Books, Books and More Books (Just two, really!)

Most people know me as a voice teacher or performer, but I’m also a serious bibliophile. I just love books and words; I’ve written four books myself! Sadly, my cookbook is no longer in stock, but the other three are.

How about you? Do you love to read as much as I do?

If so, here’s one to check out.  

Pineapple Wedding – Pineapple Port Mysteries

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon IN 

New to Pineapple Port? No problem! Each book can stand alone, but be warned, one taste of Pineapple Port’s charm and you’ll want to devour the entire series.

And Book #1 is FREE! | SEE THE WHOLE SERIES HERE!


USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Amy Vansant tries to marry off her detectives in this latest installment of the fun, thrilling, twisty Pineapple Port Mysteries!

A goat invasion at a local wedding venue pushes the owner to call on Charlotte and Declan of the Charlock Holmes detective agency for help. Short on funds, the new client offers to trade them a free wedding, pushing the detectives to search for other businesses willing to exchange mystery solving for wedding services. When someone murders a local celebrity chef, and his partner turns up as the suspected killer, they might have a caterer…

Charlotte and Declan aren’t the only ones working on their wedding. Mariska and Darla are determined to get Charlotte the perfect wedding gown, but that turns out to be more complicated than expected. Declan’s Uncle Seamus and his mysterious father want to help, too—but nothing is easy in Pineapple Port!

Go, Amy Vansant!

Now, here’s one I wrote several years ago that I basically never talk about. But it’s good. It’s really good, and it’s only $3.95. How do I know it’s good? Because one of my favorite authors told me once she started reading, she finished the whole thing in one sitting and that I’m a terrific writer. A writer can’t get a whole lot better compliment than that now, can she?

How do you be yourself in a world that celebrates conformity over creativity?

In just 23 entertaining and insightful pages, Laura Handke’s The Ten Tenets of Authenticity: How to Be Most Fully Yourself in Any Situation begins to seriously answer that question. Through investment in your own curiosity, solitude, and connecting with others to realize your potential, you’ll find a path to cultivating wonder which will have you living, ongoing, in your personal thriving zone.

Love Your Voice & Voice Your Love,

Laura

Do You Have Glossophobia?

Glossophobia: Strong fear of speaking in public, resulting in fear and anxiety.

A quick internet search tells me that while glossophobia may no longer be in the top three fears of most people (it was for years and years), it’s still extremely common. Glossophobia affects as many Americans as four in ten or more, up to 75% of the population.

Are you one of them?

Public speaking doesn’t scare me much, perhaps because of my background as a performer and in the theatre. But singing in public still scares the crap out of me if I’m doing a solo. It’s kind of embarrassing for a voice teacher to admit, but I know I’m not alone in this.

My co-star, Dan, and I had three performances of TOAST at the Chapel Theatre winter play festival after a short two-week whirlwind to prepare. Here are some photos from opening night.

As my husband and I were driving to the theatre for closing night, I found myself saying, “Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself. It’s our third performance, and I’m still nervous! But then I remember the high after opening night…and there’s just nothing like it.”

I wouldn’t consider myself an adrenaline junkie. I don’t climb mountains, drive crazy or jump out of airplanes. (Not that there’s anything wrong with any of that.) Yet getting up on stage – whether to speak, act, dance or sing – activates the adrenal glands. It’s a physiological response to putting ourselves in what, for most people, is an uncomfortable and anxiety-producing situation. Adrenaline helps us focus…and it also makes our hearts pound and gives us butterflies in our tummies. That’s what was happening to me in the car on the way to the theatre.

Yet, in the end, it’s all worth it!

Why, you may ask?

*Because if you have a message to share, there are people who need to hear it.

*Because when you’re in a theatrical production, you’re creating a community, practically a family. Everyone in the theatre company relies on each other to make those couple of hours special for the audience, and consistent for the actors. Every person has to show up on time, and do exactly what they’ve learned to do during rehearsals, at just the right time. There’s no vision without a director. The actors have to not only learn the lines and blocking, but consistently embody the emotions of their character. If the lights or sound are off even slightly, it impacts the entire show, along with if costume items or props aren’t where they’re supposed to be. A play has a lot of moving parts, a musical even more, always with the intention of giving the audience a spectacular experience. That’s what they paid for.

