The Schedule for Freedom & Focus 2025
Click Here to Download the Printable PDF Schedule - coming soon
THURSDAY, JULY 31
TODAY'S THEME: COLLABORATION IN ACTION
8.40am All gather outside Te Whaea
The access to Te Whaea is via the upper driveway on Hutchison Road. If you have a car, park in the upper carpark to your right. The main entrance is on your left. Shelter in the entrance way in inclement weather.
We manuhiri (visitors) will go into the building as a group, all together. Please be on time.
9.00am Pōwhiri, led by Tangata Whenua.
9.30am - 10:00am Morning tea and settling. Registration begins ROOM D1
10.15am - 11:45pm Fitzmaurice Voicework® Introduction in wānanga ROOM D2
11:45 - 12:45pm Lunch Break. Free Soup
12.45pm - 2.00pm Workshop Breakout Sessions - Day 1 First Round
Bending, not breaking: Fitzmaurice Voicework® and somatic healing practices for holistic and sustainable vocal freedom and focus with Robin Amy Gordon and Dr. Budi Miller - In this 90-minute workshop, participants will engage in collaborative dynamic efforts and be introduced to somatic healing concepts and tools to support the development of sustainable practitioners and voice practice in community.
Finding Joy Amongst the Chaos: A Destructuring Exploration with Natasha Staley - An invitation to explore joy, laughter, and community through tremoring.
Growing Global Community with the Shared Values of Fitzmaurice Voicework® & Knight-Thompson Speechwork™ with Michael Shipley, Petrina Kow she/her, and Julie Foh - A discussion and embodied exploration of the shared values of Fitzmaurice Voicework® & Knight-Thompson Speechwork™ and their potential to foster global community, simultaneously broadcast live as a KTS Webinar.
(Quiet Room available)
2.00pm - 2.15pm Bio-Break
2.15pm - 3.15pm Learning from the pōwhiri - led by kaumātua (Respected elders) ROOM D2
3.15pm - 3.30pm Bio-Break
3.30pm - 4.45pm Workshop Breakout Sessions - Day 1 Second Round
Saying “yes” and “no” with your whole voice with Noah Drew - This workshop is an embodied exploration of the Fitzmaurice principal of autonomy. It builds directly on Catherine Fitzmaurice’s urging for each of us to “do what you want” and on Saul Kotzubei’s exercises aimed at helping people be better able to feel, and voice, their “yes” and their “no” in response to prompts and opportunities .
Searching for Possibility Through Practice: Generating Research Ideas using Fitzmaurice Voicework® with Natasha Staley and Dr. Budi Miller - Join Fitzmaurice Research Team members Natasha Staley and Budi Miller as they guide you through an investigation of possibilities for individual and group research.
De-Script to Re-Script: Accessing Presence, Creative Impulse Through Voice, Breath and Word with Petrina Kow and Dory Rebekah Sibley.
Evolution of a Fitzmaurice based pedagogical practice over a year of practicum and immersion - Jillian Courtney, Michael Shipley, Holly Holsinger, Nora Leonhardt, Elena De La Fuente
4.45pm - 5.15pm Collective ‘rest and digest’, including karakia (chanting) and waiata (singing). ROOM D2
5.15pm - 7.00pm Dinner Break
7.00pm - 9.30pm Practical Festival of Performance: Te Whaea Theatre
● An Apprenticeship of Sorrow - Sara Matchett & Nina Callaghan
Short Break
● The Watchers - Rachel Finley
Short Break
● Love like Salt - Rachelle Dart
● (immediately following) 20 Minute Q and A with Performer/Writer/Directors
DAY 2 - FRIDAY, AUGUST 1
TODAY'S THEME: THE TEACHER / COACH / MENTOR IN ACTION
9.00am -10.30am Fitzmaurice Voicework® Basics - Destructuring/Restructuring Participants break into three groups based on experience with Fitzmaurice Voicework (Home Room). All participants led by two Lead Teachers in each of the three rooms
(Quiet Room available)
10.30am - 11.00am Bio/Tea break
11:00am - 12:00pm Wānanga - learning together, with kaumātua (Respected elders). Discussion focus: The Teacher/Coach/Mentor in Action ROOM D2
12.00pm - 1.30pm Lunch Break. Free Soup and lunchtime ‘Local Artist Salon’
1.30pm - 2.45pm Workshops Sessions Day 2 - First Round
Mother Tongue: seeking sounds of care & taking Brianne Taylor and Dory Sibley - This experiential workshop invites participants to explore the power of presence and deep listening – to others, to the space, and within themselves – as the foundation for authentic, connected leadership in conversations.
