Primary E-mail

Foster.Johns@wayne.edu

Biography

 Foster Johns (He/Him) is a voice and speech practitioner as well as an actor. In recent years he has taught at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, Washtenaw Community College, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Acting Program. Foster has also had the pleasure of being a guest lecturer at the St. Paul Conservatory of the Performing Arts, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is a certified teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork and holds an MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as well as a BA in Theater and English from Boston College.

Foster hails from New Orleans, LA but has up until recently called the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) home for a decade where he was involved in the vibrant local theater scene as both a dialect coach and performer. He was a core company member of Umbrella Collective and a resident dialect coach for the Actors Workout at the Guthrie. Foster has served as a voice and dialect coach for more than 80 productions in the university setting and professionally, including Bad News! I was there… (directed by Joanne Akalaitis), two productions of A Christmas Carol (directed by Lauren Keating), and the remount of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses (directed by Mary Zimmerman) at the Guthrie as well as phenomenal productions for Shakespeare in Detroit, Park Square, Theater Latte Da, and many others.

His past and ongoing research focuses on the ethnomethodological lens of the use of vocal perspectives to enhance the performer’s breadth of vocal expression. His research with colleague Dr. Artemis Preeshl on the “American Elizabethan” accent examined the accents of Ocracoke, Smith, and Tangier Islands and how climate change as well as exploring isolation factors in the disappearance of these accents. Future research that he is hoping to endeavor upon includes methods of enhanced vocal characterization and a practice as research-based methodology that examines inclusive pedagogical practices in implementing dialogic voice craft amongst underrepresented voices, particularly queer and BIPOC communities.

He is also a proud member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association for which he has served as the social media manager for four years, on the Interdisciplinary Engagement Committee as their KCACTF Rep coordinator, and currently serves on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. In 2021 he was a co-recipient of the VASTA Service Award for these efforts. In addition to teaching and coaching for theater, Foster continues to develop his own voice practice, Fojo Voiceworks, through which he works with professional voice users from several disciplines, gender diverse clients, and anyone who wants to expand the depth and breadth of their authentic vocal expression.

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