Gender-Affirming Voice Workshop for Trans and Gender Nonconforming Actors

Taught by Zoe Chen and Christine Adaire (their bios are listed below)

The purpose of this workshop is to help trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) actors find a voice that they feel expressive, affirmed, and safe in.

This workshop utilizes the Linklater Voice Method and speech-language pathology to help TGNC individuals:

1. develop a voice that feels affirming to their gender
2. access emotional depth, flexibility, and connection necessary for performance and
3. maintain healthy voices even in the demanding environment of an 8-show week or 12-hour shoot.

Participants will explore masculine/feminine coded speech characteristics through pitch, resonance, prosody, and imagery. 

Please come prepared with a memorized monologue, movement clothes, and a notebook.

Zoe Chen (she/her) is a transgender actress, writer, educator, and activist. Zoe attended the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) where she received an MFA in Acting with a Citizen Artist Concentration for her work in A.C.T. 's education programs. As an actress and a playwright, Zoe creates work that centers Asian-American and transgender narratives. Zoe has 10+ years' experience as an educator, teaching various subjects to diverse populations. After 5 years of studying Linklater Voice Method pedagogy, Zoe became the first and only transgender person to become a Designated Linklater Teacher. She currently teaches voice at several schools across New York City and teaches private lessons and workshops for transgender actors and teachers both online and in person.

Christine Adaire is a Designated Master Linklater Voice Teacher, trained by the world renowned voice teacher Kristin Linklater. She has worked as an actor, voice coach, and director in many American regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Old Globe, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Goodman Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Court Theatre, American Players Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, and Shakespeare & Company. She coached the dialects for replacements of the Broadway production and first national tour of Mary Poppins. She has worked as the Head of Voice at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, teaching in their MFA Theater program and working as a voice coach on their mainstage shows. She also taught at DePaul University, National Theatre School of Canada, University of Massachusetts–Amherst, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and Roosevelt University, and has taught workshops in Shanghai, Barcelona, London, Australia, New Zealand, and Birmingham, England.