pounds per square inch performance | 30th Anniversary Season
 Gerry Trentham, Artistic Director

Hosted by visionary Armando Centre’s Director Franz David Toro (ARG) and co-produced by pounds per square inch performance’s Artistic Director Gerry Trentham (CAN), BAVI  programming carries a four decade legacy of Master Teacher David Smukler’s Canada’s National Voice Intensive and its faculty’s Moving Voice Institute into an exciting intercultural chapter by bringing to Buenos Aires an immersive 10 days of renowned vocal, physical and text training integrated into local practice.  

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In June 2026 artist and teacher Franz David Toro  (More Info) , Voice & Movement Teacher  Gerry Trentham (More Info) were joined by Acting and Voice Teacher at Carnegie Mellon Gary Logan (More Info)  and Voice Teacher and Director with the Shakespeare Theatre Company Lisa Beley (More Info) to pilot this exceptional program.  In 2027 the faculty team is growing with new international perspectives collaborating with acclaimed South American faculty to carry and extend forward the mission of the Moving Voice Faculty:  TO RESTORE PHYSICAL AND VOCAL SENSITIVITY IN ORDER TO UNLEASH DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE IN A CHANGING WORLD.. 

 

The program provides a vigorous, inclusive, and supportive working environment designed to explore the uniqueness of the voice, deepen the actor’s relationship with the audience, and activate a dynamic stage presence.

Join this international group to focus your physical and vocal presence alongside a team that embraces, integrates, and celebrates diverse vocal and linguistic experiences. The goal is to challenge our personal and collective communication habits and rekindle our innate curiosity within the context of a broader community.

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Training Philosophy

Actors and performers face the daily challenge of being physically, mentally, and emotionally free. The voice—with its complex journey through the body, mind, and emotions—communicates that freedom or, conversely, reveals tensions that prevent an actor or speaker  from being clearly heard and understood.

Beyond the beauty and depth of a text, the voice and body communicate the entire path it has traveled. If that path is marked by tension and effort, the voice will honestly convey exactly that: effort and tension. In such cases, the millions of unique subtleties of ideas, emotions, and images that one seeks to create and share may be lost along the way.

These unique subtleties—like every voice, every emotion, every image—are singular, profound, and unrepeatable. It is within that unrepeatable moment that great acting resides. To rediscover that moment again and again, we must learn about and investigate our entire vocal instrument.

In this workshop, we will open multiple pathways toward self-discovery and expressive honesty on stage.

The workshop offers 80 hours of training over 10 days of intensive work. It begins with exercises designed to awaken sensitivity and imagination in relation to the voice. The progression of exercises starts with body awareness—identifying and releasing tension—then moves into discovering natural breathing, experiencing sound, and exploring the vibration of the voice throughout the body. All of this is enriched by the vast human worlds that inhabit Shakespeare’s texts.