Production/Research Areas: Director, Dialect Coach, Acting
Teaching Areas: Voice/Speech and Dialects, Acting
Courses: All levels of performance -- Introduction to Acting, Performance Lab, Performance Topics (Dialects, Voice, Sensory/Emotional Work, Musical Theatre, Scoring, Scene Study, Shakespeare, Comedy), Intermediate Performance Intensive
Degrees: M.F.A., Pennsylvania State University; B.F.A., University of Nebraska
office - 253A East Henderson
phone - (540) 231-4204
e-mail - praun@vt.edu
Patricia Raun is a noted teacher, performer, and director. She has acted in over 100 productions in theatres across the country, appeared in over 75 television and film productions, and served as a voice and dialect coach for more than 35 productions. Professor Raun recently has devoted much of her time in to directing. Her on campus directing credits include A Little Night Music, Dancing at Lughnasa, Godspell, Topgirls, A Number, and an original piece focused on the poetry of Dickinson, Frost, Bishop, Roethke, and Stevens called Ear and I and Silence. Most recently she directed Joe Turner's Come and Gone. In 2005, she premiered a new one-woman show by Thomas Gardner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Her acting teaching is Stanislavski based and is influenced by the work of Uta Hagen; and Sanford Meisner, Eric Morris, and Viola Spolin. Her voice teaching is a holistic approach with strong influences of Kristin Linklater, Cicely Barry, Matthias Alexander, and Moshe Feldenkrais. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Voice and Speech Trainer's Association (VASTA).
At Virginia Tech since 1986, Professor Raun has received the Teaching Excellence Award, Outstanding Educator Award from the Virginia Governor's School, and has served on many university, college, and departmental committees (including College Personnel Committees, University Commencement Committee, and University Graduate Education Review Task Force). Patricia Raun received her MFA from Penn State, and a BFA from the University of Nebraska. Her credentials include a professional internship in voice at the Americian Repertory Theatre, Robert Brustein, Artistic Director, Harvard, 1991. In 2001she traveled to Stratford-upon-Avon where she worked with the voice department of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her teaching mentors include Kristin Linklater, Bonnie Raphael, Andrew Wade, Barry Kur, Bill Kelly, Richard Nichols, Arthur Lessac, and Robert Leonard.