Leigh Wilson Smiley

Assistant Professor
Co-Director of MFA in Performance

301.405.6683
2821 Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
lsmiley@umd.edu

 

Education/Training: B.A., Marlboro College, Vermont, 1982; Designated Linklater Voice Teacher; Training: Richard Armstrong, Jean Rene Toussaint, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Cecily Berry, Michael Howard, William Hickey

Areas of Specialization/Interest: Voice, Acting, Text, Shakespeare, Speech, Dialects

Professional Affiliations: Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Actors Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA), Voice and Speech Association (VASTA), Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)

Representative Productions:

Voice & Dialect Coach: The Shakespeare Theatre (WDC), Ford's Theatre, The Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA), Arena Stage, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Catalyst Theatre Co., Georgetown University, Catholic University, Olney Theatre, Open Eye Theatre. Performance: Cassandra Project, Anna Bella Eema, Mary Stuart, Macbeth, Quills, Custom of the Country, The Winter's Tale, Two Noble Kinsmen, A Lover's Discourse, Under Milkwood, What the Butler Saw, The Miser. Film: Beloved, Twelve Monkeys, Philadelphia, Renaissance. Direction: The Winter's Tale, Trojan Women - University of Maryland, Stop Kiss - University of the Arts, Cassandra Project - Capitol Fringe Festival. International Workshops in: "Shakespeare's Text into Action," "Archetypes and the Voice" (Athens, Greece and Aberystwth, Wales); "Vocal Presence with Self: A Conscious Journey through the F.M. Alexander and Linklater Voice Techniques;" Linklater Voice Workshops; Shakespeare Weekend Intensive Workshops

Representative Publications/Research Activities:

Author: "Cowboy Resonance in America," Voice & Speech Review, 2007; "The Vocal Soundscape of Trojan Women," Voice & Speech Review, 2006.

Honors and Awards: Creative and Performing Arts Award (CAPA), 2006 and 2009.