Barry Kur ('74)

BARRY KUR, Professor Emeritus, Penn State University School of Theatre; Master Teacher, Lessac Training and Research Institute.   Voice/Speech Specialist for 30 years of Penn State’s BA, BFA and MFA performance programs and served as the school’s Associate Director. For the Lessac Institute, Kur serves as Director of Certification and leads the Teacher Training Workshops and One Week Introductory Workshops. He has had teaching residencies in South Africa, New Zealand, UK, and Croatia. He was a founding faculty member of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Kur is the author of the textbook Stage Dialect Studies- A Continuation of the Lessac Approach to Actor Voice and Speech Training.  He has been the voice, speech, dialect and text coach for over 100 professional and academic productions including professional credits at Asolo Theatre, Fulton Playhouse, Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble Pennsylvania Centre Stage and  Delaware REP. He is the recipient of Penn State’s George W. Atherton Award for Teaching Excellence and the Lessac Institute’s Leadership Award. Kur is a Past-President of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and the Lessac Training and Research Institute.  He currently chairs the VASTA Awards, Scholarships and Grants Committee.

At Oswego: My primary theatre career is in Actor voice, speech, dialects and movement training.  At Oswego, I focused mostly on directing in the fairly new black box theater. I directed an original one act by fellow classmate John Farrell,  RED CROSS by Sam Shepard,  MISS JULIE  by August Strindberg, THE BOYS IN THE BAND by Mart Crowley, LYSISTRATA by Aristophanes (with full department  set, lighting and costume support as this production was done to counter the heavy male casting of REVENGER’S TRAGEDY on the main stage).