*Because music, like laughter, is a Universal language. If you love to sing and feel music in your soul, there are people who need to hear you. You are the only person in the entire world who sounds just like you. Your voice is as unique as the irises of your eyes or your fingerprints.

If public speaking or performing is an issue for you, here are a few things you can do.

1. Book a voice lesson and learn some tools. I work all over the world via Zoom and speak some Spanish, si se habla Espanol.

2. Check out this article by Presence Training https://presencetraining.medium.com/tips-and-tricks-for-how-you-can-manage-adrenaline-during-presentations-and-public-speaking-77c1a9717e85 I found online. This is solid advice.

3. Join a local Toastmasters club. Toastmasters is the world’s largest speaking and leadership organization, and there’s probably a club right in your city.

Let me know how your journey unfolds!

Love Your Voice & Voice Your Love,

Laura

Chapel Theatre Winter Play Festival

Jeremy Okai Davis

Next up in our Chapel Theatre Winter Play Festival lineup for DANNY AND ROSE…!

Introducing Jeremy Okai Davis, a newcomer to the world of acting. Davis was born in Charlotte, NC but has resided in Portland, Oregon since 2007. 

With a background in the arts, Davis has always found inspiration in various forms of creative expression. From painting and photography to poetry and music, their artistic journey has been enriched by breathing in several influences. 

In addition to his artistic pursuits, Davis is a devoted parent, along with his partner Brittany, of two amazing children, Runey & Rhye. Parenthood has added a depth and richness to his life that has led to a desire to tap into human emotions and relationships through acting.

Jeremy is excited to make his debut at the Chapel Theatre and is thankful for the opportunity. He would like to thank his co-star Cecelia Shroyer, director Laura Handke and the amazing writer Michael Kurt.

Michael Kurt

Michael Kurt is an author, artist, and the co-founder of Berm magazine. From 2014 to 2021, Michael co-hosted the podcast Talking to Ghosts, which interviewed creatives about their lives and ran on a bi-weekly schedule. In 2021, Michael also self-published his first chapbook of fiction, called Heaviness Leaves The Body. After ending the Talking to Ghosts podcast, Michael and Wes went on to found Berm Magazine. In 2023, the video art piece In Distance Time Moves was selected to be shown at Moscow Contemporary, in Moscow, Idaho as part of the Timescape(s) group exhibition. In 2024, Michael’s short play Danny And Rose will be featured in the Chapel Theater Play Fest. 

Laura Handke

Laura Handke is an inspirational and energetic facilitator, writer, speaker and certified Transformational Voice® teacher, committed to helping others express themselves fully in the world. She teaches voice and piano. Laura is the author of Six Degrees to Your Dreams, an iUniverse Editor’s Choice award recipient, The Ten Tenets of Authenticity, and How Abella Found Her Voice. (Transformational Voice® is a registered trademark of Transformational Voice® Training Institute, LLC, and Linda Brice.) DANNY AND ROSE is her directorial debut.

Next up…the show I’m acting in that almost didn’t happen…

TOAST

There’s a story behind this show.

I received notice that I would be acting in TOAST, written by Nanette Gatchel, the same time as I learned about directing DANNY AND ROSE. Yet somehow days went by without a first meeting or any scheduled rehearsals. My co-star and I were available on different days. His schedule for a film he was shooting was becoming heavier and heavier. We two, the director, and the writer, all live on completely different sides of Portland (which isn’t exactly a small, quaint hamlet.) And then a snow and ice storm hit, power and internet went out, trees fell, and the whole city became Cancellation Central. My co-star reluctantly dropped out, and then the director did as well.

I had been working on my lines and was over 90% off book (not needing to hold the script to remember lines) by then, so I just sat back and waited to see what would happen.

What happened was the co-owner of the theatre company, Corinn DeTorres, decided to direct the show herself and the actor who quit recommended a film actor friend of his to take over the role of Bill. (It’s a two-person show; I play Katherine, Bill’s wife.)

We met on ZOOM last Thursday. Had five rehearsals between Friday and Tuesday. Dress rehearsal is Wednesday night, and the show opens on Friday.

