Michael J. Barnes (ay5980)

313-577-5758

By appointment

3226 Old Main
4841 Cass Ave. 

Michael J. Barnes, has spent his career working as voice speech and dialect coach in theatre, film and television. He has served coached for the Detroit Opera, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Arena Stage, Wilma Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Studio Theatre (DC), Rep Stage Company, the Pearl Theatre (NYC), People's Light and Theatre, Venture Theatre, Everyman Theatre, Hope Summer Repertory, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. He has dialect coached the films The Witch (Sundance Film Festival Award Winner; Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie), Master Class (Faye Dunaway), Convicted (Aidan Quinn, Kelly Preston, Connie Nielson, Tim Daly; directed by Academy Award winner Bille August) and Broken Bridges (Kelly Preston, Toby Keith, Burt Reynolds, Tess Harper; directed by Steven Goldman). He served as a consultant for the news division for WPLG in Miami Florida and has privately coached everyone from lobbyists to US Attorneys.

He has contributed articles to The Voice and Speech Review and Theatre Journal, was a contributing author to Teaching Breathing: The Results of a Survey, served as the topical editor for the “Voice & Gender Issue” of The Voice and Speech Review and—as someone who has long worked to combine technology with theatre—wrote A Quick Guide to the Internet for Theatre & Film. His current research research is creating a pronouncing dictionary for ancient Greek theatre and beginning the introduction of ultrasound technology into voice & speech training for biofeedback.

At Wayne State he developed the voice and speech sequence for the acting curriculum in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, teaching classes in voice foundations, speech, accents, and speaking verse and heightened text. Additionally, he has taught Acting Shakespeare, Play Direction, and the Performance Area’s classroom to career experience, the Acting Industry Showcase in New York, Chicago, and Detroit. For Wayne State’s producing arm, Barnes has directed 23 productions; some favorites include include: Cabaret, Rent, Love’s Labours Lost, Avenue Q, Hairspray, The Full Monty, Ragtime, Next to Normal, Ragtime, Into the Woods, Bat Boy, and The Little Shop of Horrors.

A former President of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), he served on its Board of Directors for two terms and as an officer for four years. He was one of the founding Associate Teachers of the organization that has become the Fitzmaurice Institute and currently serves as its Director of Technology.

Accents for Stage and Film

Speech improvement

Vocal Training for the Speaking Voice - Fitzmaurice Voicework

Certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework

MFA - Theatre Voice Coaching and Training, The National Theatre Conservatory

BFA - Theatre Performance, University of Oklahoma

Advanced Certificate - Cambridge University, UK

Voice and Gender, Topical Editor - The Voice & Speech Review

"Standard Speech: Results of a Survey," World of Voice, The Voice & Speech Review, 2011

Ancient Greek Pronunciation Dictionary