Dialects, Diversity & Directing Intimacy with Rachel Finley

Rachel Finlay is a prolific performer, director, voice & speech coach, conference presenter and faculty member at Arizona State University. We met on a hot day in Sonoma County looking for lunch and immediately bonded over great food, cold drinks and all the voice things & being a person things that we shared in common. I knew I had to entice her onto the show! Join me in this extended conversation and learn about Rachel's detour from a start wanting to be a director, to being an actor, to encountering Fitzmaurice Voicework and Knight Thompson Speech work in grad school, and the freedom that gave her physically, but also emotionally  the lack of diversity and representation through her education which led her to co-found The BluePrint, which is a non-profit for advancing the training and careers of actors of color, taught by actors of color.  Her incredible insights into dialect work and what's actually useful for the actor and how she found herself becoming an Intimacy Director.  She is a sought after conference presenter and having been to one of her workshops I can't recommend her work highly enough.  You may have to listen to this episode twice, she drops a lot of truth bombs.  Links of note: Rachel's website https://rachelfinleyarts.com/ Rachel's INsta https://www.instagram.com/rachel_finley_arts Fitzmaurice Voicework https://www.fitzmauriceinstitute.org/fitzmaurice-voicework The Freedom and Focus Conference in LA in August 2023 Knight Thompson Speechwork https://ktspeechwork.org/about-the-work/ Your Body Knows by Jana Tift https://www.amazon.com/Your-Body-Knows-Movement-Actors-ebook/dp/B0845Y71J1 Global Majority Intimacy Conference Intimacy Coordinators of Color  https://www.intimacycoordinatorsofcolor.com/ Conference in India https://vachikavoicework.com/residential.php Transcript at www.yourfreevoicecom/podcast/episode35 The Blueprint is an educational organization that focuses on:  BIPOC FOLX...WE GOT YOU Training actors who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Uplifting professional BIPOC artists and connecting them with emerging BIPOC artists for mentorship and collaboration ​Establishing mental health resources and practices as an integral part of the curriculum ​Positioning BIPOC artists to be multi-hyphenate creators so they have sustainability in the industry ​Building family among The Blueprint community and deepening intersectional relationships within the BIPOC community at large Through The Blueprint, actors get access to a myriad of growth opportunities including roundtables, masterclasses, intensives, educational content and whatever other solutions emerge as we encounter our students’ needs. VASTA https://www.vasta.org/