Judylee Vivier
Professor
Theater
Location: 313 Whitehead Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x2763
Fax: 718.951.4606
Email:
Professor Judylee Vivier, director of the M.F.A. in Acting program, is a Fulbright scholar, an actress, voice professional and professor. She has taught at Rutgers University, New York University, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Michael Howard Studios; led classes/intensives nationally; and written/performed her original solo piece, "Oranges Like The Sun." An active member in the Voice and Speech Trainers' Association (VASTA) and Association of Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), she is a recipient of the Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher Award (2007). She recently published her chapter "The Breath: Heart and Soul of the Actor" and article in Dramatics; was a visiting voice lecturer at the Central School of Speech & Drama, London (2010); was the voice support for the RSC at the Lincoln Center Festival (2011); and was elected to the VASTA board of directors and International Visiting Professor at RWCMD in Wales (2012).
Education:
M.F.A., New York University - 1986 (Dramatic Arts)
M.A., University of Natal (Durban, South Africa) - 1982 (Speech and Drama)
B.A. (with honors), University of Natal (Durban, South Africa) - 1980 (Speech and Drama)
B.A., University of Natal (Durban, South Africa) - 1979 (English and Speech and Drama)
Areas of Expertise:
A specialist in acting and voice production for the actor, Vivier is interested in releasing and developing the power of each individual's true voice, which is integrally connected to breath, identity and the need to speak, express the self and be heard. She aims to develop the voice by freeing tension, develop the dynamic vocal range, and restore direct connection with the acting impulse, allowing the voice to reveal rather than describe emotions/thoughts so fulfilling the demands of the text.
Books and Publications
"The Breath: Heart and Soul of the Self." Breath in Action: The Art of Breath in Vocal and Holistic Practice. Eds. J. Boston and R. Cook. United Kingdom: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2009
"Breathing and the Voice: Inhale Exhale." Dramatics April: 21-24, 56. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2007
Review of Will Power: How to Act Shakespeare in 21 Days, by John Basil with Stephanie Gunning. The Voice and Speech Review 5, October. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2007
"Introduction to Chapter 7." Make Your Voice Heard: An Actor's Guide for Increased Dramatic Range Through Vocal Training, by C. Jones. New York: Back Stage Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publishers. 98. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2005
"Introduction to Chapter 7." Make Your Voice Heard: An Actor's Guide for Increased Dramatic Range Through Vocal Training, revised edition, by Chuck Jones. New York: Back Stage Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publishers. 98. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2005
"A Comparison Performance Review of Hamlet: Peter Brook's production of 'Hamlet' and the Royal National Theatre's Production of 'Hamlet.'" The Voice and Speech Review 2: 322. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2003
Review of Make Your Voice Heard: An Actor's Guide for Increased Dramatic Range Through Vocal Training, by Chuck Jones. The Voice and Speech Review 2: 318. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2003
Review of "A Dream Play," by Robert Wilson. Theatre Journal 53.2: 498-99. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2001
Creative Work
Vocal coach for the off- Broadway production of Regrets, by Matt Charman. Manhattan Theatre Club. February-March. 2012
Participated in the reading of South African play Green Man Flashing, by Mike Van Graan. PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. CUNY Graduate Center. New York. Played the role of Gabby Anderson. Directed by Barbara Rubin. April. 2011
Served as the vocal support and maintenance (voice coach) during the Royal Shakespeare Company six-week residency in New York with the Lincoln Center Festival. Responsibilities included pre-show warm-ups with the actors, maintenance of vocal health and supporting acoustic issues in the reconstructed theater. July-August. 2011
Three to four Main Stage productions and four to five Second Stage productions per academic year, Department of Theater, Brooklyn College, 1999-present. 2010
Voice coach for third-year industry showcase, Central School of Speech & Drama; third-year production of "Remembrances of Things Past," by Proust, adapted by Pinter; and second-year production of ''King Lear." 2010
