Experiencing Accents #20 wrapped last Sunday. This six-day Knight-Thompson Speechwork explores the skills of accent acquisition and performance. I had a wonderful time teaching with KTS Co-Director Andrea Caban and with our delightful group of participants. Here our the thumbnails from our session recordings:
CORIOLANUS Podcast Interview
A few weeks ago, I had the distinct honor of being in conversation with Play on Podcasts Executive Producer Michael Goodfriend and brilliant Dramaturg Amrita Ramanan about our work on the podcast version of Sean San José’s modern verse translation of CORIOLANUS, directed by Kate Wisniewski. You can listen to our conversation here — and anywhere you get your podcasts.
December Updates
Two shows I coached had performances in December.
FOOD FOR THE GODS, written and directed by Nehprii Amenii, had three performances at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, December 11th & 12th. This promenade-style performance piece served as a healing ritual for black men killed by police and other self-appointed law-enforcers over the years. It’s a piece unlike any others I’ve worked on, and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity. The number of performances was reduced due to issues around COVID.
A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, adapted by Adrian Mitchell and Jeremy Brooks from Dylan Thomas’s short story and directed by Bonnie J. Monte, had performances at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, December 8th-26th. It was a beautiful, heart-warming show with a lovely cast, and it was the first show produced in the Kirby Theatre in two years. It closed early due to issues around COVID.
Lastly, I co-taught the 33rd offering of the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop, Experiencing Speech, December 11th-17th. I love teaching this workshop, especially in the December slot. The workshop is always filled with interesting, curious participants who teach me so much. And I had a blast teaching with my KTS colleagues, Andrea Caban and Nathan Crocker. Here’s a screenshot of our recording thumbnails:
The 39 Steps
Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of THE 39 STEPS, adapted by Patrick Barlow and directed by Helen T. Clark, starts performances tonight. I served as one of the Voice & Dialect Coaches on the piece, helping the actors with a wide range of accents: RP, Cockney, German, Wiltshire, and various areas of Scotland! Performances run though November 7th, and seating is limited to allow for social distancing in the theater. More information here.
Coriolanus
This summer, I got to serve as Voice and Text Consultant on Play On Shakespeare’s podcast production of CORIOLANUS in a modern verse translation by Sean San José and directed by fellow A.R.T. alum Kate Wisniewski. The cast is comprised of all female and non-binary actors, and a majority of them are people of color.
It was challenging and deeply fulfilling to work on this text with this group of artists. A new episode will be streamed for free each week! Listen to the first episode now and subscribe.
September Happenings
A few updates from September! I co-taught the 19th offering of the Knight-Thompson Speechwork (KTS) workshop EXPERIENCING ACCENTS with KTS Co-Director Andrea Caban. See our workshop recording thumbnails below!
I also taught a masterclass on KTS for graduate theatre pedagogy students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Thanks to Karen Kopryanski for the invitation!
Lastly, I coached accents and idiolects for a production of LET ME DOWN EASY by Anna Deveare Smith and directed by Ginny Anderson at Connecticut College in New London.
Oral Posture Intensive
A week ago, I finished co-teaching the first ever Knight-Thompson Speechwork Posture Intensive workshop with KTS Co-Director Andrea Caban. It was a really fun, really granular deep dive into oral (or vocal tract) posture in accent work. These are the thumbnails of our session recordings. What a treat to share virtual space with this group.
Experiencing Accents #18
Today was the last day of the 18th offering of the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop, Experiencing Accents. I co-led the workshop with fellow KTS Master Teacher Tyler Seiple — our first time leading a KTS workshop together! We had a wonderful time working on the skills of accent acquisition with a group of very thoughtful and playful participants. Since we’ve started offering workshops online, I’ve enjoyed looking back at the thumbnails of our recordings.
American Association for Anatomy
The American Association for Anatomy recently took note of my new book, Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training, and invited my co-author Andrea Caban and me to write about the anatomical images that Phil Thompson and Jeff Parker created for it. You can read our blurb here, in their monthly online newsletter.
Mlima's Tale
Mlima’s Tale by Lynn Nottage and directed by Shariffa Ali starts performances at the Repertory Theatre of St Louis tomorrow, May 28th. This production is happening in person! I’m honored to be working on this play for a second time, after coaching it at Westport Country Playhouse in 2019. I coached Vietnamese and Mandarin accents for this production at the Rep. More information about the production and tickets are available here.