Ballz to the Wallz with Rachelle Dart & Lilian Wouters - Activating joy, presence and connection through play!
A Vocal Mumuration Experience with Heather Lyle and Nora Leonhardt - A Vocal Murmuration. using all your sounds, primal, tribal, environmental imitations, to spontaneous syllables and breath sounds to create a jazz improvisation.
Power Dynamics - A Vocal Murmuration. Using all your sounds, primal, tribal, environmental imitations, to spontaneous syllables and breath sounds to create a jazz improvisation with Rachel Finley & Te Oti Rakena
2.45pm - 3.00pm Bio-Break
3.00pm - 4.15pm Workshops Sessions Day 2 - Second Round
Voice, Action, and Stanislavski – As Catherine Fitzmaurice believes "voice is action," Konstantin Stanislavski believed that "verbal action" was the principal action in performance. This workshop uses elements of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and techniques from Stanislavski to support the actor in presence and responsiveness with scripted material - with Michael Shipley
Feel, color, see and experience the anatomy of the voice! with Rachelle Dart - Trauma informed experiential learning pedagogy for teaching anatomy to young artists (14 and under)
Embodied Leadership: Presence and Listening in Important Conversations - Petrina Kow & Noah Drew
(Free Quiet Room)
4.15pm - 4.30pm Bio-Break
4.30pm - 5.00pm Rest and digest together, karakia and waiata (chanting and singing) ROOM D2
5.00pm - 6.30pm Dinner Break
6.30pm - 9.30pm Practical Festival of Performance: Te Whaea Theatre
● Lamentation at the Liesbeek - Micha Espinosa & Sara Matchett
Short Break
● Swimming Upstream - Matthew Greenberg
Short Break
● The Agony of the Yellow Sea - Davaa Batchuluun, Bolor-erdene Jargal & Undarmaa Sambal
● (immediately following) 20 Minute Q and A with Performer/Directors/Writers
Day 3 - SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
TODAY’S THEME: THE PERFORMER IN ACTION
9.00am - 10.30am Fitzmaurice Voicework® Destructuring/Restructuring
Participants break into three groups based on experience with FV (Home Room)
Rachel Finley/Fabio Motta, Chaffee/Julia Moody, Micha Espinosa/Margaret Kemp
All participants led by two Lead Teachers in each of the three rooms
(Quiet Room available)
10.30am - 10.45am Bio-Break
10.45am - 11.45am Wānanga - learning together, with kaumātua (Respected elders).
Discussion focus: The Performer in Action ROOM D2
11.45am - 1.45pm LONG Lunch Break for Day 3 Performance!
