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 founders

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Vanessa Becker Weig | Executive Artistic Director and co-founder

Vanessa Becker Weig is Co-Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Voices Amplified (formerly known as The Girl Project) and is on the Part-Time Music and Theatre Faculty at Eastern Kentucky University. She trained at the professional actor B.F.A. training program at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and most recently trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company at their summer institute through Skidmore College.  She has over 100 directing, choreography, and performance credits. Since moving to Lexington 15 years ago, she has directed or choreographed numerous productions for Voices Amplified, Woodford Theatre,  Leeds Center for the Arts. the School for the Creative and Performing Arts,, and many more including several award-winning productions for the Itheatrics Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta. She was the Education Director for Woodford Theatre from 2015-2019 founding the Woodofrd Theatre Young Artist Program, and served as Artistic Director for the theatre in 2019 and 2020. Prior to moving to Lexington, Vanessa served for ten years as the Education Director and Resident Director/Actor for the Phoenix Theatre (now CATCO). At the Phoenix, she directed, choreographed, and appeared in more than fifty productions and designed and implemented classes, camps, workshops, and in-school residencies. Vanessa specializes in movement theatre and theatre styles such as Kabuki, Commedia Del ‘Arte, Laban, Puppets and Masks, and Musical Theatre.  She was in the regional tour of the musical The Secret Garden, which incorporated both deaf and hearing actors and won several Central Ohio artistic excellence awards. Vanessa is a proud recipient of a Bluegrass Alliance for Women Impact Award and the prestigious Freddie G Fellowship from Music Theatre International. When she has a spare moment, Mrs. Weig appears on stage. Some of her favorite local roles include Gynecia in Head Over Heels with Voices Amplified, Morticia in The Addams Family with Leeds Theatre,  Paulette in Legally Blonde with KCT Summerfest, Madame De La Grande Bouche in Beauty and the Beast and The Warden in Holes with Lexington Children's Theatre.

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Ellie Clark | CO-FOUNDER

Ellie Clark is co-founder of Voices Amplified (formerly known as The Girl Project) and currently resides in Atlanta, GA. She is an actress, teaching artist, producer, and movement enthusiast who has spent her lifetime in love with storytelling. Her most recent Film/TV credits include The First Wives Club (BET), The Wonder Years (ABC), and a recurring role on Season 5, 6 & 7 of Tyler Perry’s Sistas. She can also be seen in numerous commercials and Independent Feature films. She has performed throughout the United States and across the pond in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Notable stage credits include Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra, Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, Marie in Marie Antoinette, Agnes in Dancing at Lughnasa, Anna in Burn This, Sheila in A Chorus Line, and Emma in Stupid F*#!ing BirdEllie has taught acting and physical actor training for 20+ years. She is co-Artistic Director for Arvold Warner Studio in Atlanta (founded by Emmy Nominated Casting Director, Erica Arvold and Master Teacher, Richard Warner) where she works and consults with film/TV actors invested in furthering their craft. She serves as the Chair of Acting and the Movement Specialist for Kentucky’s Governor's School for the Arts and she has served as a visiting artist at several universities and acting studios. She has had the honor of being a Guest Speaker, Moderator and/or Panelist at Summits and Festivals interested in arts leadership, advocacy, and activism in the arts. Her entrepreneurial work includes Co-Founding Voices Amplified, Inc., the Atlanta based self-taping and actor coaching service, Actors Room Atlanta, and the ensemble-based theatre company, Project SEE Theatre. She served as Education Director & Associate Producer of Woodford Theatre from 2012-2015 and co-founded the Lexington Shakespeare Institute, which came to be known as Kentucky Conservatory Theatre and was a teaching artist with the program for nine years. Ellie is trained in the Meisner Approach to acting and has trained extensively with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Composition in their Saratoga Summer Intensive and throughout her 10 years living in New York City. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Ohio University’s Professional Actor Training Program, receiving a Fellowship for her “exceptional talent and dedication to the arts.” Born and raised in Lexington, KY, she is a graduate of the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA), Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and received a BFA in Acting from the University of Kentucky.  Ellie has worked with the prestigious Actors’ Theatre of Louisville in their yearlong apprentice program. You can visit her website at www.ellieclark.org.

EDUCATION TEAM 

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Emma Erwin | ACTivate THEATRE DIRECTOR

Emma Erwin graduated in 2018 from the UK Department of Theatre + Dance with a B.A. in Theatre and certificate in Musical Theatre. She has participated in countless productions in both the Columbus, OH and Lexington area, but her true passions lie in Theatre Education. She was just seen onstage as Beth (Little Women) at Leeds Center for the Arts. She has been the Company Manager for Voices Amplified's ACTivate program for the last 3 years and has Stage Managed many youth productions as well as venturing into some adult productions here recently. She is ecstatic to be a part of this cast's journey and hopes everyone in the audience leaves wanting to be a better version of themselves. Special thanks to her wonderful mom for her literal lifetime of tutelage, support, and empowerment, Logan for being the best husband, and Chewie and Binx for providing lots of fur baby kisses and cuddles at the end of the day.

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RON WILBUR | ACTivate MUSIC DIRECTOR

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Ron studied at the University of Kentucky with an emphasis on Vocal Music Education. While there, he diversely broadened his knowledge in many areas ranging from classroom management to effective stylings of vocal jazz. In addition to teaching, he has performed extensively throughout central Kentucky and abroad. Mr. Wilbur leads many sessions and workshops here in the states and abroad, covering the pedagogy of the singer's body, stage presence, and acting techniques. Ron is so very proud to serve as an arts facilitator for many organizations in Central Kentucky.

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vivien kurtz| ACTivate company manager

Vivien is a graduate of the SCAPA Lafayette Theater Program and a Drama Alumni of the Governor’s School for the Arts. She is the current Company Manager for Activate She has recently been ASM for The Prom (Voices Amplified), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Leeds Theatre), and Stage Managed Disney’s Descendants. She is a member of a local Hip-Hop organization, The Fam Foundation. Most recently Viv appeared as Mopsa in Head Over Heels.

VOICES AMPLIFIED Board

Vanessa Becker Weig | President

Ellie Clark | Vice President

Uma Jewels | Secretary

Siera Arena | Treasurer

Laura Mancuso

Whitney VanMeter

the many who have helped shape our work
Margaret McGladrey
Jeni Benavides
Chamara Jewel Kwakye
Trish Clark 
Jill Gookin
Patrick Lee Lucas
Christy Burch
The Girl Project classes of 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018
And Many More.....

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