Shana Pennington-Baird
Vocal Instructor, Director, Head Coach
Classes: Voiceover coaching, Audition Prep, Singing, Public Speaking, Audiobook Narration, Editing, Home Studio Set Up
Shana Pennington-Baird has been working in the Pacific Northwest theatre scene for twenty years. After receiving a BFA in Theatre from Stephens College, she toured with the Missoula Children’s Theatre and settled in Seattle. A long-time veteran of Cabaret Productions, Shana is best known for her ability to quickly learn parody lyrics and perform on the fly. Shana’s voiceover clients include: Microsoft, Verizon, JP Morgan Chase, the Seattle Channel, South Lake Union Chamber, Audible.com, Mountain Credit Union, Impossible Acoustic, and more. Shana has worked with the Bathhouse Theatre, 5th Ave Musical Theatre, Oregon Cabaret, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Civic Light Opera, ACT Theatre, Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, Okoboji Summer Theatre, and Book-It Repertory. Shana has studied abroad with the Tuscany Project and is currently developing a solo cabaret show.
Dr. Stacey Mastrian
Classes: Singing (classical, musical theater, and other styles); Vocal anatomy, health, pedagogy, and technique; Singing audition prep; Diction for singing; Interpretation for singing
Dr. Stacey Mastrian has taught voice and related courses at American University, Peabody Conservatory of Music (Johns Hopkins University), Peabody Preparatory, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and University of Maryland College Park. Most recently she was Assistant Professor of Voice and Coordinator of Voice/Opera at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. Dr. Mastrian has twenty-five years of experience as a teacher and has given much-lauded master classes, lectures, workshops, and performances at universities and schools from coast to coast in the U.S. and abroad, as well as maintaining a select private studio. She received a 2016 Jack Straw Artist Award, has been a Fulbright fellow to Italy, and has sung at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in NY, the Kennedy Center in DC, the Konzerthaus and Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, and Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Websites: www.staceymastrian.com and mastrianstudio.com
Bradetta Vines
Classes: Voiceover Coaching, Audiobook Narration, VO Acting
Bradetta has been teaching youth and adults for over 20 years . She has taught Acting, Audition, Acting for Film and Media for a variety of academic institutions including Western Washington University, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle University (Guest Lecturer) and Bellevue College. She presents workshops on Audiobook Technique and Voice Over for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). She has been adjunct faculty at Bellevue College since 2009.
Bradetta recorded her first voiceover 22 years ago. Her clients include Ronald McDonald House, IFly, Costco, Intrepid Learning, Washington Information Services, Nate Eiford Productions and produces ELearning modules for classes at Bellevue College. She has recorded and produced over 20 audiobooks and loves developing the variety of characters required to tell these amazing stories.
Since the tender age of three years old, Bradetta has been singing publicly and over the years and has been seen in numerous professional productions around Seattle and upstate New York. Including tours with The 5thAvenue’s Adventure Musical Theatre and Seattle Public Theatre she has performed in 22 states.
Bradetta continues to produce short film projects and has been awarded Outstanding Director Awards from KCACTF for her productions of Getting Outand Heathers.
Bradetta believes that Voice over work in all it’s forms, from commercials to audiobooks, is all about storytelling. She teaches that the actor’s process is a living breathing entity. You must feed it with imagination and teach it to take risks. To support this organic process, you must know what tools and techniques are available and develop a structure as your foundation but never let that structure become a cage. She is thrilled to be sharing this with students at the Seattle Voice Academy.
Troy Lund
Classes: Voiceover Coaching, VO Acting
Troy has been voice acting, on-camera acting and producing music in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years. Since studying and graduating from the University of Missouri Theatre Department, Troy has landed countless notable roles. You can hear his voice in video games: the X-box Mech Warrior series, SAW I and II, Halo Wars 2 and Kid Icarus: Uprising; as well as in radio, TV and web spots for Amazon, Expedia, T-Mobile, Washington’s Lottery, AAA and Car Toys.
Michael D. Blum
Classes: Voiceover coaching, Audition Prep, Acting
Michael has been an actor and director since childhood. Over the years he has co-founded two Latino theater companies; La Compañía De Teatro De Alburquerque, Inc. in the 1980’s, and more recently Teatro Nuevo México, where he served as Co-Artistic Director for four years. His work has been seen as far afield as Europe, Mexico and South America, including a stint with the National Theater of Venezuela. He is also an award-winning voice talent in both English and Spanish, providing voices for advertising, theater, television, audio books and video games. Since arriving in Seattle a few years ago, he has worked with several theater companies including Balagan, Theater Schmeater, and GreenStage, for whom he directed “The Tempest.” He was most recently seen jumping onto the roof of a train in Pork Filled Production’s “The Tumbleweed Zephyr,” and decorating a cake on television. He occasionally regrets having chosen theater over sleep.
Samara Lerman
Classes: Voiceover Coaching, VO Acting, Kids VO Camps
Samara is a stage, film, and voice actor perhaps best known for her roles as the heroic Myriad in the cult fantasy film The Gamers: Hands of Fate, and as the enigmatic Assassin in the web series Journeyquest. She is drawn to characters who listen and find strength through vulnerability. On the festival circuit, Samara stared in the film Chasing the Sun which which following its lengthy festival circuit run had its television debut on PBS’ Seattle affiliate KCTS 9 and streamed on the SIFF Selects channel for Alaska Airlines. She has worked on numerous film sets as the on set acting coach and has been teaching and coaching acting for over fifteen years. Samara’s voiceover clients include; Banner Bank, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Ditto, MultiCare, the Committee For Children and Microsoft.