Long Lunch Performance - Living IncogNegro - Film by Gin Hammond
Free soup
1.45pm - 3.00pm Workshops Sessions Day 3 - First Round
The transmutation of thought into sound - the alchemy of voice with Julia Moody - Sounding the inner landscape with impulsive movement moving from extended non-verbal sounding to text: to weave words and lines from the page into life
THE LISTENER: Restructuring in Action with Joanna Battles - This workshop seeks to encourage exploration of rib swing as a means of deep listening to scene partner, circumstance, and environment
Clowning through Breath with Fabio Motta - Clowning as breath, explores the deep connection to presence, vulnerability, and the moment-to-moment experience of the performer. In clowning, breath is not just a physiological function but a gateway to emotional truth, spontaneity, and play
(Quiet Room available)
3.00pm - 3.15pm Bio-Break
3.15pm - 4.30pm Workshops Sessions Day 3 - Second Round
Taksu, Tremor, and Transformation with Dr. Budi Miller and Fabio Motta - Reclaiming the Actor’s Imagination through BMTT, Mask, and Fitzmaurice Voicework®
Awakening The Sounds of Language with Margaret Laurena Kemp - Participants will engage in Fitzmaurice Voicework® and Michael Chekhov Technique as portals for awakening silence to becomes sound and language
The Primal Voice - Freeing and Focusing The Animal Voice Within with Christine Menzies - Unleash breath and voice with power and focus while contemplating and articulating personal journey, experiences, dreams, synchronicities, transgenerational memory, signs and signifiers, wisdom and story
(Quiet Room available)
4.30pm - 5.00pm Rest and digest together, karakia and waiata (chanting and singing) ROOM D2
5.00pm - 6.30 Dinner Break
6.30pm - 9.30pm Practical Festival of Performance: Te Whaea Theatre
● Brux - Shannon Holmes
● Before I Forget You - Noah Drew, Martin Andrews
Short Break for stage reset
● PRICK - Smail, Gilchrist, Rucker, Schneider, Phillips, O’Neal, Cox, McMahon, Walkenhorst, Chaffee
● (immediately following) 20 Minute Q and A with Performer/Directors/Writers
DAY 4 - SUNDAY, AUGUST 3
TODAY’S THEME: THE CHANGEMAKER IN ACTION
9.00am - 10.30am Fitzmaurice Voicework® Destructuring/Restructuring
Participants break into Three groups based on experience with FV (Home Room)
Rachel Finley/Fabio Motta, Chaffee/Julia Moody, Micha Espinosa/Margaret Kemp
All participants led by two Lead Teachers in each of the three rooms.
(Quiet Room available)
10.30am - 10.45am Bio-Break
10.45am - 11.45am Wānanga - learning together, with kaumātua (Respected elders)
Discussion focus: The Changemaker in Action
11.45am - 1.00pm Workshop Session Day 4 - Last Round
Voicing Elements: Actions for the Earth with Micha Espinosa and Rachel Bowditch - Voicing Elements: Actions for the Earth, is a physical workshop where participants embody elemental actions theatrical imagination and expression for connection, awareness, reciprocity, and a deeper relationship with the earth and community.
The Work of Grief: metabolising the loss of a billion anthropocenes with Sara Matchett and Nina Callaghan - Every human lives with multiple griefs and ways of grieving. This workshop is a space to attend the sorrows we carry for ourselves, our family and our Earth home, and to do it in community. The workshop invites the restoration of grief to our lives as necessary, sacred and communal.
Write Yourself. Your Body Must Be Heard. Activating Fitzmaurice Voicework® and Feminist Practices in the Creative Process with Shannon Holmes - This workshop directly aims to integrate FV and feminist practices in the creative process both through practical application and theory.
(Free Quiet Room)
1.00pm - 2.15pm Lunch Break. Free Soup and lunchtime ‘Artist Potluck’
2:15pm - 3:15pm Catherine Fitzmaurice Book Intro by Michael Morgan/Saul Kotzubei Interviews Catherine Fitzmaurice ROOM D2
3.15pm - 3.30pm Bio-Break
3:30pm - 4:00pm Rest and digest together, karakia (Chanting) and waiata (singing) ROOM D2
4:00pm - 5:00pm POROPOROAKI (Farewell) ROOM D2
6.00pm - 9.00pm Dinner and Celebration at the Southern Cross Retro Lounge (15 minute walk)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30 Certified FV Teacher’s Pre-Conference Preparation
MONDAY AUGUST 4 Certified FV Teacher’s Post-Conference Discussion
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
MORE INFORMATION:
THE VISITOR GUIDE pdf with travel suggestions.
TREM DAYS PAGE - Certified Fitzmaurice Voicework® Teachers.
REGISTER HERE
