Teacher
Curriculum Vitae
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Valerie is the Head of Musical Theatre at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, having developed the BFA in Musical Theatre.
At UAB, she teaches classes in Musical Theatre Performance, History and Script Analysis, and directs each year. The BFA program graduated its first class in 2018.
UAB named the #1 performing arts college program that “won’t break the bank” by Performer Stuff
Valerie is a certified Estill Mentor and Course Instructor.
She maintains a private studio and her students have gone on to appear on Broadway and film (Mike Faist, West Side Story film and Tony-nominee for Dear Evan Hansen), on television (Jake Borelli, Grey’s Anatomy), and other performance venues (national tours, cruise ships, voice-overs, commercials, etc.).
To compliment her teaching work, Valerie stays active in other areas of the theatre business. In 2013, she worked as a rehearsal accompanist at Arena Stage in Washington DC on Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children starring Kathleen Turner. She has had two articles published in the international journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, published a peer-reviewed article in the Voice and Speech Review and contributed chapters to Voice and Identity and The Voice Teacher’s Cookbook. She regularly presents at conferences such as the Association of Theatre in Higher Education, Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance, the Southeastern Theatre Conference and the Estill World Voice Symposia.