot, 343, and others.

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He was a resident voice, text and dialect coach at the Guthrie Theater and has worked as a teacher and voice/dialect coach in the United States, U.K., Canada and New Zealand. He has also worked as a voice and dialect coach with many professional theaters coaching over 90 professional productions.

He has used his vocal combat techniques in numerous professional productions and alongside fight coaches. He has trained extensively in a variety of voice techniques to help serve every level and voice type.

Sammi is an Assistant Professor and Co-Head of Voice and speech at The Theatre School at DePaul University. She also works as a freelance dialect, voice, and voiceover coach mostly in Chicago. She holds an MFA with Distinction from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and is certified in Knight-Thompson Speechwork. Sammi is the Director of Equity, Diversity, inclusion, and Accessibility+ for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Talea Bloch is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Nebraska Wesleyan University where she teaches Voice Lessons, Theory, History and Musical Theatre technique courses. She is a stage and music director as well a professional voice coach.

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Bloch’s areas of research include Contemporary Commercial Styles, Vocal Extremes, Neurodiversity in the Arts, Curriculum Development and Assessment, and the history of small-town opera houses. She holds her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Michael is an Assistant Professor of Acting and Voice at Utah State University.

He holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre, an MS from Stanford University, and is certified in both Fitzmaurice Voicework ® and Knight-Thompson Speechwork®. Michael is a member of Actors’ Equity, VASTA, and ATHE.

Acacia Daken is an Australian voice and accent coach, actor, and educator with an international career across theatre, film/TV, and education. Currently based in the US as an Assistant Professor at West Virginia University, Acacia teaches voice, speech, and dialects across the BFA and MFA performance programs. She is the founder of Vocal Chameleon, providing voice and accent coaching to performers and professionals globally. Her coaching spans theatre, film, television, and voiceover, working with clients in production for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, and ABC Australia. Acacia holds an MA in Acting and an MFA in Voice from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Sonja is a voice & dialect coach originally from Philadelphia, now based in London. She works primarily as a dialect coach in the Film/TV industry, and has recently coached on films such as Digger, Clayface, Warfare, Highlander & more. Sonja has also coached productions on the West End and taught at institutions such as Eton College, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Royal Academy of Music, and others. She has an MFA in Voice Studies from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, a BFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University, and is Knight-Thompson Certified.

Raechyl is an Australian voice and dialect coach, actor and voice artist currently working in the UAE at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy. Since 2025, Raechyl has served on the VASTA Junior Board under a two year engagement. She holds an MFA: Voice from the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Raechyl is a certified trainer of Lessac technique and an accredited Trauma Informed Voice Professional.

Ashleigh is an educator, voice coach, actor and voice artist from north London. She is a Performing Arts and SEND teaching specialist with a vocal focus, and primarily works within the Further Education sector. Ashleigh is a graduate of East 15 Acting School, where she has also taught. She will complete her Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at UCL's Institute of Education in June 2026.

Susan Schuld is an Associate Professor of Voice & Speech School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Florida. She has over 25 years of professional experience as an actor, vocal coach, and educator.  MFA Acting Rutgers University, 2007 Designated Linklater Teacher, 2014 certified Knight-Thompson Speechwork, 2019 certified National Michael Chekhov Association Teacher, and 2026 Vocal Combat Technique Certification.

Brianne Taylor is the assistant professor of Voice & Speech in the UMKC Theatre Conservatory. 

Calling the North American Great Plains and Appalachia regions home, she has explored the relationship of voice to the landscape. Through observing practices of caretaking and land stewardship Brianne has refined a pathway that teaches folks how to make large sound effectively. This has led to development of her solo show Keeper of the Plains, an exploration of the femme voices of the masculine, agricultural dominated American Great Plains, and has been performed in KC Fringe, Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) Fringe, and at the Freedom and Focus Festival in LA . Primarily working with actors, students, primary caregivers, activists, and all other voice users. Recent collaboration with neurologists is focusing on utilizing vocal extremes as a pathway into empathy and expressive communication in a post-pandemic world. 

