Thriving in the Inter-Disciplines
		By Lissa Tyler Renaud, Ph.D.
	Both the Actors' Training Project and the Voice Training Project, to which I have dedicated my professional energy with great intensity, are programs designed to synthesize the spectrum of performing arts-related disciplines. I developed these programs with the idea that the acting teacher's basic responsibility is not only to give actors of a wide variety of technical vocabularies and approaches, but also to provide mentoring in intellectual and persuasive skills. Therefore, in conjunction with passing on the actor's craft, I encourage actors to think critically, to write and speak clearly, and to collaborate with others productively. As a result, the actors I train are characterized by an unusual quality of informedness and aesthetic savvy. I have also put both my professional experience and my doctoral degree at the service of vocal training in this country for over twenty years. All of my work with actors, as well as with high- profile figures in public service, business and the media, has been stimulated by my commitment to the beauty and authority of the voice. Vocal training today builds on the work of master teachers Kristin Linklater and Cecily Berry--and there are many other brilliant contributors to the field as well. In my experience, it is wise to pursue a specific "method" after comprehensive training is completed. This way, the period of actual training serves to broaden, rather than narrow, a student's focus. I have been loyal to this belief in all of my teaching work. Aside from my acting and vocal knowledge, there are two things characteristic of my teaching. First, I am convinced that the actor's scene study and vocal instruction are maximized by training in physical alignment and stage movement. Breath and body being inextricably linked, I have made a deep professional commitment to training them together. Second, I am convinced that theoretical studies must be the cornerstone of a program that seeks to foster meaningful inquiry into performance. If we are going to create a viable theatre for the future, we will need to teach our present generation of theatre and film actors how to recognize, and engage with, the lively and elegant theoretical debates of the past 3000 years. In the Performing arts, whether one's goal is to enliven the past, to articulate the present or to build the future, the parameters around the study of "theory" need to be defined in unusually broad terms. Theatre and dance are, by their very natures, interdisciplinary pursuits, and an understanding of their particular theoretical concerns needs to serve as a springboard for making contact with other disciplines. Theatre, after all, is nothing without architecture and history, without music, art, dance and love of language, or without an all-inclusive discussion of human values. At the Actors’ Training Project and the Voice Training Project, we are working to dignify the role of integrated performing arts education in the context of training and beyond. Perhaps our path with cross with yours.
	© 2001 Lissa Tyler Renaud. All rights reserved.