At TAG's Workshop, Actors Pump Up Their Voices

By Lee Cundangan

Manila, Philippines, April 29, 2013 -- An actor uses two important tools: the body and the voice. Oftentimes in acting workshops, the facilitator focuses more on physical activities than vocal exercises. However at Theater Actors Guild's (TAG) Actor's Voice Workshop, a different approach to developing the actor is brought about.

Front L to R: Kalila Aguilos, Banaue Miclat-Janssen, Jenny Jamora
Back L to R: Rico del Rosario, Christopher Aronson, Lesley Lina, Lara Tarranco, Regina de Vera, Josh Ramirez, Therese Carlos, Nic Campos, Gino Ramirez, Cara Eriguel

"The workshop has nothing to do with singing," Banaue Miclat-Janssen, the workshop director and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting graduate from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, told BroadwayWorld.com (BWW) when we asked her to describe the workshop. "The process involves breathing; learning one's place or position; and awareness of one's muscle positions. It's like opening up yourself to a good tension, or releasing and using such tension in the actor's own way."

According to Kalila Aguilos, TAG's president, who observed the workshop's first day, the actors were taught on how to relax the body. Once the body is relaxed and the actor is aware of his or her vocal muscles, vocal quality is enhanced.

Also at the workshop, Miclat-Janssen establishes an open and safe environment, which allows an interactive exchange, open to constructive criticism, among the participants.

"I believe that an actor is a storyteller in his or her own right. In their [students'] respective pieces [for the recital], I asked them three basic questions to build their characterizations: What do you want to say in this story? What worked for you? And what could be done to further improve it?" shared Miclat-Janssen.

The Actor's Voice Workshop comprises six sessions spread out over six weeks, which culminated in a recital at the Opera Haus two Saturdays ago. For the recital, each student chose his or her recital pieces, one comedic, the other dramatic. BWW was there, and we felt the recital yielded outstanding results: each actor performed with depth and heartfelt, complex characterizations.

Recital monologues, performed by actors Christopher Aronson, Nic Padilla Campos, Therese Carlos, Rico del Rosario, Regina de Vera, Cara Eriguel, Lesley Leveriza-Lina, Gino Ramirez, Josh Ramirez and Lara Tarranco, included excerpts from "Ang Anim na Kapanahunan ng Ebolusyon" (Jason Silva's "The Six Epochs of Evolution"), "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," William Shakespeare's "As You Like It," "The Merchant of Venice," "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Measure for Measure," "Hamlet," and "Coriolanus."

The Actor's Voice Workshop, part of a series of master classes for actors, made possible through grants from the National Commission on Culture and Arts, is a brainchild of TAG's training and development department, headed by actors Jenny Jamora and Robert Sena.

The next workshop, Actor's Instrument: The Lessac System with Robin Aronson-Carr, is set for June 4, 5, and 6.

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