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Ann Klautsch: Woman of many voices
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Southern. German. French. British. Finnish. Irish. Ann Klautsch, special lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts, has mastered these dialects and several more.
She has worked as a voice and dialect coach for years in Michigan Opera Theatre, the Attic Theatre in Detroit, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Boise Contemporary Theatre and the Company of Fools in Hailey.
Klautsch met her husband, Richard Klautsch, chair of Department of Theatre, in college at Northern Arizona University. He was her scene partner for the first play in which she auditioned. Both were cast in the play, and a kiss in the scene evidently set off some fireworks because the two of them started dating. They were married a year later.
Richard Klautsch received a scholarship to go to Wayne State University in Detroit, so Ann went there as well and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts. They began teaching at the University of Michigan after they received their degrees, and remained there for five years before coming to Boise State University.
“We both wanted to get back out West. I mean, coming from Flagstaff, Ariz., the West really appealed to us, and we had gotten to the point where there wasn’t going to be a lot more for us at the University of Michigan.”
Klautsch’s interest in theater began in high school, where she acted in plays and participated in speech and interpretation. She developed a great interest in the voice and how it is different for every single person, depending on personal experience and culture.
“Dialects, to me, are just a joy to do on stage because not only do you get to watch a character come alive, but a culture comes alive as well, and you’ve got to take great care with that because it’s real easy to fall into stereotypes with dialects,” she said.
Klautsch can do many dialects off the top of her head, but others require research before she can master the sound. She does this by interviewing a person with an authentic dialect. She picks up these sounds quickly and easily because of her extensive knowledge and experience in the field, but she also has a natural talent for it.
“Coaching is different from actually teaching because we’re dealing with very specific words in a very specific context. All we have to do is learn how to say those words in that moment on stage and make them work for the character,” Klautsch said.
She said it is more difficult to coach an actor who already has a heavy dialect, so in the training process she aims to bring the actor to a neutral spot first. From there, the actor can learn the dialect instead of placing one dialect on top of another.
“I still see myself as a performer, but people always call me for voice coaching because there aren’t many of us that do that. There are a lot of actresses, but not a lot of people who can work on dialect,” she said.
Klautsch is so good that she has recently done voice coaching for an Irish dialect over the phone for an off-Broadway play. Klautsch knew the producer and the production company called for her assistance.
“It was the oddest experience I think any of us have ever had, but I think it was pretty successful, and it got really nice reviews,” she said.
Klautsch is currently focusing on directing her third show, the upcoming Medea, which opens Nov. 14. She may be doing some more voice-coaching work for the Company of Fools in January. In addition, she will be voice-coaching for Summer and Smoke in the spring.
Tammy Sands, The Arbiter
