We’d love to introduce you to one of our incredible TBG teaching artists, Quinn Vogt-Welch! Read our interview with her below…
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What do you enjoy most about teaching?
QVW: The thing I enjoy most about teaching is the community that is formed from the very first moment everyone gets into a circle and moves their body, and by the power of joining in a silly game, they have released their inhibitions without even having to think about it. ????An invisible bond happens within the first ten minutes of class. That bond is the foundation on which everything that happens in the classroom is built.
I also love watching students progress over time and seeing the lightbulb go off in their heads, especially when it’s about something they no longer have to worry about or something they can let go of. It was a gift I received by being a student of The Barrow Group, and I’m grateful that I get to facilitate that for others.
What is a TBG tool you love to use in your own acting journey?
QVW: I use the conversation exercise first and foremost because it immediately dismantles any ideas I might have had about the text that I didn’t know I had. I find it the most effective if I’ve been working on a piece for a while and in the rehearsal process there’s a moment of “reset,” and all that conversation that’s happening during the reset is where I can slip in from as opposed to jumping to what was rehearsed or commenting (through performance) on what worked before.
What is a project that you’ve been a part of that you are proud of?
QVW: I’m in the depths of parenthood right now as my ongoing and all-consuming project that I’m both proud and excited about, but in the artistic world I am also plugging myself back into the things that I found early on that allowed me to lose myself (forget my thoughts about myself.)
I was a singer for a lot longer than I’ve been an actor, so I’m excited about literally dusting off my keyboard and wowing my 16-month-old and 4-year-old with my PIPES! I might have imagined it, but I think my older son looked at me a little differently after I let loose on a song the other day. I daresay he was inspired.
Maybe all this is to say that it’s something to be proud of when you keep working on the thing even if there isn’t a current, recent, or future project within view. That is a very inspiring thing to do in the project- and results-oriented culture that we live in.
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To take a class with Quinn, try the 8-Week Summer Beginner Acting Intensive starting 7/8 or the 3-Week Teen Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (ages 14-18) starting 7/22.
Check out TBG’s full schedule of classes!