Faculty

ERIC ARMSTRONG

BFA (Concordia), MFA (York)
Associate Professor: Voice
Department of Theatre, York University

earmstro@yorku.ca

York University Theatre Professor Eric ArmstrongEric Armstrong is a dialogue/dialect coach for film and theatre and has worked as an actor on stage and screen across Canada. His professional training includes studies at The Drama Studio, London, and an apprenticeship with Andrew Wade, head of voice at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Professional dialect coaching highlights include Habeas Corpus at Canadian Stage, Translations at Soulpepper and Just Stopped by to See the Man at Steppenwolf Theatre; coaching Michelle Williams and Sarah Silverman on Sarah Polley's film Take this Waltz; and coaching Tom Wilkinson for his Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated performance in Normal.

Professor Armstrong's research and creative interests lie at the intersection of teaching and technology, and he makes extensive use of web-based technologies to support his teaching and research. His workbook Introducing the IPA is used in theatre training programs across Canada, the US and New Zealand. He blogs on voice use for the actor at voiceguy.ca, and with Phil Thompson from UC Irvine runs Glossonomia, a podcast on speech sounds.

A former director and board member of the Voice and Speech Trainiers Association (VASTA), he has published frequently in the Voice and Speech Review and has presented at VASTA conferences in New York, Ashland (Oregon), Denver, Chicago, Washington DC, San Antonio (Texas) and Glasgow, Scotland.

Professor Armstrong taught at Roosevelt University, Chicago; Brandeis University, Boston; the University of Windsor; and Canada's National Voice Intensive in Vancouver before joining York University's Theatre Department in 2003. He currently serves as director of York's MFA program in Theatre.