Biography

Rockford Sansom is an Associate Professor of Voice & Speech at Louisiana State University, Associate Head of the MFA Acting program, and the voice coach of LSU’s resident theatre, Swine Palace. He is Affiliate Faculty with LSU’s linguistics program. As a voice and accent coach, he has worked Off-Broadway with York Theatre Company and Theater for the New City, and he has worked Off-West End with Arcola Theatre. Regional credits include the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Premiere Stages, and the Savannah Repertory Theatre. He has coached Fortune 500 executives, UN delegates, TED Talks, and members of the US Congress. His acting credits include leading roles in Wonderful Town (First National tour), 42nd Street (Asian tour), Bye Bye Birdie (North American tour), and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Off-Broadway, St. Luke’s Theatre). Regional credits include Seaside Music Theater, the Orlando Repertory Theatre, and the Oklahoma Shakespeare Festival.

For seven years, Dr. Sansom was the Editor of the academic journal Voice and Speech Review (Routledge Press). He was instrumental in helping the journal receive Q1 status as a top 100 Visual and Performing Arts journal in Scopus. He has published over 30 articles and essays on voice in Theatre, Dance and Performance Training; Journal of Singing; Theatre Journal; Theatre Topics; Methods; Voice and Speech Review; and others. 

He has published five books. Four of them are sponsored anthologies from the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA): The History of Voice Pedagogy, Vocal Traditions, Voice and Identity, and Practitioner Research in Voice Studies (all from Routledge Press). With Christina Shewell, he co-authored the second edition of Voice Work: Art and Science in Changing Voices (Wiley-Blackwell)—a leading text in the field of vocal training, currently in use worldwide in high-profile music and theatre schools and speech pathology training programs.

He holds a PhD in education (Capella University), an MFA in theatre (University of Central Florida), and voice certifications from Fitzmaurice, Knight-Thompson, and Estill (Master Trainer).

Dr. Sansom has lectured and held workshops at over 30 universities across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. He is the recipient of the Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars (ATLAS) grant and the Dorothy Mennen Research Grant. He is recognized as a Lifetime Distinguished Member of VASTA for his “significant achievements in voice research—advancing the global impact of voice and speech training”; he is the youngest person in the history of the organization to earn this career achievement award. Member: AEA, SAG-AFTRA. VASTA.