New play development workshop: Staged reading of "The Great Harvest in the Role of Woman," by Dori Robinson, directed by Dennis Schebetta. Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference. 2009
Produced and supervised the Brooklyn College Graduating Actors' Showcase for Professional Industry, held at the Abingdon Theatre and successfully received by the industry who are looking for new talent. Actors were contacted for appointments with agent and casting director offices. 2005-09. 2009
"Dialect and Cultural Resource: Sorrows and Rejoicings," by Athol Fugard, directed by Kenneth Washington, artistic director, Guthrie Theatre, Minnesota. NYU Graduate Acting Program. November-December. 2008
Director, "Rooms," a collage of three solo performance pieces, presented at The Prospect Theatre Company, New York. Based on solo performance pieces developed in the final semester of M.F.A. acting training. 2008
As mentor to the acting students in the Theater Department, will play the role of Arkardina in Chekhov's "The Seagull," directed by Mary Robinson. Brooklyn College. 2007
"Oranges Like the Sun." Original solo performance written and performed by Judylee Vivier, directed by Thomas A. Bullard, presented at the 78th Street Theatre Lab. 2005
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Grant, to continue research of the Roy Hart Theatre's "Extended Voice and Body" Approach for Actor Training, begun in 2009. $5,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
Brooklyn College Travel Award, for research in South Africa based on the potential role of solo performance on "Healing of a Society." $1,200. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Dorothy Mennen Award, Voice and Speech Trainers' Association, to begin research/development on a new solo performance piece at the Roy Hart Theatre in France. $1,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Promotion to full professor. (Awards and Honors) 2010
Brooklyn College Travel Award, to attend "Workshop in Roy Hart Embodied Voice Technique With Carol Mendelsohn and Saule Ryan, Master Teachers From the Roy Hart Theatre in France." University of Illinois, Chicago. February. (Awards and Honors) 2009
Competitive six-month, full-pay Fellowship Leave from Brooklyn College, Spring 2010. (Awards and Honors) 2009
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, to travel to the Roy Hart Theatre in Maleragues, France, to fulfill the proposal: "The Roy Hart 'Extended Voice and Body' Approach to Actors' Vocal Training." $1,500. (Grants and Fellowships) 2009
Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher Award. (Awards and Honors) 2007
PSC-CUNY grant, for furthering research on the relationship between women performers and their voices. (Grants and Fellowships) 2007
PSC-CUNY grant, for research on the relationship between women performers and their voices. (Grants and Fellowships) 2006
Received tenure and promotion to associate professor. (Awards and Honors) 2004
Research Activities
Invited to participate in a weeklong intensive Lessac Voice Workshop with Lessac master teacher Barry Kur (University of Pennsylvania) and Kate Ingram (University of Central Florida). New York, July. 2011
Participated in Alexander Technique Workshop Intensive for Voice Practitioners and Actors, Moving Voices With Quiet Hands. Boston, May. 2011
Participated in Roy Hart Workshop Intensive, Discovering Your Whole Voice, with Marya Lowry. Brandeis University. Waltham, Mass., June. 2011
Attendee, Roy Hart Intensive Vocal Training Workshop at the Roy Hart International Arts Centre, Malerargues, France. This vocal teacher training intensive provides a structure for both advancing in Roy Hart
voice work and theater training. October. 2009
"LeCoq Technique: The Art of Movement at the Service of the Actor With Master Teacher Norman Taylor." Five-day workshop that explores the analysis of movement, one of the fundamentals of Jacques LeCoq's approach to artistic training. Ideal Glass Gallery. New York, July. 2008
"Breath and Performance" conference workshops. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. London. 2007
"Voice Workshops for Women with Olympia Dukakis." Investigation of women's vocal and physical empowerment through theater exercises inspired by the Sumarian Myth, "The Descent of Inanna." INTAR Theatre. New York, June. 2007
Alba Emoting Effector Training Pattern Workshop. University of Cincinnati. June 22-July 1. 2007
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Training/Educating Voice Practitioners for a Rapidly Changing World." The Voice and Speech Trainers' Association Conference (VASTA). Washington, D.C., August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2012