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She has worked professionally as an vocal coach, director, and actor at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, West Virginia Public Theatre,  throughout DC and the Kansas City metro.  Her work with West Virginia University and West Virgina Public Broadcasting on the film King Lear was nominated for a regional Emmy. EDUCATION: MFA West Virginia University, BFA Emporia State University.  She is certified instructor of Vocal Combat Technique, Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and Fitzmaurice Voicework®, as well as a proud member of VASTA. 

Roxanne Wellington is an actor, director, and voice and dialect coach with over 30 years of performing experience as a member of Actors’ Equity Association. She holds a BFA in Acting from Wright State University and an MFA in Acting from Wayne State University.

Roxanne has taught at Oakland University, Central Michigan University, and Southeast Missouri State University’s Conservatory of Theatre and Dance, where she served as Professor of Acting and Voice and received the Outstanding Teaching Award in 2023. She is currently an Associate Professor of Acting, Voice, and Speech at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

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She is a certified teacher of the Michael Chekhov Technique and a certified classical Pilates instructor, and her work integrates body and voice to cultivate freedom and authenticity in performance.

Anne Whitaker is a voice and dialect coach working in film/TV and the West End. She also frequently works at drama schools such as The Royal Central School for Speech and Drama, LAMDA, and The Globe (higher education). Her research specialism is in prosody, the musicality of language. Her work with linguistics professor Beatrice Szczepek Reed, Lancaster University, will be published through Routledge as a workbook for actors called The Responsive Voice. Anne also works on prosody in verse text with PhD Candidate Jenny Grober, King's College/Shakespeare Centre London. Recent theatre and film credits include Drops of God(Apple TV), Talamasca (AMC), Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix Theatre), Matilda (Cambridge Theatre), Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre), We Were the Lucky Ones (Hulu), and Wheel of Time(Amazon).

Danielle Wilson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario where she teaches voice and text, acting, and devising. 

She is a professional voice coach, director, and actor and has written and performed her solo show titled, Stage Fright, which uses her experience as an actor and voice teacher to investigate performance anxiety through the lens of clown. Her research includes exploratory techniques in voice and devising, extended voice work, and creative practice using multiple forms of inquiry into techniques and practices that influence embodied expression.

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Danielle holds an MFA in Performance and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Voice Teaching from York University. 

Andrea is a Voice & Dialect Coach, currently Associate Voice & Dialect Coach on Stranger Things: The First Shadow in London’s West End, Joint Head of Voice at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Voice Coach on Matilda The Musical at The Cambridge Theatre and Council member and Joint Chair of Education for the British Voice Association. 

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Recent credits; Lou Llobell for Untitled Horror Project for Paramount, Ella Purnell for Sweetpea Sky Atlantic, Ben Whitehead for Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl for Aardman Animations.

Susan is a performer and voice teacher based in Naarm/Melbourne. She excited by experiments in transdisciplinary musical composition and exploratory performance with a focus on embodied, extended and extreme physiovocal work. She is an accredited Roy Hart Centre Voice Teacher, Certified Vocal Massage Therapist and has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies from the Victorian College of the Arts.

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Susan currently teaches Voice (speech and singing) privately, at the Victorian College of the Arts and at the University of Melbourne. She has taught and coached Voice at institutions including Federation University, JMC, Victoria University, La Mama and the National Theatre.

Megan is a Voice and Accent Coach and Actor based in London. She has taught at LAMDA, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Guildford School of Acting, Mountview, Rose Bruford, ArtsEd, and Fourth Monkey, where she was recently Head of Voice.

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Megan has dialect coached for theatres including Storyhouse Theatre in Chester (Gangs of New York), as well The Jungle Theater (School Girls: or the African Mean Girls Play, The Wickhams), and the Guthrie Theater (Murder on the Orient Express) in the US. She is a member of the Voice & Speech Trainers Association, and is a recent recipient of the Global Talent Exceptional Promise Visa.

