Geraldine Cook-Dafner

Dr Geraldine Cook-Dafner is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She has held positions in the School of Performing Arts, (Victorian College of the Arts), Head of Theatre and Head Voice (VCA) and has 25 years experience as a teacher, actor and youth theatre director in London and Melbourne.

She trained at Middlesex University in London where she completed a degree in drama and education and later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she completed a Licentiate in Voice and Speech. Her training was further augmented under Patsy Rodenburg (RSC), Prunella Scales and Cicely Berry (RSC) in London. Geraldine holds a Doctor of Education and a Masters in Education from the University of Melbourne. In London she worked as a drama teacher and director with youth theatres on community and education based productions, at the Half Moon and Curtain Theatres.
After coming to Melbourne, Geraldine developed, implemented and taught community based performance training for the TAFE system at Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE and Swinburne University & TAFE and inaugurated a training company developing theatre in education productions for people with disabilities.

Geraldine's professional practice includes working as a voice and communications consultant for the corporate and government sectors, specialising in working with people from a non-English speaking background. She specialises in accents and dialects and is an Australian associate editor for the accent and dialect website located at Kansas University. Geraldine works as a vocal/dialect and text coach for the Melbourne Theatre Company where she has worked on over 20 productions, Malthouse Theatre, Red Stitch, Eleventh Hour, ABC and SBS and her most recent film work included Ned Kelly and &Van Diemens Land. Geraldine has performed in productions at La Mama, Universal, Atheneum and Anthill. Recent voice-over work has included a soundscape for the Melbourne Immigration Museum; a travelling exhibition for the centenary of Federation; an historic installation at the Melbourne Museum and ABC Radio First Person and is an Associate Artist of Optic Nerve Performance Group.

In 2006 Geraldine received an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant in collaboration with industry partner, Cochlear Ltd. and the Dept. of Otolaryngology at the University of Melbourne. This joint research project investigated the effectiveness of actor vocal training on young people with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Geraldine's research led to a vocal training program for young hearing impaired teenagers Let It Out! Adapting actor vocal training techniques for the hearing impaired”, a project involving 7 young adults who all use cochlear implants. This research received funding from Cochlear Ltd. and Deaf Children Australia. Geraldine was successful in attracting further funding from the Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society. Together with industry partners, Australian Communication Exchange who develop assistive technologies for the deaf, and Hear For You who deliver deaf mentoring and coaching programs, Geraldine developed “Hear Me Out”, an on-line delivery of mentoring, coaching and actor vocal training techniques for deaf and hearing impaired teens.
in 2013-15. In 2005 Geraldine was funded through the VCA to attend an international master teachers exchange with the Central School of Speech and Drama, London and the Moscow Arts Theatre.

In 2006 Geraldine received a Teaching Excellence Award from the Victorian College of the Arts.