Growing up in the South, my musical beginnings were in school and church choirs. “Stop singing so loud!” — a critique I heard frequently from fellow young singers. Of course I didn’t listen.

 

Add in a dollop of dance, and you will understand the joy I found in Musical Theater during my high school years. I then went on to major in classical vocal performance in college, and beyond. After receiving my masters and doctorate in vocal performance, along with a year at the Royal Academy of Music, I taught singing at the collegiate level for thirty-one years. I loved learning to sing, I loved every student I ever taught, and I am still happy to have that skill in my arsenal to use wherever and whenever needed.

Although I am one of the nicest people I know, I find myself frequently cast as the uptown rich bitch— the overpowering, manipulative matriarch or CEO. But always with a huge heart at the center, which reveals itself as I try to protect my children or colleagues. The kind part I get, having been raised in the South, and now that I think about it, that also might explain the joyful release that comes from letting loose on somebody who might (or might not) deserve it, too… Either way, it feels good! I can also play a cool, hip Grandma or a tough bartender. I think it’s the hair.