Talea Bloch is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Nebraska Wesleyan University where she teaches Voice Lessons, Theory, History and Musical Theatre technique courses. She is a stage and music director as well a professional voice coach.

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Bloch’s areas of research include Contemporary Commercial Styles, Vocal Extremes, Neurodiversity in the Arts, Curriculum Development and Assessment, and the history of small-town opera houses. She holds her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as a BA from Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Lisa Dallinger is a Melbourne based performer, and voice and dialect coach.  After completing undergraduate studies in Acting from the University of Ballarat (Now Federation University), Lisa went on to further study at the University of Melbourne and Victorian College of the Arts (VCA); she holds a Masters of Teaching (encompassing a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching Shakespeare) as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Voice Studies.

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In addition to coaching privately and on production, Lisa tutors for VCA and Federation University.  She is a core ensemble member of 'Girls Act Good', in which she creates, performs and coaches regularly.

Laura (she/her) is a Voice and Dialect Coach living and working on Gadigal land in Sydney, Australia.

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She is a graduate of NIDA (MFA) and the Victorian College of the Arts (BFA). Laura is the resident vocal coach at Belvoir St Theatre and a lecturer for NIDA’s BFA and Diploma actor training programs.

Jean is a Dialect Coach and Lecturer in Voice with 17 years’ experience across film, tv and theatre. Jean has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Theatre Practice (Voice development and dialect acquisition) from the University of Melbourne (VCA).

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Recent voice and dialect coaching work includes: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime); OIL (Black Swan State Theatre Company of WA) 2018/19 tour North by Northwest (Melbourne Theatre Company, Kay & McLean Productions); Arbus and West(Melbourne Theatre Company); Storm Boy (Melbourne Theatre Company); Lovesong (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); The Antipodes (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); INCOGNITO (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre).

Jean is a Lecturer and Coordinator of Voice in the Bachelor of Arts (Acting) and the Bachelor of Arts (Music Theatre) at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

Born in Scotland, Simon now lives in Sydney, Australia, where he is Head of Voice at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He teaches accents, voice, acting and text work both locally and internationally to undergraduates, graduates, professional actors, and teachers in training. Simon is a certified Knight Thompson Speechwork trainer.

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Simon an Master of Arts in French and Spanish from Cambridge University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Theatre from the Royal Academy of Music, and a Master of Fine Arts in Voice from NIDA. Simon is a certified teacher of Knight Thompson Speechwork. He is currently pursuing a Master of Education at UNSW and is training to become a certified Vocal Combat Technique instructor.

LAUREN MAYKUT (She/Her); BA, MFA, DLT

Lauren is a Designated Linklater Voice Teacher, and Certified Vocal Combat Technique instructor. She is the Head of Voice for the English section at The National Theatre School of Canada. Additionally, she holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University in the City of New York. #fhtogglels/Read Full Bio/Close/ib

Lauren has held faculty positions as Professor of Voice in the Acting for Media Department at George Brown College, and in the Theatre Performance Program at Centennial College. She has also taught and coached at the Toronto Film School, the George Brown Theatre School, Humber College, York University, Sheridan/UTM, and the University of Toronto. Lauren is now proud to serve as Treasurer on the Board of the Canadian National Voice Association/Association Nationale de la Voix. As an actor, Lauren has performed in theatres, festivals, and films in Canada and in the USA.

Tobie Minor is an Associate Professor of Practice and Director of Stage Combat and Intimacy at Texas State University's School of Theatre, Dance, and Film. As Co-Artistic Director of Crown Theatre, he brings a wealth of creative expertise to his work. Tobie is a proud member of the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD) and the Association of Theatrical Movement Educators (ATME), specializing in storytelling through dynamic physicality and innovative stage movement.

