Academics

Vocal Arts Academy > Other Teachers

Kymberly Mellen is pleased to join the faculty of the Lake Forest College Vocal Arts Performing Academy where she will be concentrating on audition techniques and the physical integration and acting components of singing. Kymberly  has been a successful, award-winning actor in a highly competitive city. Performing in Chicago for nearly a decade, Kymberly is the recipient of a Jeff Award and an After Dark Award in 2003 for Outstanding Actress in a Leading role (as Cleo Singer in Rocket to the Moon, Writers’ Theatre) and was named a 2003 “Chicagoan of the Year” by The Chicago Tribune. Kymberly has performed locally at Ravinia, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Writers’ Theatre, Steppenwolf, Northlight Theatre and Court Theatre and regionally, including Milwaukee Rep, Peninsula Players Theatre, Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Sundance Summer Theatre, and Jackson Hole Playhouse.

Kymberly has taught at The College of Lake County, The Theatre School at DePaul University, Brigham Young University and Wishing Star Theatre. She has auditioning and performing experience in musical theater, contemporary drama, Shakespeare, stylized productions, performance art, multi-media events, dance, film, television, commercials, industrials and voice-over. Kymberly has also worked as an “Audition Reader” for Broadway in Chicago, National Tours and Casting. Productions assisted include: Into the Woods (Broadway Revival), Gypsy (Broadway Revival starring Bernadette Peters), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Broadway replacements and National Tour), Fiddler on the Roof (Broadway Revival, and Les Miserables (Broadway replacements and National Tours).

Randall Manges, a native of Pennsylvania, has lived and worked in the Chicago area for the past twenty years. He earned degrees from Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ) and the University of Oklahoma (Norman). He is a sought-after accompanist (organ, piano, harpsichord), and has played in a number of English cathedrals. He is currently Director of Vocal Music at the School of St. Mary in Lake Forest, as well as Organist/Choirmaster for the Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

MaryJean Allen is a certified Andover Educator, teaching the workshop What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body. MaryJean Allen has taught What Every Musician Needs To Know About the Body for eight years to singers and instrumentalists at universities, colleges, high schools, and church choirs in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missouri.  As a guest clinician, she has taught the What Every Musician Needs to Know workshop to the Midwest Central Region and Wisconsin chapters of The American Choral Directors Association.  

Participants learn how to apply Body Mapping, an efficient method that dramatically improves musical performance by understanding the body in motion.  Body Mapping takes the knowledge of human anatomy and applies it to movement. The process teaches all musicians how to improve their singing and playing by optimizing movement and body-mind coordination.  Participants also learn how to apply the beneficial tools of kinesthesia and inclusive awareness.