About Adrianne Moore
Originally from New Zealand, I also lived for long periods of time in Australia, Papua New Guinea and England before coming to the US 20 years ago. The writing was certainly on the wall as far as directing is concerned: I was indeed one of those bossy children who coerced all the neighborhood children and my own sibling into performing in productions on which I served as writer, director, stage manager, vocal coach and autocrat. I like to think I have evolved a little since then, although I still have a passion for theatre making in all forms.
I did my undergraduate degree in New Zealand (University of Auckland) and after some time in Australia, moved to the UK to pursue a Diploma in Directing with the British Theatre Association. My internship was with the Royal Court Theatre and included wonderful experiences assisting Jules Wright and Max Stafford Clarke. I directed plays on the London Fringe working with some wonderfully talented actors and also taught voice and acting at Italia Conti Academy of Dramatic Art in London. I returned to New Zealand for the birth of my first child and managed to slide in a few productions and some teaching before leaving again, this time for the United States. I completed an MFA in directing at Florida State University under the guidance of Fred Chappell.
Although my MFA was in directing, my time at FSU and the strong vocal training available there reawakened my passion for the voice and accent work I had found so fascinating as an actor. I taught directing and voice at FSU before moving west to join the faculty at Utah State University and the theatre community in Salt Lake City. This state has proved a great fit with all the wonderful outdoor activities and such a vibrant theatre community. I continued to pursue theatrical passions, teaching, directing and voice at the university and maintained a freelance career as a director and voice/accent coach. Favorite university directing credits for theatre and opera include Much Ado About Nothing, Time Stands Still, Reasons to Be Pretty, Candida, Proof, Our Country’s Good, Savitri, King Lear, West Side Story, Hay Fever, Taming of the Shrew and Cabaret. I have been equally busy with accent and vocal coaching on productions such as Talking Pictures, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cripple of Inishmaan, Sweeney Todd, King Lear, Macbeth and Riders to the Sea.
Professionally, I have continued to enjoy fruitful relationships with several theatre companies over the last several years as both a director and a dialect/ vocal coach. For the Salt Lake Acting Company, I have served as dialect coach on more than 20 shows including Hand to God, Tribes, Good People, Venus in Fur, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Red, Angels in America, Charm, The Caretaker, Skin in Flames, I Am My Own Wife and Polish Joke. For Pioneer Theatre Company, I coached the dialects for Charles III, Dracula, My Fair Lady, The Heiress, Pride and Prejudice and The Importance of Being Earnest. I served for two seasons as the fall voice and text coach for the Utah Shakespeare Festival on productions of Dracula, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Sherlock Holmes and Boeing Boeing. Other dialect credits include Our Country’s Good and A Doll’s House (American Players Theatre); Matilda the Musical, Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady (Tuacahn Center for the Arts); Distant Music and Talking Wales (Utah Contemporary Theatre); Peter Pan, Pageant and Cabaret (The Egyptian Theatre Company); Sense and Sensibility, Baskerville, The Foreigner, Relative Values, Noises Off!, The Rivals, Sylvia and Peg O’ My Heart (Lyric Repertory Theatre); the AMC pilot Galyntine and the film The Redemption of Sarah Cain.
In the summer of 2020, I left the university to focus solely on freelance work as director and voice/dialect coach. I have been a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association since 2000 (a board member from 2013-2016), have completed Teacher Certification Training in Knight-Thompson Speechwork and I am a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). In addition to directing, vocal and dialect coaching I am also a voice actor, a teacher and a parent.
Directing Credits for Salt Lake Acting Company include How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (cancelled during rehearsal due to COVID-19), Rapture Blister Burn, 4000 miles, How to Make a Rope Swing, Circle Mirror Transformation and Hold Please. Other directing credits include Macbeth, Wait Until Dark, Last Train to Nibroc, The Woman in Black, Always Patsy Cline, The Foreigner, Relative Values, The Rivals and Sylvia (Lyric Repertory Theatre); Talking Wales (Utah Contemporary Theatre); Peter Pan (The Egyptian Theatre Company); Miasma (Plan B Theatre); and The Mikado (Utah Festival Opera). A collaboration with The Crossroads Project (the Fry Street Quartet and physicist Robert Davies) resulted in Emergence, a multimedia performance focused on the issue of sustainability.
