What do you think of when you hear music? Does it bring back memories? Does it make you want to get up and dance? Let’s add voice into the mix and think about the images that your mind conjures up.
Ilyana Kadushin uses both music and voice. And both manage to affect change, whether narrating or performing a book, producing music or co-hosting the podcast ‘No, I Know.’ Ilyana has delved into the world of performance, film, art and music melding these creative mediums. Always a part of the storytelling process, Ilyana wrote and performed the one woman “Devour the Apple” musical. She also performed the audio of Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling Twilight novels and narrated the heartbreaking memoir of Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad, The Lost Girl.
Incredible as it may sound, something positive came out of Superstorm Sandy…the creation of Stories Love Music. Ilyana and her creative partner and husband, James Harrell, were asked to help with some of the displaced seniors. Not knowing what to expect or how they could help, they chose something they both did well…they played music and sang. Music tugs at the heart and can brighten up even the bleakest of times. The moment evolved into Stories Love Music, a nonprofit program for caregivers of seniors with dementia and Alzheimers.
Ilyana is an award winning film producer. She won HBO’s 2011 Best Documentary for Separate, But Equal. She also won the Audi Award for audiobook narration and is an adjunct faculty of voice and public speaking at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.
As a producer and co-host of the podcast No, I Know, Ilyana and husband James, feature live music and spirited conversation.
A conversation with Ilyana Kadushin:
A little microcassette player
A fascination with voices
Landing in New York City & Tisch School of the Arts
How about some ‘voice watching’
Twilight series and Edward’s character
Jeremy Irons inspiration
Nadia Murad and The Lost Girl
Storytelling and performing
Superstorm Sandy
The ‘spell of music’
A senior, a song (Shalom Aleichem), a memory and a voice
Voice Performance Coaching
Stories Love Music
‘Bringing what’s written on the page to life with just your voice.’ – Therese Plummer
This week’s conversation is with a very inspiring woman, Therese Plummer. Therese has performed over 400 audiobooks.
The performance of audiobooks and a candid conversation
A very candid conversation with an amazing actor, storyteller and all around extraordinary woman. Therese has helped many of us to be able to escape, even for just a little while during these wild times. Amazing, but it was her mother who pushed her into this field.
But her mother was a librarian!
Storytelling without using expressions or moving or using your hands?
How can you tell a story with just your voice?
A wild child and teenager – really?
She’s been to the bottom – how did she clean herself up?
Crisis Center, Drama Therapy and conveying the emotional life and journey of each character.
Bringing books alive for those who have trouble reading.
What’s next?
Meet Therese Plummer
Therese Plummer is an actor and award-winning audiobook performer. She has recorded over 400 audiobooks for a variety of publishers. Therese won the 2019 Audie Award for her work on the Multicast Sadie by Courtney Summers. She was nominated for the Multicast Any Man by Amber Tamblyn and for her solo narration for the Rogue Planets Shaken by Lee W. Brainard. In addition, Therese was awarded for her work on Sourdough by Robin Sloan by the American Library Association as part of the 2018 Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration for Adult Listeners.
You may recognize Therese as the voice of Maya Hansen in the Marvel Graphic Motion Comic Ironman Extremis, Dr. Fennel in Pokemon and various Yu-Gi-Oh characters. And let’s not forget her Television Guest Star Roles on the Good Wife, Law and Order SVU and the Netflix series Virgin River.
Therese spent five years as an adolescent counselor where she used Drama Therapy techniques in individual and group settings. As a result of her years as a counselor, Therese is able to bring to characters to life in a very real way. She shares a passion of creating, helping and entertaining Therese recently adopted a rescue named Butterfingers. She now lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey with her husband and of course, Butterfingers.
