A Nonbinary Actor Prepares (for Battle)

As a nonbinary actor, preparing my voice is no easy task. In using the term nonbinary, I am referring to an umbrella term (primarily) contained under the transgender umbrella that indicates an individual who is neither exclusively male nor female. There are different definitions of this word: what I offer is my own definition. Other terms I use to describe my gender include genderqueer (someone whose gender exists outside of or beyond society's binary concept of gender); genderfluid (having a gender that changes); and at times transmasculine (a term used to describe someone who was assigned female at birth, and who has a predominantly masculine gender and/or expresses themselves in a way they describe as masculine).

To understand the intricacies of intersections of my identity as a nonbinary actor and how they link to preparing my voice, I first want to offer my positionality. The name on my birth certificate is Katherine Joyce Woodzick. I was born in 1985 in Madison, Wisconsin. I was assigned female a birth and socialized as such. My family was of a lower socioeconomic status, but even so my mother actively sought out opportunities where I could cultivate an emerging interest in theatre and singing.

It all started when I was in a musical version of The Hobbit. I was 12 years old and played Bifur the dwarf and gave voice to Smaug the Dragon, whose big solo moment was a jazzy number aptly named "Breathing Fire." The accompanist for this production took my mother aside and said that I had a "powerful voice" and that she should try to get me into voice lessons, if we could afford them.

My mother immediately started researching local voice teachers specializing in musical theatre. She chose the resident mezzo-soprano of the local Gilbert and Sullivan society. My formal vocal training began with traditional repertoire: the first song I learned was "If Mama Was Married," from Gypsy. We continued with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and through my teacher's guidance, I was able to get into the competitive show choir my freshman year of high school. I competed in show choir three of the four years and was cast in leading musical theatre roles like Mrs. Paroo in The Music Man, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, and Fantine in Les Mis. At the time, it did not occur to me that I could ask about auditioning for male roles, although I know now as a director that many "junior" versions of musicals encourage an all-gender casting lens.

I pursued theatre studies at Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa. My voice teacher was an instructor in the music department. Although there were highs and lows, I want to note that from ages 12 to 22 I had ongoing professional vocal training. These private lessons were supplemented with vocal technique from the theatre department, including Kristin Linklater training. I returned to vocal study at age 31, during my MFA in contemporary performance studies with Ethelyn "Ethie" Friend at Naropa University.

In the period where I was not pursuing formal vocal training I came out as nonbinary and changed my pronouns from she/her/hers to they/them/theirs. I was worried how my voice might be categorized and instructed in this new graduate environment at Naropa. Luckily, Ethie's specialty is in Roy Hart voice work.

Roy Hart was taught by Alfred Wolfsohn, who believed that every human could access an eight-octave range. He was heavily influenced by Carl Jung and asserted that voices of all genders contain both anima and animus. The way Ethie taught voice, gender was never referenced; she instead taught us how to cultivate resonances in the three different bowls of the body and characterized these three timbres as violin, viola, and cello. With great care, empathy, and precision, she encouraged exploration of the self through extended voice work.

In private lessons with Ethie, I discovered that the higher I went into my high (or violin) range, the more notes I could access in my lower register as well. I eventually gained enough low notes to sing...