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
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