The substantive value of a performer's presence in co-creating a musical art work is examined in Schneider's insightful new book. Recital singing is placed within the history of solo performance since the baroque period (especially with reference to rhetorical style and eighteenth-century acting technique). A first-hand look at modern conservatory training highlights the pedagogical styles (and their effects on learning) of Antonia Lavane (Mannes College of Music), Cynthia Hoffman (Manhattan School of Music), and Paul Sperry (Juilliard School). The solutions that singers have found, or in the case of performers deconstructing the song tradition, have created to address the problem of a musically determined gesture, will surely benefit the professional singer, the teacher, and the student of voice.
Performance anthropologist, author, and theatre director Sara K. Schneider, Ph.D. began researching undercover operators' experiences and taking part in training with them in the mid-1990s. Art of Darkness: Ingenious Performances by Undercover Operators, Con Men, and Others, her unique behavioral analysis of their performance techniques, is her third book dealing with how identity can be expressed through the body.
Released in May 2008, Art of Darkness has been hailed by trainers and the public at large as "must" reading for law enforcement.
Now based in Chicago, Schneider founded and developed original theatre works for the New York theatre company Chaparral, and has taught acting, directing, and performance theory, and has directed shows, at universities and colleges across the country. She also consults on behavior and experience design, helping organizations use rehearsal skills to achieve their strategic goals. She received her undergraduate education at Yale and trained at New York University in Performance Studies.
She can be reached to schedule police trainings, or to offer feedback on her book, at sks@thinkingdr.com.