Those of you who’ve been involved in the theatre know that’s a short, tight time frame in which to put a show together. Especially one with complicated blocking (physical movement on stage.) I’m exhausted and my brain is full. True story: Yesterday, after rehearsal, I drove to the mall to get a costuming piece for the show. I had to go to four different stores to find something that would even remotely work; it was like the size goblins had come in and taken out virtually every knee-length nightgown and robe that would fit me. I finally found a black robe and decided to use a tunic-style tank top I already had on hand as the nightie.

Chaos! Mayhem, I tell you!

I literally walked out of three different JC Penny doors (it’s a big store) before I got to the parking lot where I had parked my car. I got completely turned around. It felt like that Viola Davis moment in the film EAT, PRAY, LOVE, when she said, “I can’t keep two thoughts in my head.” My brain is filled with dialog and blocking; there’s no room for anything else.

Yet, somehow, we’re a great team and we’re having a lot of fun!

So, it’s with great pleasure I introduce my dedicated, hard-working, energetic co-star, Dan Kyle…who is definitely getting the theatre bug!

Dan Kyle

Dan Kyle was born on April 24, 1972 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Jason Rising: A Friday the 13th Fan Film (2021)South of Heaven: Episode 3 – The Long Walk Home (2019) and V-Force: New Dawn of V.I.C.T.O.R.Y. (2017).

I’m feeling confident now that this will be a show I can be just as proud of as I am my DANNY AND ROSE cast. If you’re in Portland and enjoy live theatre, come see the shows!

Chapel Theatre Winter Play Festival

I’m thrilled to be part of the Chapel Theatre Winter Play Festival again this year! It’s such a cool concept, in a charming venue in an old church. Local playwrights submit short 10-minute plays, directors apply to direct, and actors submit online auditions. So…none of us have any idea what play we’ll be in or who we might be working with ahead of time. And, we only have a couple weeks of rehearsal time before opening night.

This year is my directorial debut! I’m directing DANNY AND ROSE, written by Michael Kurt.

How does a new director prepare to direct their first show? For me, so far, like this. I read through the script two or three times and saw the play in my mind’s eye first, seeing the stage it will be on. Then I spoke with the writer. I interviewed other directors I admire, each of whom generously shared their time and expertise. Scheduled a first read-through with the writer and cast of two.

Directing a first show is a massive learning curve, just as is acting in a first show, or taking a first acting class. Blocking. Character development. Relationships and emotional transitions. I’ll be sharing more as the process progresses, but for now I want to introduce you to Cecelia Shroyer, who plays Rose.

Cecelia Shroyer is thrilled to make her Chapel Theatre festival debut after being just an audience member last year. She has been a longtime lover of the arts starting with acting classes in college. After an unplanned 13 year break from theatre, she got cast in 36 Conversations at HART Theatre in Hillsboro. She also played several roles in Sleepy Hollow at Beaverton Civic Theatre. The pandemic definitely put a hold on live theatre, but she participated in a few Zoom productions. Last year she participated in a staged reading called The Ransom of Granny Red Jeans at Stomping Grounds Arthouse. Cecelia is currently a graduate student in counseling at George Fox University. She also loves singing and playing the piano in addition to acting. The arts are so important and she is so grateful to Chapel Theatre and Laura for this opportunity.

Find the line-up and how to buy tickets here! https://chapeltheatremilwaukie.com/2020/12/01/chapel-theatre-co-play-festival/

Next up: Jeremy Okai Davis plays Danny!

For the inner vocalist or pianist in you or your loved ones, I have gift certificates!  I’m also giving away one free hour of training for anyone who purchases a five-pack of lessons between now and the end of January. https://laurahandke.com/product/voice-lesson-gift-cards/ You can use the six hours for yourself, or for a musical family member or friend.

