Ginger Eckert

Voice and Speech Coach, Actor

Ginger offers ensemble coaching, private study for professional actors, and workshops for professionals in corporate and other cultures: all in pursuit of fuller, clearer communication. Contact her directly for details and requests.

Ginger Eckert is a professional actor and teacher of voice and speech. Her teaching is rooted in culturally sustaining and accessible methods, drawing from her experiences in the work of Fitzmaurice, Jones, Rodenburg, Berry, Alexander, Laban, and Knight-Thompson.

She is a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and proud member of VASTA (Voice & Speech Trainers Association).

In addition to voice, she teaches and professionally coaches speech, dialects and acting for theater and film. Her dialect and voice coaching credits include BROTHERHOOD/Showtime series, New York Theater Workshop RED DOG HOWLS starring Kathleen Chalfant, Ripe Time's critically acclaimed SEPTIMUS & CLARISSA, Trinity Repertory Company, and Making Books Sing. She is Assistant Professor of Voice & Speech at Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University and has served on faculty at SUNY/Purchase, Brown/Trinity MFA, NYU/Tisch at Atlantic Acting School, The New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, NYU/Tisch at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, ACTeen, and as visiting artist at Juniata College.

She has performed in indie films THE GARDEN, LOSE ONE FRIEND, THE DANGLING MODIFIER, and onstage with The Public Theater, The Kennedy Center, Trinity Repertory Company, Marin Theater Company, LaMama, Clubbed Thumb, Ars Nova, the Women's Project, and Guerilla Shakespeare Project.

Ginger earned her MFA in Acting from Brown/Trinity and BA in Literature from American University.

She grew up in Florida, became a New Yorker, and now lives in Oregon with her husband and two daughters.

Voice Work

Ginger is fascinated with the voice and expression. Her training methods focus on opening breath, deepening awareness of sensation and impulse, and filling out range to create gorgeous presence and communication of self, thought, and language.

She offers private vocal training, in addition to classes and coaching of productions.

Her experience includes:

  • Dialect & Voice Coach, Production & professional clients since 2005. Credits include New York Theater Workshop, Ripe Time, Making Books Sing, Showtime's "Brotherhood" series.
  • Teacher of Voice & Speech: Assistant Professor at Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University since 2019. Seven years on core acting faculty at SUNY/Purchase's BFA Acting program and HB Studio in NYC. Previously at Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA, New York University/Tisch at Atlantic & Playwrights Horizons, and New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts.
  • Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®
  • MFA in Acting, Brown University; Teaching Fellow of Thom Jones, Head of Voice & Speech.
  • Visit CV for full credits.

CV

There are few things more vital than freeing your voice. How you open your breath and share your imagination & experience is a courageous venture. Let's breathe and talk, shall we?

Ginger offers private study and workshops for professionals in corporate & other cultures in pursuit of fuller, clearer communication.

Click section titles to expand.

  • Sept 2019 - Present

    Assistant Professor of Voice & Speech, Performance / Oregon Center for the Arts @ Southern Oregon University

    Built and implemented a new curriculum to develop healthy, supportive, culturally sustaining methods for greater vocal strength, flexibility, effectiveness and transformational speech skills in professional actor training. Vocal methods weave teachings of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, Chuck Jones, F.M. Alexander, Rodenberg. Speech methods weave a multi-lingual approach to sounds, International Phonetic Alphabet, prosody, idiolects, cultural contexts, and teachings from Knight-Thompson Speechwork. Application to poetic, self-created, new media, and performance texts. Courses taught include: Voice & Speech 1-4, Accents, Voiceovers, Performing Shakespeare, Public Speaking, Acting 5, Intro to Acting.

  • Sept 2012 - 2019

    Lecturer in Voice / SUNY-Purchase College B.F.A.

    Create & instruct voice and text curriculum in B.F.A. professional actor training program integrating vocal methods, mainly Chuck Jones Vocal Production & Fitzmaurice Voicework® within Voice & Speech team with Pamela Prather & Maggie Surrovel. First year: Grounding self-awareness of truth, honesty & relationship in one’s physical and energetic experience. To build connected, strong, flexible instruments, guide students through development of free breath, balanced alignment, resonance, range, vocal flexibility, strength & expressiveness. Vocal anatomy, health & maintenance for the professional voice. Text progression from fundamental vocal directness to poetry, political speech to contemporary dramatic text. Second year: Advance ownership of the physical vocal practice as the primary tool for growth, expand text work to activating Shakespeare’s verse. Conceived and directed annual spring voice project featuring Shakespeare’s texts, productions have included selections from Measure for Measure, As You Like It, King John, Macbeth, Othello. Third year: Integrate voice and accent work with coaching for productions and further text skills for styles, contemporary and classical texts. Vocal coach Purchase Repertory Theatre main-stage productions.

  • Sept 2013 - 2019

    Instructor, Voice & Speech / HB Studio

    Train professional actors and apprentices using Fitzmaurice Voicework® and Knight-Thompson Speechwork with application to texts. Advanced accent training for non-native English speakers to gain facility with American speech sounds and apply vocal dynamics in connected speech. Introduce students to experiencing of full IPA and detail. Accent workshops have included NYC/Brooklyn, British RP & Cockney. In the spirit of its founders, Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof, HB Studio offers professional classes for committed actors, directors, and playwrights to hone their skills in a community of peers and mentors. Courses taught: Accents of American English 1 + 2, Accent Workshops, Speech 1, Speech 2, Speaking Voice.

