Louis has been weaving his magic spells in Orkney this week. A group of American, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese and English speech searchers are being led into the charmed atmosphere of pitch and resonance, subtle body, and psychic synesthesia. Lost, one might say, in an ocean of potential sounds they swim through the resonances of the vowel ladder. Then  –  astonishingly  –  when Louis says “now speak your text” they, and it, have changed completely: clear, full of meaning. Somehow in following his navigatory star the speakers slip under the radar of their conscious minds to a place where all sounds await the specific thoughts that will lead to their incarnation. And sound waves of communicative frequencies flow freely from the speaking body to the listening one. I listen to the pitch and resonance of Orkney’s winds with fresh hearing. Thank you, Louis! KRISTIN LINKLATER

Giving Voice: An online Acting and Voice workshop led by Louis Colaianni and Brian McManamon, here’s what participants are saying:

This was one of the most inspiring classes that I’ve ever been a part of. The way I approach characters from now on will be definitely be different (for the better!) because of it. Approaching characters with empathy and recognizing that they are people were two of the biggest things that I left with. This was also a space free of judgment. -Eldren Keys

In taking Brian and Louis’ “Giving a Voice” class, I learned an entirely new approach to acting–an auditory approach–and I will most certainly be implementing this method in my day to day life as an actor and as a person. Through Brian and Louis’ skilled and thoughtful guidance, I began to access richer breath and practice active listening on a deeper level than I have ever before. Brian and Louis led exercises that fully engaged our bodies and voices. I loved it! -Natalie Zimmerman

I had enjoyed working with both Louis and Brian before, so when I saw this class advertised, it felt like a good opportunity to step back in the saddle. I discovered so much breath of life, physically and emotionally, while working in the tradition of Documentary Theatre for the first time. Louis and Brian are generous and incisive instructors, and the work itself challenged me to be more vulnerable and receptive.
-Josh Bloom

Giving Voice with Brian and Louis is an experience unlike any other. Sourcing from real people in the real world has reenergized me as an artist and reminded me why we tell stories. People, human beings, are at the center of this art form—they come before technique, industry, institution, etc.—and GIVING VOICE, in its beautiful agenda-less ethos, is a constant ongoing exploration where people are paramount. Taking responsibility and standing for another’s lived experience while also learning to stand for my own has completely shifted the way I view character. I always believed I needed to disappear myself to act, but with Brian and Louis, I’ve discovered I need to show up for the character, that the work is something we—actor and character—do together. Empathy is a practice, letting in and letting go is a practice, and this class is the best space I’ve encountered to engage fully and honestly with those practices. -Andrew Oppmann

This workshop is a transcendent journey for the actor. It uniquely explores the mysteries of empathic embodiment and authentic representation.   The process evolves through the phenomenon of storytelling.  Mesmerizing, breath awareness, voicing, and listening create a vibrational sanctuary for character development. The online environment provided a powerfully affective intimacy for the process.               -Catherine Slade

Click here to hear Louis’s lesson on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 65

Kristin Linklater, 1936-2020. Her work lives on!

Is sound matter? No, but, it carries mass and generates a gravitational field… “calculations show that sound waves carry a tiny negative mass, which means that in the presence of a gravitational field, such as that of the Earth, their trajectory is bent upwards. Esposito and colleagues found that sound waves also generate a small gravitational field” -nature.com

ABOUT LOUIS
Louis Colaianni is a voice, speech, dialect and text director in the professional theatre, and teacher of voice, speech, phonetics, acting and Shakespeare performance.

STUDY LINKLATER VOICE WITH LOUIS
He served as dialect coach for the Off-Broadway production of Eve Ensler’s play Emotional Creature directed by Jo Bonney, the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of June Moon directed by Jessica Stone, and the LAByrinth Theater Company production of The Little Flower of East Orange by Stephen Adly Guirgis directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

STUDY PHONETICS, SPEECH, DIALECTS & ACCENTS WITH LOUIS
He was dialect coach to Don Cheadle for the film Miles Ahead, Bill Murray for the films Hyde Park on Hudson and St Vincent, Anna Gunn for the film Little Red Wagon, Richard Schiff for the McCarter Theatre’s Talley’s Folly under the supervision of Lanford Wilson, and America Ferrera (prep) for the film Chavez. He was vocal coach to Will Ferrell for the Broadway and HBO productions of You’re Welcome America.

TRAIN TO TEACH LINKLATER VOICE WITH LOUIS
He has taught in many actor-training programs and served as voice and text coach for productions at theatres throughout the United States, including, Santa Fe Opera, Playwrights Horizons, The Culture Project, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Westport Country Playhouse, The McCarter Theatre, The Labyrinth Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Shakespeare Festival of St Louis, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival and Seattle Repertory Theatre.

STUDY CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE WITH LOUIS
He is the author of several books including, The Joy of Phonetics and Accents, Shakespeare’s Names: A New Pronouncing Dictionary, Bringing Speech to Life (with Claudia Anderson), and How to Speak Shakespeare (with Cal Pritner).

JOIN LOUIS COLAIANNI’S VOICE AND SPEECH STUDIO
Visiting associate professor at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and Syracuse University, Department of Drama. He was a tenured, associate professor at University of Missouri–Kansas City, taught Acting Classics and Voice at Vassar College, and the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University,

A VOICE OF EXPERIENCE
Louis Colaianni has given workshops in Europe, Australia and North America. He is the founder of Colaianni Speech, the originator of the Phonetic Pillows approach to Phonetics and Stage Accents which is used by many actor training programs, the author of four books on Voice and Speech. He studied voice with Kristin Linklater and is a Designated Linklater Teacher.