Experiencing Accents #17
Experiencing Accents #17 wrapped on April 25th. It was truly a delight to lead this Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop on the skills of accent acquisition with KTS Co-Director Andrea Caban. Looking forward to leading it again with KTS Certified Teacher Tyler Seiple in August. Below are the thumbnails from our session recordings.
Antigone
Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s virtual production of ANTIGONE adapted and directed by Gary M. English started performances last week and runs through April 11th. I served as Associate Director, as well as Voice and Text Coach. This virtual production is unlike any other I’ve worked on during the pandemic (or ever). It employs a scenic and projector installation in one of CRT’s theater spaces to make it really feel like the actors are together in the space. The production design is truly innovative and exciting to watch.
More info and tickets available here. Join us!
Experiencing Speech #30
Last week, I was lucky to co-teach the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop Experiencing Speech with KTS Co-Director Andrea Caban. This is the second time we’ve taught this workshop together while writing our book, also titled Experiencing Speech. We had a wonderful group of speechworkers in this thirtieth offering of the workshop. I learn new things each time I teach this workshop. It’s exciting.
Since these workshops have gone online, I've loved looking at our recording thumbnails from each session and reflecting on the journey.
A Fitzmaurice Voicework Warm-up
I recorded some floorwork for my students at UConn today and thought I would share with you all. It employs some Fitzmaurice Voicework principles, as well as aspects of FV destructuring and restructuring. Hope you enjoy!
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s virtual production of PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE by Shakespeare and directed by Raphael Massie opened last night, February 26th, 2021. I had a wonderful time working on this play for the first time and with this group of generous artists. Raphael Massie re-imagined this tale of high adventure, tragedy, and perseverance as a web graphic novel, complete with shadow puppetry and amazing illustrations by scenic designer Amber Convery.
Performances run online through March 7th More info and tickets available here. Join us!
Experiencing Speech (the book)
I’m very excited to share that I have co-written a speech book with fellow Knight-Thompson Speechwork Certified Teachers, Andrea Caban and Jeffrey Parker.
The book is titled Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training. It’s a beginner’s guide to Knight-Thompson Speechwork and a companion book to Speaking with Skill by KTS Co-Founder Dudley Knight.
The book imagines a one-semester speech class and lays out a progression of experiential exercises that comprise a descriptive approach to speech training and how it connects to other aspects of actor training.
The book will be published May 20, 2021 and is available for pre-order on Routledge’s website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other places.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Experiencing Speech #28
The 28th offering of the Knight-Thompson Speechwork workshop Experiencing Speech finished last Friday. It was a delight to spend six days on Zoom with my co-teachers Eliza Simpson and Jeremy Sortore and with 26 curious and playful speechworkers. Together we explored vocal anatomy, the physical actions of speech sounds, all of the speech sounds observed in language, descriptive phonetics, and applications to text. Here are just a few moments from our journey:
Love and Information
I recently had the opportunity to do some accent coaching for a production of Love and Information by Caryl Churchill and directed by Rachel Jett at Connecticut College. We worked on a little bit of RP, Estuary English, Cockney, and Memphis, TN. The student actors were very quick studies!
Performances started November 14th and go through November 16th in the Harkness Chapel on Connecticut College’s campus and are only open to members of Conn College’s community.
Fitzmaurice Voicework Workshops
I recently had the opportunity to lead a workshop on Self-Care for the Vocal Tract for Certified Teachers of Fitzmaurice Voicework. My workshop was part of a series on self-care offered by the Advanced Training Team at the Fitzmaurice Institute. We focused on softening tension around the spine (especially the cervical spine and the occipital ridge), the neck, the jaw, the lips, the tongue, and the soft palate, and we connected those openings to breath support coming from the transverse abdominal muscle.
I am also part of a team of FV teachers offering a new kind of online workshop for the Fitzmaurice Institute: a six-part workshop on Fitzmaurice Fundamentals. I am co-teaching with FV Master Teacher and Lead Trainer Jeff Morrison on the second day of the workshop. We’ll focus that day on destructuring, or release of muscular tension in order to find spontaneous breath.
Men on Boats
MEN ON BOATS by Jaclyn Backhaus and directed by Beth Gardiner starts live-stream performances tonight for Connecticut Repertory Theatre. This is the first live, online production CRT has done!
The actors are all in different spaces, Zooming together to tell this true story of John Wesley Powell’s exploratory expedition on the Green and Colorado rivers in 1869. As stipulated by the playwright, the cast is comprised entirely of female-identifying and non-binary actors.
We had some fun exploring voicework for this medium. Performances run through October 18th. More info and tickets here.
