GAYLE MURPHY, B.F.A. in Drama (Calgary), M.F.A. in Performance (York), has specialized in breath and the speaking voice for actors and other professional speakers for over thirty years. She coaches actors for stage and screen, and has led voice workshops in Bangkok, Hong Kong and major cities throughout Canada. She is on faculty of Canada’s National Voice Intensive, a renowned organization that offers workshops in vocal practice and the acting of Shakespeare’s text. Gayle has also taught at Studio 58, the Vancouver Acting School and SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Prior to specializing in voice, she acted professionally across Canada for over ten years.

At the centre of her creative research is the integration of vocal and physical practice for actors. From 2003 to 2007, she was a member of the Cassandra Project, a collective of fifteen performing artists and theatre educators who investigated Authentic Movement as a rehearsal practice for the creation of a multi-disciplinary performance on the theme of the prophetic voice. Her ongoing current research is the investigation of Breathexperience (formerly Middendorf breath work) into voice for the actor.

Gayle has presented collaborative research at numerous conferences including the American Dance Therapy Conference (Minneapolis), Voice and Speech Teachers Association’s Conference (Montreal), International Arts Symposium: Artists of Conscience (Victoria), Wellspring Conference: Encounters with Trauma, Hope and Healing (Vancouver), and the International Myth and Theatre Festival’s VOICES at the Roy Hart International Centre (Malérargues, France).

Currently she is a co-investigator on a project, funded by an SSHRC Insight Development grant, to determine the potential of BOS effector patterns (formerly Alba Emoting) as a purely physical approach  for actors to access and mitigate emotions in rehearsal and performance. https://emotionalfluencyproject.com/

In 2013 she was certified in Breathexperience and became one of five Canadian practitioners. She is a co-director of Breathexperience Canada that offers classes, workshops and a teacher certification program.  Breathexperience is the foundation of her voice-coaching and teaching practice.