This gem of an eBook takes you on an emotional journey with Abella, whose dream comes true the morning of her 9th birthday. Her best birthday present ever is a real, live horse! Yet, before the end of the year, Abella is an orphan who loses the ability to speak her truth and express herself. This eBook includes videos for vocal training. Fiction readers will love meeting Abella, and the friends and animals who help her regain her voice and uncover her strength and purpose. Speakers and singers looking to improve their vocal quality and longevity will love the vocal training videos! Abella’s lessons apply to all of us who at one time or another want to make our voices heard. Is it a fantasy fable? Or is it a book on vocal training? Lucky for us, How Abella Found Her Voice is both. Find it here: https://laurahandke.com/product/how-abella-found-her-voice-e-book/

Love Your Voice & Voice Your Love,

Laura

Happy Holidays! (Remember to Breathe.) And January Freebie

Happy Holidays from Lake Oswego!

I remember one year, in my first marriage, my ex and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner, serving turkey and all the trimmings. Between my extended family and my ex’s extended family and all our friends, I mailed out well over 200 Christmas cards complete with letter and photo collage. We decorated a Christmas tree and the house, and he put up lights outside. My stepsons were still fairly young and their father dressed up as Santa Claus. We bought presents for each other, the boys, and plenty of our family and friends, mailing several packages out of state. I probably made toffee and cookies, too. I don’t remember if we went to Christmas Eve service, though, which is interesting. I do remember my sister-in-law hosted Christmas dinner and all I had to bring was crab cakes.

No offense to Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold, but looking back…it was all a bit…much.

I grew up in the Presbyterian church in Raymond, South Dakota. I’ve always loved Christmas. So many relatives came to our farm house for Christmas dinner, it was always a magical day I never wanted to end.

After I graduated from college and moved away from South Dakota, I kept those old traditions alive – in my own way – for years…until I started realizing some of them weren’t so much fun anymore.

I slowly started asking friends if they wanted to stop exchanging Christmas gifts. With one notable exception, they all responded with a resounding yes. I started scaling back on the holiday letter list, although I still send them every year with gratitude, looking forward to hearing back from family and friends – some from high school I only correspond with this time of year. Not everyone is active on social media.

I haven’t cooked a turkey in years. I don’t dislike turkey; I’d just rather have something else. (And we still have plenty of leftovers, for those who make the turkey because they like the leftovers.) I’d rather roast a chicken or make a lasagna.

But that’s me.

And you’re you.

We’re all allowed to pick and choose which traditions sing to us and which don’t. To create our own, to choose and make our own music. And that’s fun!

If you’re feeling stressed during the holiday season, try alternate nostril breathing. Here’s a video for your support. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0xA0lTjTYao Breathe in through the left nostril, hold for a beat, out through the right nostril. Breathe in through the right nostril, hold for a beat, out through the left nostril. Repeat 5-10 times. This is one of the most calming and grounding breath practices I know.

For the inner vocalist or pianist in you or your loved ones, gift certificates are available. I’m also giving away one free hour of training for anyone who purchases a five-pack of lessons between now and the end of January. You can use the six hours for yourself, or for a musical family member or friend.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and a splendid New Year’s celebration to you and yours! I’m sending you warm wishes for creativity, inspiration and joy in 2024.

This gem of an eBook takes you on an emotional journey with Abella, whose dream comes true the morning of her 9th birthday. Her best birthday present ever is a real, live horse! Yet, before the end of the year, Abella is an orphan who loses the ability to speak her truth and express herself. This eBook includes videos for vocal training. Fiction readers will love meeting Abella, and the friends and animals who help her regain her voice and uncover her strength and purpose. Speakers and singers looking to improve their vocal quality and longevity will love the vocal training videos! Abella’s lessons apply to all of us who at one time or another want to make our voices heard. Is it a fantasy fable? Or is it a book on vocal training? Lucky for us, How Abella Found Her Voice is both. Find it here: https://laurahandke.com/product/how-abella-found-her-voice-e-book/

Love Your Voice & Voice Your Love,

Laura

The Van Loh’s: A Story of Meeting in the Theatre (50 Years Later)

Rod and Kathie Van Loh had to meet.

It was destined.

One synchronicity after another guided them to each other – and after 50 years – Lakewood Theatre in Lake Oswego, Oregon, helped them celebrate.

In November of 1973, the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse held auditions for Arsenic and Old Lace, Joseph Kesselring’s ingenious dark comedy about two sweet little old sisters on a charitable mission.