  • Jan 2004 - Present

    DIALECT & ACTING COACH, PRIVATE, NYC & REGIONAL PRODUCTIONS

    Coaching & lessons in phonetics & characteristics, British R.P., Cockney, East Anglia, South African, Irish, Scots, Trinidad, Jamaican, German, Russian, Swedish, Italian, Mid-Atlantic, Southern American (various), New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Mexican, Arabic (Egyptian), and all dialects including original-speaker research. Production credits include: Ripe Time’s Septimus & Clarissa (world premiere, September 2011) & Making Books Sing’s The Butterfly (April 2012). One-on-one and group curriculum per students’ goals, including professional productions & auditions, graduate school preparation, and accent expansion. Vocal instruction includes Fitzmaurice, Jones, Rodenburg, Berry & other methodologies. Specialized Shakespeare & classical text analysis & tools. Analysis of student’s dialect/accent to approach growth in speech: clarify shaping of articulation; focus on clarity for stage or business speaking. Students have included Brazilian, Irish, Australian, French, American, Japanese, Korean, and more speakers.

  • Sept 2012 - Dec 2012

    MFA Instructor of Voice & Speech / Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA

    One-term interim for Head of Voice & Speech; taught all three years of MFA actors & directors; coursework & production coaching (including As You Like It, Winter's Tale, Machinal). First year: Fundamentals of vocal production, connecting to vocal power, expanding range, application to imagistic text. Second year: Intensive Shakespeare work. Third year: Classical Greek drama & units on Irish and Jamaican accents.

  • Sept 2010 - July 2012

    Voice Instructor / Atlantic Acting School/NYU-Tisch School of the Arts

    Instruct conservatory courses in Voice using Chuck Jones Vocal Production & Fitzmaurice Voicework® methods. To build connected, strong, flexible instruments: guide students through development of free breath, balanced alignment, resonance, range, vocal flexibility, strength & expressiveness. Vocal anatomy, health & maintenance for the professional voice. Advance ownership of the physical vocal practice as the primary tool for growth, coach text for integration into acting & productions. NYU/Tisch B.F.A. program and Atlantic Conservatory programs, first- & second-year coursework. Summer Teen Programs.

  • Sept 2008 - May 2012

    Voice & Speech & Dialects, Instructor / Playwrights Horizons Theatre School/NYU-Tisch School of the Arts

    Led B.F.A. 3rd-year conservatory courses in Voice, Speech & Dialects, including new curriculum design for acting & musical theatre tracks. Co-teach Voice & Speech classes with all 2nd-year students using Chuck Jones Vocal Production in conjunction with Fitzmaurice Voicework®, Alexander & other methodologies, and Dudley Knight & Edith Skinner speech training. Focus on contemporary plays, Greeks & Shakespeare, with full exploration of requirements within rhetoric and poetic language. Warm-up and voice exercise development. One-on-one sessions with students needing specialized attention for speech impediments, accents, etc. Coordinate and further develop B.F.A. curriculum with conservatory faculty & within Voice Department.

  • Sept 2011 - 2012

    Instructor, Voice & Speech / New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts

    Lead conservatory courses in Voice & Speech, including tailored voice & movement courses for film & TV, theater, and combined curriculum with combination of Chuck Jones Vocal Production, Fitzmaurice Voicework®, Alexander & other methodologies, and speech training for acting on-camera, commercial & voice-over work.

  • 2009 - Apr 2012

    Artistic Associate & Lead Actor / Guerrilla Shakespeare Project

  • Jan 2006 - Jun 2009

    Editor, Subscription Services / Rodale

    Write, edit, produce content & art, and coordinate marketing interactive publications in subscription brands including: Biggest Loser Club, Prevention Flat Belly Diet, Diabetes DTOUR Diet, Curves Complete, Celebrity Fit Club. Men’s Health Personal Trainer. Coordinate content with in-house editors and marketers. Directed the design of editorial templates to continue growing product interest.

  • Jan 2000 - August 2002

    Associate Editor, Theatre Bay Area Magazine / Theatre Bay Area

    Write feature articles, interviews & monthly column on Bay-area & national arts news. Assign, edit, copy-edit & proofread stories on performing arts. Compile monthly classified & calendar listings. Create ad copy. Coordinate & edit yearly publications: Theatre Directory, Space Directory & Education Directory.

  • Jan 1999 - Aug 2002

    Board Member (2000-2002), Literary Manager (1999-2000) / Bay Area Playwrights Festival

    Board Member, The Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco, Board President: Belinda Taylor Literary Manager, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Artistic Director: Jayne Wenger

  • 1999 - 2001

    Administrative Assistant / Z Space Studio

  • 2013

    Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®

    Fitzmaurice Institute
    Fitzmaurice Voicework® Teacher Certification 9 (2011-2012)

  • 2001 – 2005

    Brown University

    Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Acting, Brown/Trinity MFA Program
    Teaching Fellow in Voice & Speech, 2004-2005 Assistant to Thom Jones, Director of Voice & Speech for Graduate Acting & Trinity Repertory Company. One-on-one coaching and class work with 1st- and 2nd-year M.F.A. actors focusing on breath work, resonance, accents, text analysis, dialects, phonetic translations, scansion, audition pieces & acting for productions.

  • 1998

    American Conservatory Theater

    Summer Training Congress in Acting
    Activities: & ACT STUDIO Acting coursework 1999-2000

  • 1990 –1994

    American University

    Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Literature

  • Honors:

    New York Innovative Theater Award Nomination for The Whore of Sheridan Square

    Elliot Norton Award for The Long Christmas Ride Home

    Bay Area Critics’ Circle Award for Stories by Tobias Wolff

Contact

Ginger Eckert