Invited to contribute a presentation to the International Perspective Panel for the Royal Shakespeare Company Conference on Classical Theatre Training. Practitioners/scholars from Australia, South Africa and Singapore also contributed. Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford-Upon-Avon, United Kingdom. September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
"Innovative Strategies to Launch Graduate Actors Into the Business of Theater" panel moderator and co-participant with acting coach Mary Beth Easley, Brooklyn College M.F.A. acting alumni and industry professionals. Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference. New York, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"Women (Performers) and Their Relationship to Their Voices" paper and forum and disucssion. Original Voices: Vocal Methodologies From the Source, Voice and Speech Trainers Association Conference. New York, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"Acting Voice: The Need for the Word" voice workshop for undergraduate actors. Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival. SUNY New Paltz. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Solo Performance: Practice and Pedagogy." Voice and Speech Trainers' Association Annual Conference. The National Center for Voice. Denver. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
"Voice and The Expressions of Self." Practical Voice Science: Watch, Learn and Play Workshop presentation for members demonstrating the integration of my practice as an actor and a voice trainer. Voice and Speech Trainers Association. National Center for Voice and Speech. Denver, July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Vivier, Judylee, Marietta Hedges (Catholic University), Sanford Robbins (University of Delaware), Robin Quick (Towson University), Catherine Weidner (Shakespeare Theatre Company) and Andreas Manolokakis (The Actors' Studio). "Everything You Need and Want to Know About M.F.A. Acting Programs" panel. Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival. SUNY New Paltz. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"The Activing Voice" workshop, presented to voice professionals (mainly speech-language pathologists and otolaryngologists interested in the performer's voice). The Voice Foundation Symposium. Philadelphia. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006
Professional Leadership
Re-elected to the board of directors for VASTA: the national/international Voice and Speech Trainers' Association. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2012
Member, board of directors, The Voice and Speech Trainers' Association, 2004-07. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2007
Pedagogical Achievements
Cohort of graduating M.F.A. actors invited to audition for the Public Theatre's upcoming season with graduates from Juilliard, NYU, Yale and Brown, by casting directors Heidi Griffiths and Jordan Thaler. 2012
Invited as the International Visiting Professor to teach at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD Conservatory), Cardiff, Wales, for five weeks. 28 contact hours a week designing and teaching the following courses: Voice for the Actor -- First-, Second- and Third-year B.A. Actors; Acting to the Postgraduate Students (M.A. students); Voice Coach/Consultant for Third-Year Production of A Month in the Country by Turgenev. September-October. 2012
Invited to lead a workshop at the Royal Shakespeare Company for South African actors, sponsored by the Brett Goldin Bursary, to promote their training/education. July. 2010
Invited to teach and head the Voice Department for the B.A. in Devised and Collaborative Theatre, Central School of Speech & Drama, University of London, April-August. 2010
Cohort of graduating M.F.A. actors invited to audition for the Public Theatre's upcoming season with graduates from Juilliard, NYU and Columbia, by casting directors Heidi Griffiths and Jordan Thaler. 2009
Invited by Brooklyn College Associate Provost Jerry Mirotznik to present "The Act of Teaching," a workshop on teaching skills to new faculty that introduced basic acting skills and tools that enable effective communication into the classroom presentation. New Faculty Retreat. CUNY Graduate Center. 2008
Head, M.F.A. in Acting program, Department of Theater, 1999-present. 1999
Other Professional Activities
Peer reviewer, The VASTA Journal, The Voice and Speech Review 2005, Shakespeare Around the Globe; Voice and Gender, 2007 for the Pedagogy and Coaching and Voice Production, Voice Related Movement Studies sections. 2005-present. 2010