Abby and Martha Brewster’s charity recipients are lonely, old men. Their mission? To put them out of their misery. How? By offering them a generous glass of elderberry wine. Wine laced with a special family recipe comprised of arsenic, cyanide and strychnine.

Fortunately for the Brewster sisters, nephew Teddy, who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt – and has the uniform and bugle to prove it – is an eager grave digger. The cellar isn’t really a cellar – it’s Panama, and he’s down there digging locks for the Panama Canal. No problem!

Rod was already assigned to the show as technical director and to design and construct the set. The director asked him to also audition for a role. When Rod arrived at the audition, the room was nearly full. There was only one seat left. The one right next to Kathie.

Kathie says, “We started talking and never stopped.”

Kathie was cast as Elaine and Rod as Jonathan.

Rod had been a student and then teacher at Sioux Falls College.Dr. P. W. Patterson, who headed the theatre department, had talked about Rod Van Loh so much throughout Kathie’s college years, she almost felt like she knew him when Rod introduced himself at the audition. She was thrilled!

There were so many times they should have met but didn’t.

When Kathie was in high school, she was active in Young People’s Theatre at the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse. She was cast in the show Alladin while Rod, who was in college, was working on the set for that show. And they didn’t meet.

Rod’s brother and his date double-dated with Kathie and her date (later first husband) at the senior prom. But Rod and Kathie didn’t meet.

The day Kathie married her first husband, her maid of honor and his best man met with Rod after the ceremony. Rod knew they had been to a wedding, knew Kathie’s ex-husband, but didn’t know Kathie’s name.  

At one point, Rod was in Kathie’s apartment while she was living with her then husband and infant son. Rod had gone over because a friend he’d grown up with was very good friends with Kathie’s then husband. But Rod was in one room and she was in another. Again, they didn’t meet. 

But then, at the audition, they finally did!

Kathie and Rod bonded during rehearsals and got to know each other well. Rod was fresh out of the navy and living with his parents. Kathie was a single mom with a young son.

One late evening, towards the end of rehearsals, Kathie decided to bring two bottles of Boones Farm wine to the theatre, where she knew Rod was still working on the set. She also often helped with the set. They drank wine, talked, bonded more, and by the time Kathie was driving Rod home, it was nearly 4:00 am.

Kathie said to Rod, “If it wasn’t so late, I’d invite you in for coffee.”

Rod said, “It’s not too late.”

He came in for coffee and never left. (Somehow no coffee ever appeared.)

The Van Loh’s were married the following June in a simple ceremony in the side yard of a rented farmhouse near Trent, South Dakota. No invitations were sent, but they let people know they were getting married and 50, 60 people showed up, many of them friends from the Playhouse and Sioux Falls College. Kathie’s son stood up with them at the ceremony.

Rod went on to get his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa and continued as designer/technical director. He was involved in 90 productions over a 35-year span. Kathie went on to teach and became the director of Young People’s Theatre where she had at one time been a student. They collaborated when Kathie directed, and Rod designed and tech directed Androcles and the Lion for Young People’s Theatre. In addition, Kathie directed high school theatre, and acted and directed in community theatre.

The Van Loh’s moved to Oregon’s coastal mountain range in 1996. Three kids and five grandchildren later, the still happy couple will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next summer. But Lakewood Theatre, at Lakewood Center for the Arts in downtown Lake Oswego, helped them celebrate early during their production of Arsenic and Old Lace.

When Kathie called to book tickets for 12 (family members and this writer and her husband included) she mentioned their personal history of this play to the woman on the other end of the phone. That woman suggested letting Steve Knox, the theatre Executive Producer, in on the story. Kathie did.

The evening of October 7, 2023, we all went out for a delicious dinner at Lake Oswego’s Szechuan Kitchen, then to see the show!

Kathie and Rod were in for a pleasant surprise. Not only did the cast change one line of the play for this one performance (I hope Kesselring would approve) to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from whatever city was actually in the script…the entire cast came out on stage after the show for a photo shoot with the celebrating couple. Producer Steve Knox couldn’t have been more kind and generous – we were all wowed and emotionally touched.

Besides, it was a great show.

Like the one in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1974.