Caitlin Popek at the National Voice Intensive in 2011. photograph courtesy of Fabrice Grover www.fabricegroverphoto.com and the National Voice Intensive.
Caitlin Popek, graduate of the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART), recently returned from Canada’s National Voice Intensive. This renowned five-week professional training workshop in Vancouver is attended by professional artists from across North America and abroad.
An ambitious, dedicated and focused student in her academic studies, Caitlin excelled on the stage when she played the lead character Desiree Armfeldt in the DART 2009 production of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. More recently she honed her skills as the Teaching Assistant for DART 3P54 Directing and she has just begun production managing for Showboat Festival Theatre in Port Colborne.
“My experience at the Voice Intensive was absolutely amazing! . . . One of the first things they told us was, ‘You will be confused and that’s exactly where we want you to be.’ Even with that statement I was confused!” she says, “You mean, we’re not here to get answers?” After experiencing 5 weeks of intense vocal, physical, emotional, and mental work that first statement made complete sense. “I did leave with a lot of confusion, but it was the kind of confusion that drives me to keep digging and discovering and investigating in my work.”
Caitlin adds, “There were things that I understood already about my voice from classes experienced at Brock and the Intensive just pumped up the volume on all those things. . . For example, I knew that my voice reveals who I am but I did not really understand how much my voice reveals, AND that that is the only thing it can do. As a speaker, all you can do is allow what is inside you to be revealed and the response is out of your control! To allow myself to be fully revealed is a very scary thing but when I achieved this feat it was the most wonderful feeling I have ever experienced. To allow myself to be whoever I am inside, at any given moment, became an amazingly freeing thing.”
Caitlin graduated in 2010 with First-Class Standing in the Performance Concentration of the Honours Dramatic Arts program. Working with some of the best emerging actors and trainers in Canada in 2011 Caitlin has already achieved an experience of an actor’s lifetime.
“Without the help and guidance from many professors at Brock I would not have been able, or ready, to experience what I did at the Voice Intensive. It was such a wonderful experience and I want to thank everyone who helped me to get there!!”
Congratulations on your success, Caitlin!