Shannon Holmes

Theatre Department
Assistant Professor

Office: RC 272
E-mail: shannon.holmes@uregina.ca
Phone: (306)337-2400

Research interests

Voice, Speech, Singing, Extended Vocal Techniques, Acting, Devised-Theatre, Cross-disciplinary Processes, Interdisciplinary Studies, Embodiment, Somatics, Autoethnography.

Dr. Shannon Holmes (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre specializing in voice. Her research focuses on developing cross-disciplinary methods that disrupt the dividing line between speech and singing to mobilize new tools for performers. Central in her explorations is using autoethnographic performance practices to examine the connections between the lived body and voice to centralize the self in devising theatre.

Dr. Holmes is Co-Lead Researcher in the Voice Mapping Lab at the University of Regina where, along with Dr. Melissa Morgan (Music), they are writing an Open Educational Resource pressbook which will offer interdisciplinary approaches to voice training for acting and singing students with a special focus on providing access to training for all regardless of geographical, financial or other barriers. Additionally, she is co-editing a special issue of the Canadian Theatre Review journal, Issue 196, "Voicework in Canada," due to be released in the Fall of 2023.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Dr. Holmes is experienced as an actor, singer, vocal coach, intimacy coordinator, director and writer. She is trained in a broad range of voice, acting and dance methods, including bel canto, extended vocal technique, Contact Improvisation and Fitzmaurice Voicework. As a performer, she has appeared in Opera, Musical Theatre, Shakespeare, Contemporary Theatre and devised projects. Her solo autobiographical show The Crook of Your Arm was produced in Montréal, New York and the Royal Shakespeare Company's studio stage, The Other Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.

Accreditation 

Ph.D. Drama and Theatre Studies, University of Birmingham UK  2020
Dissertation: Ephemeral Repetitions: Deconstructing Vocal Technique and Freeing Spontaneous Expression for Authentic Vocal Performance

 

M.F.A. Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College, Port Townsend, WA, U.S.A. 2013
Thesis: Il n'y a pas de youkali, There is No Youkali; Inspiring Authentic Vocal Expression; Excavating The Truth of Experience.

 

B.F.A. Theatre Performance (Minor Music) Concordia University, Montréal Quebec 2000

Works of Note

Conference Papers

2023 "Destructure, Restructure, Devise: Fitzmaurice Voicework® as co-creator in devising solo autobiographical music theatre." Performative Presentation. 6th International Fitzmaurice Voicework® Conference, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

2023 "Bridging the Divide Between Embodied Voice and Technology: Mapping New Pedagogies in Theatre and Singing Training," Co-authored by Dr. Melissa Morgan, Voice and Speech Teacher's Association Conference, La Paz, Mexico

2022 "Building a Repository of Vocal Expression; Mapping the intersection of the ephemeral live voice and technology" Soundings; Canadian Voice Practitioner's Symposium, University of Victoria, BC

2021 "The Empty Space: Rediscovering the freedom of live vocal expression through outdoor site-specific theatre." Speech and Space Symposium, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

2016 "Practiced Ephemerality. Researching, documenting and making visible the invisible. Embodied voicework as practice-led research." Out of Practice. Showcasing Practice-led Research Conference. University of Birmingham, UK

2015 "The Body as Archive. Freeing The Voice With Autobiographical Narrative." Practice-based Research Conference, Royal Holloway University London, UK

2015 "Your Body Must be Heard. Autoethnography and Voicework." Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, Brussels, Belgium

Other Conference Activity

2020-present Member of The Canadian Soundings Working Group, Canadian Association of Theatre Research  (online)

2017 Performative Paper Presentation "This is The Sound of My Memory." Embodying Memory Through Visceral Voice. FOOT Festival of Original Theatre, University of Toronto, CA

2016 Panel Chair "Working Hard at Letting Go. Exploring the use of conscious spontaneity in performance." Association For Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Chicago U.S.A.

2016 Associate ATHE Conference Planner, Voice and Speech Teachers Association.

Selected Artistic Works

2023 Co-Creator Mixed Media Installation
Temporal Duets: Reverberations Between the Live and Mediated Voice  
A collaboration with Dr. Misha Penton (Bath Spa U.K.) SpokenWeb 2023 Symposium; ReVerb: Echo-Locations of Sound and Space, University of Alberta

 

2023 Director
Night Sweats by Brad McDougall, On Cue Regina, Shubox Theatre, Regina SK

 

2022 Intimacy Coordinator and Vocal Coach
Orlando by Sarah Ruhl, Directed by Jonathan Seinen, University of Regina SK

 

2021 Co-Director (with Kathryn Bracht)
Plan(et) B presents Lights! Climate! Action! University of Regina SK

 

2020 Director
Come Along, Devised Production, University of Regina SK

 

2019 Co-creator and Performer
The Riot Ballet, Co-creation Jumpstart (Canada) Working Group Theatre (U.S.A.) and La Barracuda Carmela (Columbia) Concordia University Montréal, QC

 

2016 Writer, Director, Performer,
The Crook of Your Arm by Shannon Holmes, SoMoTheatre/University of Birmingham, The Other Place Studio, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire U.K. 

 

2015 Writer, Director, Performer
The Crook of Your Arm by Shannon Holmes SoMo Theatre/FRIGID New York Festival, New York

 

2014 Writer and Collaborator
Le Creux de tes bras by Shannon Holmes and Kaitlyn Raitz SoMo Theatre/Espace Pop, Montréal

 

2013 Writer and Director
Elinor and Marianne by Shannon Holmes BC Buds Arts Festival, Vancouver BC

 

2012 Director
Serenade by Slawomir Mrozek Arbutus Studio/SoMo Theatre, Vancouver BC