Steven Rimke is an Assistant Professor at Utah Valley University where he teaches accents, acting, phonetics, Shakespeare, vocal extremes, and voice for the stage. Prior to joining UVU, Steven worked at Pennsylvania State University as an Assistant Professor and the University of Cincinnati as an Adjunct Professor.  His areas of research expand into accents, bridging acting and voice training, and rebuilding theatre curriculum. He holds his MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and a BFA in Acting with a minor in Greek and Roman Studies from the University of Calgary, in Alberta Canada.

Jeremy has over two decades of experience offering collaborative instruction to actors and other performing artists. As an educator/clinician with international experience and a coach for Tony Award-winning regional theaters, Jeremy is focused on actor-centered processes that emphasize collaboration, consent, curiosity, and community.

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Currently on the theatre faculty at the University of Michigan, Jeremy is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, a Certified Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, a PAVA-Recognized Vocologist, and an Associate Faculty member with Theatrical Intimacy Education.

Jennifer Toohey has been working as an actor, director and voice coach for theatre across Canada and the US for over twenty-five years. She is an Associate Professor of voice and acting at SUNY Buffalo State, where she has won several awards, including the 2019 Dr. Muriel A. Howard Presidential Award for Equity and Campus Diversity. Jennifer is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice VoiceworkÒ since 2010, and a Certified Teacher of Knight Thompson Speechwork since 2014.

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As a voice and dialect coach, Jennifer has worked at The Shaw Festival (Niagara-on-the-Lake), Obsidian Theatre, (Toronto) Canada, Irish Classical Theatre Company, All For One Productions, Road Less Travelled Productions, The Paul Robeson Theatre (Buffalo)

Before joining the faculty at Buffalo State, Jennifer taught voice and speech at the University of Miami, New World School of the Arts, and Rollins College. She holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Windsor and an MFA from Florida Atlantic University. She is a proud member of Canadian Actors Equity Association, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and is the Chair of the National Voice Association in Canada.

Kate is an Equity actor, voiceover artist, dialect coach, and voice & speech specialist. She is Head of the BFA Acting program at Texas State University.

MFA Voice Studies - The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, University of London. Member: AEA, SAG/AFTRA, Voice & Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), and The Alba Method Association.

Sammi is an Assistant Professor and Co-Head of Voice and speech at The Theatre School at DePaul University. She also works as a freelance dialect, voice, and voiceover coach mostly in Chicago. She holds an MFA with Distinction from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and is certified in Knight-Thompson Speechwork. Sammi is the Director of Equity, Diversity, inclusion, and Accessibility+ for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA).

Julia Lenardon is a Professional Voice/Speech/Dialect/English Clarification teacher and coach for film/tv, theatre, private students and corporate clients.  She has worked on all the Ubisoft Assassin Creed Games since BROTHERHOOD plus PROJECT ROCKET and SKULL AND BONES as dialect and language coach and voice actor. Other videogame coaching work includes: Supermassive Games LITTLE HOPE and HOUSE OF ASHES and Tripwire MANEATER. Other voice work includes: “Queen Elizabeth” in the game CIVILIZATION V. Selected Film/tv Coaching: The Body, Ginny & Georgie (Netflix), The Greatest, Alex Cross, Motorheads (Amazon), Brookly, X-Men: Apocalypse & Dark Phoenix.

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Selected Theatre Coaching: English Caoch: Bernadette, the Musical (US tour); Associate Voice Coach for NYC Broadway Production Matilda, the Musical at the Shubert Theatre; Associate Voice Coach for Tamburlaine at Theatre for a New Audience TFANA(Off-Broadway); English Clarification for La Belle et La Bête 4Dart Theatre/BAM NYC; for Gad Elmaleh at Carnegie Hall debut; Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West (National Arts Centre, Ottawa); The Other Side of the Moon/The Andersen Project (World Tour for Yves Jacques, director: Robert LePage); Indecent (Studio180/Mirvish, Toronto), Boy Falls from the Sky (Past/Present-Mirvish, Toronto);  Indecent, The Angel and the Sparrow (The Segal Centre) Montreal; Good People, Intimate Apparel (The Centaur Theatre) Montreal.

