About The Voice Bank

The Voice Bank tells the story of one woman who defies her ALS diagnosis to fight for the privilege to keep speaking. Caban plays both herself and Terry, a woman with an indomitable spirit and a passion for performance, as they manage Terry’s progressing symptoms through voice and accent training. The play also gives voice to Caban’s emotional struggles as the practitioner working hard to hold space for a person facing a devastating diagnosis. She is a voice teacher trying to save someone’s voice. In sessions with Terry, she is cool and calm; alone she is crumbling as fears about losing her own mother surface through a series of nightmares. ​

About ALS

ALS is a disorder that affects the function of nerves and muscles. Based on U.S. population studies, a little over 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year. (That's 15 new cases a day.) It is estimated that as many as 20,000 Americans have the disease at any given time. For more info about ALS and how you may help visit alsa.org

Talk Back After The Show

Dr. Raymond Roos, Director of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease Clinic at University of Chicago, and a member of the ALSA Chicago team are excited to do a talkback after the August 10th performance! 

About Andrea Caban

Andrea is the Associate Director and designated Master Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork™. She is Head of Voice & Speech at Cal State University, Long Beach, training mid-career actors in a unique Performance Pedagogy MFA program and serving an exciting and diverse undergraduate BA program. Prior to that, Andrea was on the faculty at UC Irvine and CSU Fullerton, and has been an artist-in-residence at University of Cape Town, Penn State University, the MotherTongue Project- South Africa, and SWEAT- South Africa (Sex-workers education and Task Force), among others. She has performed and presented research at conferences and institutions in London, England, Bogota, Colombia, Cape Town, South Africa, Barcelona, Spain, San Ramon, Costa Rica and Istanbul, Turkey.