In InterArts, Class 8 and 9 students experience the fine and performing arts through sequential, cross-disciplinary courses designed to help inform their creative journeys in Upper School. As they experiment with a variety of disciplines like studio art, music, dance and drama, these students are also introduced to professionals who offer insight and advice.
One example of InterArts in action centered, for the first time, on the ubiquitous and multi-layered field of voice acting. During the winter term, students learned about the different kinds of work voice actors engage in and the myriad skills and personal qualities this competitive industry demands.
On a recent afternoon, a group of Class 9 students arranged themselves into a semi-circle of seats in the Black Box Theater. After a brief introduction, they directed their attention to a large screen in the center of the room. Greeting the class from her virtual box was an energetic and accomplished voice actor named Gina Scarpa, who jumped right into an upbeat and enlightening talk.
“I love what I do!” exclaimed Ms. Scarpa, whose sister, Mia Scarpa, was a leave replacement for Class 8 and 9 Drama up until winter break. A former director and teacher, Ms. Scarpa told the students that after the pandemic derailed many in-person opportunities, she had to reinvent herself. “I decided to throw myself into voice acting full time,” she explained, adding that she’d done some voiceover work in the past. Earlier in her career, she worked for radio stations in New York and Connecticut and served as a podcast host.
With an easy-going, approachable style, this guest speaker detailed the nuts and bolts of her profession and the practical benefits. “I like the flexibility of having control over my schedule,” she noted. “I work in my closet all day.” Ms. Scarpa, smiling, moved the camera around to show her compact, soundproof space and her microphone. Also, “it doesn’t matter what I look like.”
How she sounds – and her uncanny ability to transform her voice in countless ways – indeed matters and has helped her land jobs on commercials, for corporations and in animated programs and video games.
“I can be a 12-year-old boy or an 80-year-old grandmother,” said Ms. Scarpa, whose clients have included IKEA, Burger King, Xfinity, L’Oreal Paris, VSP Vision Insurance and the video game “Eye of the Temple,” among others. She said she draws the line at audiobooks. “I just don’t have the attention span,” she said with a chuckle. She also says no to potentially problematic work –like vaping companies and political firms, for example.
The students soon discovered that there is much more to succeeding as a voice actor than a pliable voice. “The ability to deliver a script in a convincing way” and being “easy to work with” are absolute essentials, Ms. Scarpa stressed. Although she gets emails about auditions around the clock and books most jobs herself, “it really doesn’t feel like work.”
To prepare for her visit, the Class 9 students played and discussed samples of Ms. Scarpa’s catalog, from ads for soap, allergy medicine and a shoe store to the voices of animated characters like a magical witch, an inquisitive child and an old-fashioned teacher. During her virtual talk, they listened intently, jotting down their thoughts on half-sheets of paper. They were also encouraged to ask questions.
Students wondered what experience voice actors need, what some of Ms. Scarpa’s favorite roles have been so far, if she ever get nervous, and asked her to share her pie-in-the-sky dream job. The answer to the last question was an easy one: “I’d die on the spot if I could work with Pixar,” she exclaimed, referring to the renowned computer animation studio.
With the period nearly over, Ms. Scarpa thanked Class 9 and her sister for their time and attention and waved goodbye from her Zoom box. In the remaining sessions of InterArts, these students used what they learned about the field of voice acting to craft copy for their own animation and commercials to include on demonstration reels which they would record in the 9th floor podcast room.
“Well done, everyone,” their teacher praised, as she collected their reflections, turned off the screen and readied the Black Box Theater for the next class. “You are all fabulous.”