Ashleigh Reade is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Speech at Boston University, and designed and teaches the Vocal Production course at Harvard Summer School.

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Ashleigh Reade is an Assistant Professor of Voice and Speech at Boston University's College of Fine Arts. Prior to joining BU, she was an Assistant Professor of Theater at the Boston Conservatory, where she taught Fitzmaurice Voicework and Knight-Thompson Speechwork. She also designed and teaches the Vocal Production course for Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School, and served on the theater faculties of Dean College, Salem State University, and Bunker Hill Community College. She has taught masterclasses for UMass Boston, Boston University's College of Communication, Loyola Marymount, CCM, Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, Broadway Artist’s Alliance, Lyric Stage, and The Moscow Art Theater School. Coaching credits include Moonbox Theater, Wheelock Theater, Boston Playwright's Theater, Brandeis University, The American Repertory Theater, as well as multiple productions with the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club.

Ashleigh's performance credits the national tour of Roger’s and Hammerstein’s STATE FAIR, Sacramento Music Circus, Papermill Playhouse, Surflight Theater, Seven Angels Theater, and West Virginia Public Theater. Ashleigh has also originated lead roles in four new musicals, performing at the Producer’s Club, Ars Nova, and The York. In 2020, Ashleigh and her partner started indie-rock band Your Local Dance Hall.

Ashleigh is a Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework and a 23-24 Fellow in the Inclusive Pedagogy Institute at Boston University's Center for Teaching and Learning. She has received two Dean’s Commendation Awards from Harvard Extension School, and ten Certificates of Teaching Excellence from the Derek Bok Center at Harvard University. Member, VASTA, AEA, Yoga Alliance (E-RYT 200). BFA, Boston Conservatory, MFA, Harvard University/M.X.A.T., Certificate in Classical Acting, LAMDA.

Siobhan certified as a Vocal Combat Technique™ in the first cohort of instructor certifications, in 2023. Her primary focus with VCT™ is application to stage combat and live performance, especially in her work as a fight and intimacy director and educator. She has choreographed for The Canadian Opera Company (where she is the resident Fight and Intimacy Director), The Shaw Festival, the National Arts Centre, The Stratford Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Soulpepper, Canadian Musical Theatre Projects, The Grand Theatre (London, ON), Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, Young Peoples’ Theatre, Starvox Entertainment, and The Grand Theatre (London, Ontario) to name a few. As an educator she teaches regularly at Toronto Metropolitan University, Sheridan College, University of Toronto Mississauga, and Randolph College of the Performing Arts, and teaches or fight/intimacy directs as a guest artist in numerous universities and high schools.       Her work is internationally recognized, having completed 3 European tours including France, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and Finland. She’s an “industry legend” (Aisling Murphy, Intermission Magazine) and a pioneer voice in Intimacy, who has been instrumental in bringing these practices into common use in the industry.

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She’s also an actor/fighter/singer/dancer with over 20 years experience, which informs her perspective on Vocal Combat and vocal storytelling, in both action and intimate contexts.

Siobhan approaches all her work with as an invitation joyful creativity, where clear communication and artistic exploration makes space for adventurous exploration. Now with Vocal Combat coaching added to her skillset, she loves exploring how storytelling can be made even more specific with extreme vocal choices.

Chaslee is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Oklahoma City University. She is a voice, speech, and text coach and has a background as an actor. She completed her MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB Canada.

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She is an Associate Instructor of the Emotional Body Method for teaching emotional effector patterns. Her research into heightened emotional states and the voice brought her to Vocal Combat Technique. She has also taught in the theatre programs at Miami University in Oxford, OH and University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM).

Michael is an Assistant Professor of Acting and Voice at Utah State University.

He holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre, an MS from Stanford University, and is certified in both Fitzmaurice Voicework ® and Knight-Thompson Speechwork®. Michael is a member of Actors’ Equity, VASTA, and ATHE.