Using Theatrical Intimacy Practices to Create Vocal Health Boundaries

PAVA 3rd Thursdays Series:

Musical theatre rehearsals can sometimes be vocally risky environments. Stage directors, music directors, and other rehearsal leaders sometimes unknowingly ask singers to produce vocal sounds that may not be sustainable or easily accomplished in healthy ways. In this power dynamic, singers may feel as though they have to go forward with these directions, even when they have concerns. How can they navigate these situations in a way that honors the requests of the directors without potentially compromising their vocal health?

In this presentation, we will use the practices and language of theatrical intimacy training to help singers establish vocal boundaries. Working from a consent-based approach, we will outline steps they can take in various rehearsal and performance settings to advocate for themselves and prioritize their vocal health while still demonstrating a commitment to the vision of the directors.

$15 for general public. FREE for PAVA Members.

PAVA Members: Visit the members's section at PAVAVocology.org for your code.

MODERATOR: Lynn Maxfield, PAVA Western Governor

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Brian Manternach, DM, is an associate professor in the University of Utah Department of Theatre and a research associate for the Utah Center for Vocology, where he is on the faculty of the Summer Vocology Institute. His students have been cast in film, TV, national and international Broadway tours, Off-Broadway, regional Equity theatres, and on cruise lines.

A recipient of the 2024 Cal-Western NATS Teacher of the Year Award, the 2021 Faculty Excellence in Research Award from the University of Utah College of Fine Arts, and the 2016 Voice Pedagogy Award from the NATS Foundation, he has given presentations for PAVA, Voice Foundation, International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference, Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Fall Voice, Interdisciplinary Society for Quantitative Research in Music and Medicine, Voice Study Centre, TEDxSaltLakeCity, and for NATS at national, regional, district, and chapter conferences.

He is an associate editor of the Journal of Singing—writing and editing “The Independent Teacher” column—and a regular columnist for Classical Singer magazine, which has published more than 100 of his interviews, articles, and reviews. Additionally, he has written articles for the Journal of Voice, Voice and Speech Review, VOICEPrints, College Music Symposium, NATS Inter Nos, and the Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance Journal.

His stage credits range from Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail to Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus to Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He holds a Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

David Eggers is a director, choreographer, and former Broadway actor. He currently serves as an assistant professor in the University of Utah Department of Theatre, where he teaches acting and studio classes, and has directed productions of And the World Goes ‘Round, Cabaret, Into the Woods, and Nine. He hosts a podcast called “The Mental Game of Musical Theatre,” which coincides with a forthcoming book on the same topic for Routledge Press.

Eggers has performed in ten Broadway musicals, including Billy Elliott, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun, Saturday Night Fever, The Wedding Singer, Curtains, Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He has also served as assistant director and/or assistant choreographer for Broadway productions of Anything Goes, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Living on Love, and In Transit, as well as for Off-Broadway and regional productions of Two Gentlemen of Verona for the Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park (NYC), My One and Only and Damn Yankees for the annual Roundabout Theatre gala (NYC), Little Shop of Horrors and Bernstein on Broadway for the Kennedy Center, On the Town for the Boston Pops and Tanglewood, Mamma Mia! for the Hollywood Bowl, and Lady Be Good, The Band Wagon, and I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road for City Center Encores (NYC), among others.

A graduate of Northwestern University, he now happily resides closer to mountains than skyscrapers with his husband, two children, and one dog.