Micha Espinosa, Vocal Coach / Dialect Designer, Actor
Micha Espinosa is an Arizona-based artist, activist, teacher, and voice, speech, and dialect coach. She has performed, lectured, and taught voice and speech around the world since 1992. She is a proud 30-year member of SAG/AFTRA (Arizona/Utah board member), and has performed in film, television, and regional theatre. As a performer she has been privileged to work with film and theatre directors including Oliver Stone, Peter Patzak, Tina landau, Les Waters, and Aaron Landsman, among others. As a voice and dialect specialist she has worked with regional theatre companies, such as: The Old Globe, Southwest Shakespeare, Mixed Blood, Phoenix Theatre, and Coconut Grove Playhouse as well as clients chef and host - Lorena Garcia, network - Telemundo , and company - Hewlett Packard. She is a certified Hatha yoga instructor with extensive background in Bikram, Kundalini, Ashtanga and the Feldenkrais method. A master teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the Fitzmaurice Institute, and a master trainer for the Fitzmaurice Teacher Certification.
She is Associate Professor of Voice and Acting at Arizona State University - Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre, program coordinator for the acting concentrations in Screen and Film Acting and Musical Theatre. She is also affiliate faculty with Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies. She has served as an officer for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA -since 2000). She has served as conference director or co-director for five of VASTA’s national and international conferences. She is especially proud to have coordinated the first bi-lingual voice conference in Mexico City and is currently planning the first Asian voice and speech trainer’s conference in Singapore (2017). As an associate editor for the International Dialects of English Archive- Micha has contributed and analyzed over 20 dialect samples from all over the globe. She has published several peer reviewed articles in the Voice and Speech Review, the Journal for Intergroup Relations, and was a contributing author for The Politics of Actor Training published by Routledge.
She is the editor of the award winning book Monologues for Latino Actors: A Resource Guide to the Contemporary Latino/a Playwrights with contributions by biographer Jason Scott and published by Smith and Kraus. Since 2013, Micha has been the program coordinator and somatic educator for Aole Miller’s actor training program in Bali, Indonesia - Bali Taksu. She is a proud and active affiliate of Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s performance troupe - La Pocha Nostra and the South American female performance, empowerment, and advocacy collective -Mujeres Poderosas. Her research, performance, and scholarship examines and contextualizes the current climate with the training of actors of non-dominant groups. A Fulbright specialist, she is passionate about social justice in actor training, global perspectives, and the cultural voice.
She is Associate Professor of Voice and Acting at Arizona State University - Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, in the School of Film, Dance, and Theatre, program coordinator for the acting concentrations in Screen and Film Acting and Musical Theatre. She is also affiliate faculty with Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies. She has served as an officer for the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA -since 2000). She has served as conference director or co-director for five of VASTA’s national and international conferences. She is especially proud to have coordinated the first bi-lingual voice conference in Mexico City and is currently planning the first Asian voice and speech trainer’s conference in Singapore (2017). As an associate editor for the International Dialects of English Archive- Micha has contributed and analyzed over 20 dialect samples from all over the globe. She has published several peer reviewed articles in the Voice and Speech Review, the Journal for Intergroup Relations, and was a contributing author for The Politics of Actor Training published by Routledge.
She is the editor of the award winning book Monologues for Latino Actors: A Resource Guide to the Contemporary Latino/a Playwrights with contributions by biographer Jason Scott and published by Smith and Kraus. Since 2013, Micha has been the program coordinator and somatic educator for Aole Miller’s actor training program in Bali, Indonesia - Bali Taksu. She is a proud and active affiliate of Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s performance troupe - La Pocha Nostra and the South American female performance, empowerment, and advocacy collective -Mujeres Poderosas. Her research, performance, and scholarship examines and contextualizes the current climate with the training of actors of non-dominant groups. A Fulbright specialist, she is passionate about social justice in actor training, global perspectives, and the cultural voice.